Karen Lee

Dr. Lee is very intelligent and knows what she is doing. She is an expert in the field and is aggressive with doing treatments, especially when you express a need or desire to do a next step. However, she lacks a bit with the bed side manner and seems like she doesn’t love the social part of the treatment process.

Ask questions and tell her what you want. Know that she might not be the mushy lovey dovey doctor that doubles as a therapist. She is only there to treat you.

We did 1 cycle times intercourse and clomid, 3 cycles of TI, with clomid and gonal F. I am unexplained, so there is no known reason so she started “small”. Then we moved in to iuI with clomid and gonal F. Three times. Then Ivf with birth control, then freeze all, then first FeT ended chemical. Did ERA test after between FET 1 and 2. All good. FET worked, saw the heartbeat. Heartbeat stopped for no known reason when I saw my OB.l at 8+5. 3rd FET she added in lovenox and baby aspirin I’m thinking there may be an unknown clotting disorder, but all loss panels were negative. She did RPL blood work after 1st chemical. I’m currently 4 weeks pregnant.

She was very adamant about transferring one.

Dr. Lee is very knowledgeable and that shows in her care. We felt like she set expectations and gave us the facts. She also communicated great with us during our IVF treatments. In our wrap up appointments for failed cycled, she gave us insight into the documentation and discussions with her staff about why we had failed and gave us choices on next steps. She was great to guide us through each cycle.

Come with a list of questions. She will help you work through your questions and provide the best answers she can.

During my IUIs I took Clomid (the lowest dose) and my husband donated at the clinic. During one IVF cycle I took Gonal-F, Menupure, Pregnyl, and one other med that I can't remember. During my second cycle I took the same meds, but use Lupron instead. We were hoping to get more mature eggs on the second cycle. I tend to have lots of eggs and only about half of them mature. Both cycles worked out very similar - so we concluded that the drugs didn't make much of a difference in my case. I reacted very well to the drugs, we are just struggling to get a healthy embroy. Currently we aren't sure the cause of unhealthy embroys.

We are blessed to have insurance coverage. We did not use this for our IUIs and they each ran under $1000. For IVF our first cycle was covered entirely, so we were out our deductibles. For our second cycle, drugs were not covered, so we paid the cost of drugs and our deductible was met, so we paid our percentage.

Dr. Lee is always very through when she speaks about a procedure, test, or the next step in our action plain. When my ovaries were not responding to clomid she changed gears quickly and found another way to do so. She is a very good doctor she legitimately cares about each of her patients

She is very direct but in a caring way, she doesn’t beat around the bush or waste your time. When you need her to be compassionate or caring you don’t have to ask, but when she knows you might be dragging your feet about kicking that coffee habit or losing the last 10 pounds needed she will remind you that it needs to be done

My first times intercourse cycle produced not follicles during that cycle she had me take clomid at 50mg. She then scheduled an hsg test before my first IUI. During my first IUI she had be take clomid at 100mg along with 75 units of gonalf, we also did that for my second IUI cycle. Now on my third IUI she changed my oral medication to femera and increased gonalf to 112.5 units. I’m doing so I produced two mature follicles

My husbands insurAnce is amazing and covers most of all the procedures we have had done. My first timed cycle was completely covered, my out of pocket expense for the hsg test was around $380, my first and second IUI out of pocket was around $500 together including sperm testing and preparation.

While we did not achieve the results we wanted, Dr Lee was great. She was informative and understanding and willing to answer all questions. She was able to ease my mind, specifically I remember a time a nurse was not explaining something correctly and made me feel worried. She overheard and came rushing in to clarify and ease my mind with better description of what would occur next. Infertility is one of the worst things I have ever experienced but Dr Lee made me feel like there was hope.

Ask questions and if you are uncomfortable, ask more. You are not burdening her.

IUI cycles were medicated. Do not remember specifics. IVF with injectables.

IUI was mostly taken care of by my insurance thanks to the ways they were able to bill and code. The Ivf was not covered but I utilized the package option which with medication cost about 20000 for two IVf cycles

Dr. Lee cares about her patient and has been very accommodating. Even now that I seek IVF care at CCRM, I still have her clinic do local monitoring. At the same time, I feel her approach more often may fall on the relatively more conservative side. I am not sure if this is due to me or due to her. I have always preferred a natural pregnancy and natural/herbal treatment over western treatment because I think western treatment is much more aggressive and hard the woman's body more. The process of finding what went wrong with me not being able to conceive was long, partially due to my resistance to have a hyrasalpinx tube removal after being diagnosed at the end of 2009. But after removal I was still not able to conceive and I insisted to have my progesterone on Day 7 post ovulation tested and turns out it's <10. I wish Dr. Lee has this tested much earlier so I can also react accordingly. Dr. Lee said the progesterone level couldn't be completely trusted due to the level can vary a lot in a day. I found this progesterone testing was used by another doctor as a more standard way of determining ovulation quality. Anyways, after I tried 3 clomid cycles, 1 ivf and 1 fet with Dr. Lee, I lost confidence about getting pregnant at her clinic, although she and her staff have been courteous and kind.

She is more conservative in her approach, and you may want to explore a little more about possible testing and options.

clomid from 50mg to 50mg to 75mg, ovidrel trigger each cycle, 2 natural intercourse, 1 IUI IVF: lupron 5+ menopur75+ follistim 300 for 9 days, twoeard day 8 and 9 there are changes in the specific meds but I don't remember the details. HCG ovidrel as trigger, 15 oocytes retrieved, 4 day5 embryos, no PGS, 2 fresh transfer, 2 frozen, progesterone oil injection post transfer until HCG test. FET: 2mg estrodial+baby aspirin, only 1 out of 2 embryos survived unfrozen, the transfer resulted in failure. Progesterone injection for all days post transfer

they are able to schedule the appointments timely, at least this was what I was told, if I have another doctor's order, they can schedule the next day's ultrasound for me.

The IVF cost about 12k back in 2012, FET about $1300 in 2015.

Not applicable to me.

Dr. Lee is always very informative with me. One experience that's stands out is when they found cysts. The nurse was trying to explain to me "how big" they were. Now keep in mind I only have one ovary and had the other removed due to cysts so naturally this scared me. She overheard her explaination and made sure to come in and clarify and put it into perspective! She had a treatment plan ready and it was taken care of within the next month. I trust her and she is very honest about possible options. I much prefer that to beating around the bush.

Come in with questions. She is patient and will answer all questions. I have never felt rushed.

My first IUI I did the Gonal F and Ovidrel and my second they did the Gonal F and Letrozole. I had a negative result each time but with the second attempt I had more follicles that were larger.

I have only done IUI which some of the services were covered by insurance. Medication cost approximately $500 and the IUI procedure was $300

I have not gone through this yet.

I went to Dr. Lee after I left another Dallas-based fertility doctor's practice. I was in the process of being treated for Asherman's Syndrome by a doctor in California. Dr. Lee agreed to partner with the California doctor on the treatment of my Asherman's Syndrome and then when the California doctor said it was okay to move forward, Dr. Lee was going to give us fertility drugs and help us actually get pregnant since I also have PCOS and wasn't ovulating regularly. So basically she just held our hand in Dallas while I was having my Asherman's Syndrome treated in California (two hysteroscopies followed by estrogen therapy), and then provided a protocol for trying to get pregnant once it was okay to try again. I only did only one cycle with Dr. Lee because I got pregnant that first try - yay! It was quite the experience though: I took letrozole and follistim and then did a trigger shot plus timed intercourse. At the time of the trigger shot, I had a lot of mature looking follicles (10+) BUT my lining was very thin (only around 4mm). Dr. Lee was a little concerned about the risk of multiples, but thought it was extremely unlikely that I would get pregnant because my lining was so thin and she actually thought I should have yet another hysteroscopy to figure out what was going on. I think the idea had been to do an IUI or a fresh IVF transfer but that plan got called off because of the thin lining and we didn't want to freeze embryos because we were about to move to yet another city. Anyway, we did the timed intercourse with the thin lining and lots of follicles and I got pregnant with di-tri triplets (identical twins sharing a placenta plus a singleton). I think Dr. Lee felt bad that this was the result since she knew it would be a really complicated pregnancy with an uncertain outcome and to reduce the risks, I would have to choose a multi-fetal pregnancy reduction of the identical twins (I remember what she said at the ultrasound: "I've seen this work out" - not what you want to hear). I opted for the multi-fetal pregnancy reduction of the identical twins (this was done with a MFM doctor in New York City, not Dallas). Multiples like this when you already have fertility issues can be very emotionally painful - I'm still sad about what happened. So that really sucked. HOWEVER, I do have a beautiful daughter who is almost 2 and is doing great and I have Dr. Lee in part to thank for that! She was a really tiny baby (3 pounds 11 ounces) and had to come out early due to intrauterine growth restriction either caused by the Asherman's Syndrome or by the triplet pregnancy. Anyway, yes - I got the result I wanted: one healthy child and on the first try with this doctor! But, no, it was not an easy experience. I still really like Dr. Lee though, obviously. She has great bedside manner.

I don't have any. She's great.

I think I already described it above. We did one cycle of letrozole, follistim, trigger shot and timed intercourse. In retrospect, this was probably too aggressive. See the multiples issue described above. But on the other hand it worked!

I remember spending about $400 on medications for the one medicated cycle that we did and maybe another few hundred dollars for some ultrasounds that were not covered during this cycle. I think everything else was covered by our insurance and I only paid co-pays. I really don't remember though.

I don't have any thoughts on this because we didn't get there with this doctor and I didn't really talk to her about it. I think she is more open to multiples than other doctors I've been too though.

Karen Lee is a very pleasant doctor. She was very thorough and honest with me about my diagnosis, treatment, and what to expect. She's very professional and gives attention to detail. However, I didn't feel that she was in tune with my emotions. It kind of felt like she was afraid to get a little emotionally invested in what I was feeling as a patient. I don't recall her ever giving me words of encouragment on those tough days I found out I had an ectopic miscarriage. While I liked her as a person and doctor, I just feel that sympathy was missing.

Let her know that you not only need her to sympathize on those tough days; you need her to acknowledge your pain, and not quietly walk away.

I can't remember specifics of my protocol as it was 5 yrs ago, but I do remember during my iui had to use egg stimulating hormones, have my follicles monitored and checked every other day, and triggered with ovudriel when it was time. During my IVF protocol I again used egg stimulating hormone injections such as lupron, and progesterone in oil (PIO). I also used the trigger shot when it was time.

Monitoring appts went smoothly. It wasn't uncomfortable. Dr. Lee was very gentle. None of the appts conflicted with my schedule.

I don't remember the exact cost, but I do remember paying little to nothing for my mefication and treatment as my insurance covered the majority of my treatment and medication bills.

Dr. Lee just advised that I transfer 2 embryos during my first round of IVF, and 1 embryo during my FET.

Dr. Lee is very knowledgable and has great bedside manner. She was easy to talk to and listened as we asked all of our questions, taking time to answer each one. She didn't make you feel like another patient to get through in the day, but was very compassionate and encouraging.

While you are given a sheet of risks for the medications you take, it wouldn't hurt to ask more specific questions about each medicine while discussing with her.

Clomid was used to help grow more follicles and a trigger shot was used to help with ovulation timing.

They have a lump fee of $700 for a medicated cycle. But you can also pay for each appointment separately, which is helpful if you won't be having blood work done.

we love dr. Lee!!! Our results were not what we wanted but that is the nature of infertility. As a Doctor she did everything she could to create the best outcome. I truely felt like she was invested in our situation. In the end it’s God’s plan. As much as the Doctors try to create these miracles of life they are not God, they see only human. It’s important to realize that. IVF is a wonderful miracle of science and I know so many babies here on this earth for it. It is also such a taxing process. All that being said I would absolutely recommend Dr. Lee. She tries to prepare you every step of the way on a perfessional and personal level.

The doctors will do everything that can but in the end it’s not up to us, it’s a higher power that creates the miracle of life.

I felt like the doctor was caring and confident. She disagreed with my previous RE and I really trusted her opinion. She told me my concerns were nothing to be worried about. Upon reviewing my case with 2 other REs, they both disagreed with Dr. Lee's course of treatment and said my concern was valid and probably the biggest reason by 2 transfers failed. This has made me view my experience differently.

If your concerns are blown off, don't give up. Get different opinions and don't assume the doctor's confidence means that their opinion is the right one.

Antagonist protocol with Follistim, Menopur, and Ganirelix. The trigger shot was Pregnyl. We used ICSI.

Around $10,000 for a fresh retrieval/transfer and ICSI

The doctor left this decision up to me and didn't pressure me in any way.

She was great. The only thing I would say is that I had to recommend treatment to her sometimes. For example after my second loss, I asked about coq10, dhea, and estrogen priming protocol. I felt like she should have mentioned these things.

Do your own research and ask questions

First cycles- lupron with bc, 150 menopur, 350 Follistim - 2 eggs, 1 embryo, 3 day transfer, 16 weeks miscarriage with abnormal chromosome Second cycle - bc, 150 menopur, 350 follistim, ganarelix- 7 eggs, 2 embryos, 5 day transfer with both, 10 week miscarriage Third cycle - same as 2nd cycle but added pgs testing. I had been taking coq10, dhea, acupuncture, herbs- 9 eggs, 2 embryos to day 6 PGS. Both came back abnormal I have a very fertile uterus and abnormal embryos are likely to attach and miscarry. Suggestions is to always pgs test

Insurance paid 100% after my deductible was met

She was there for all the main things but did not do the ultra sounds. She was super smart and always new how you were doing, no question was off limits. She was there when you go close to harvest and when doing procedures also.

Ask questions and go over the procedure till your comfortable.

She did the low ovarian reserve protocol for me with had different medications. Medications were different and yielded more embryos.

7k per cycle 3K in meds Plus every apt

I was given 4 embryos - 1 was a behind in development - but she put all in as the quality was not high.

She was readily available, was very nice and considerate. Always gave me hope

Don't be afraid to ask questions

try 1: 75 Clomid, injectable 50 iu's, HCG, IUI try 2: 50 clomid, 100 iu's, HCG, IUI Try 3: Same, IUI

I paid about 1000 per cycle

Dr. Karen Lee is an Angel!!! She was very sweet, easy to understand, and answered any question we had. I look forward to seeing and working with her again in the future. She is the reason I have my beautiful daughter.

That she is a fantastic doctor. She is thorough, sensitive, and genuinely wants to make you dreams of becoming a parent come true.

I can't remember all of the names of the medications. She answered any questions we had. Her nurse was fantastic. She actually answers her phone and talks to you. We were from out of state. They worked with us. Just fantastic service. After one round of IVF, we were pregnant with our little girl.

I was lucky at the time. My insurance covered 70/30 at the clinic. Unfortunately, the lab was ot in network with my insurance. Everything was paid out of pocket in the lab. We spent close to 4 or 5 thousand for the whole procedure.

They recommended just transferring one. They knew the risks of having triplets or more. They gave me a 80% chance of the one working and they were right.