How was your experience with Karen Lee at Dallas-Fort Worth Fertility Associates?
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.
What's one piece of advice would you give a prospective patient of Karen Lee at Dallas-Fort Worth Fertility Associates?
She is more conservative in her approach, and you may want to explore a little more about possible testing and options.
During treatment, were you treated like a number or a human with Karen Lee at Dallas-Fort Worth Fertility Associates?
Dr. Lee has been always like a big sister to me and she talked to me like so, because she would say, "if you were my sister, I would ..." Even I do not have any success with her, she has been a kind and caring doctor to me. She did most of the ultrasounds by herself unless there is scheduling challenges, and address all my questions, even though sometimes it's after I sought a 2nd opinion. She put patient's interest first, not her ego.
Describe the protocols Karen Lee used in your cycles at Dallas-Fort Worth Fertility Associates and their degree of success.
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
Describe your experience with your nurse at Dallas-Fort Worth Fertility Associates. (Assigned nurse: Rachel and others, don't remember clearly)
The nurses are professional, however sometimes I feel some may lack a personal touch. Some may sound more formulaic than caring. Sometimes I feel afraid to ask too many questions
Describe your experience with Dallas-Fort Worth Fertility Associates.
This clinic is one of the best in the DFW area, so the staff is professional, the facility is clean and organized, and they address all requests and questions you have. I had some billing issues but eventually they were resolved. Dr. Lee is also willing to coordinate with other doctors when it comes to surgery so that really helps.
Describe your experience with your monitoring appointments at Dallas-Fort Worth Fertility Associates.
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.
Describe the costs associated with your care under Karen Lee at Dallas-Fort Worth Fertility Associates.
The IVF cost about 12k back in 2012, FET about $1300 in 2015.
Describe Karen Lee's approach to eSET (elective single embryo transfer) vs. multiple embryo transfer at Dallas-Fort Worth Fertility Associates.
Not applicable to me.
What specific things went wrong at Dallas-Fort Worth Fertility Associates?
- Failed to send your chart to another clinic
Describe the specific things that went wrong at Dallas-Fort Worth Fertility Associates.
In 2016 I wanted to get 2nd and 3rd opinions from other doctors and I requested them to send my records to other doctors. They did send maybe two, but later the staff responsible for faxing told me that she can't fax my records all the time (probably because I have been at the clinic for a very long time). Well, I have no problem of getting the record and scan them and then send by myself if they think it's too troublesome, but I wish they have communicated to me at the very beginning that this is not possible so that I can be better prepared. Eventually I paid for my own copy and scan and send to other doctors' office. One thing they could do is to provide an electronic copy of the patient records so that the patient can get it and send to places when needed. I know another doctor's office does that and I was informed up-front, and I have no problem with that.