Kim L. Thornton

She’s a good listener and answered questions in detail and has a kind demeanor. She also took interest in my life outside treatment so I didn’t feel like just a number. It was important for me to have a black female doctor and I felt I could more easily talk about racial concerns.

Don’t delay in scheduling since her calendar books quickly, and be persistent about getting an earlier appointment/ask to get put on the waitlist and follow up

She recommended COQ10 in addition to the prenatal vitamin I was already taking. I injected meds to increase my follicles and eggs and had frequent monitoring to time my retrieval.

My insurance covered everything except embryo genetic testing. I’m still not sure if donor sperm is covered

We discussed potentially transferring more than one embryo due to my age.

I wasn’t sure where to start on the IVF journey. It’s very overwhelming, I filled out an online contact form and received a call from Boston IVF and they paired me with Dr Thornton. Other may not have left the best reviews but I personally think she has been great for us. She is very straightforward, and with time being of the essence, that’s what we need! She explains the process very thoroughly and answered all of our questions. Even after our first failed cycle (we didn’t make it to transfer) she quickly sat with us (within 1 day after finding out no transfer) and went through the next course of action! Even went so far as to collaborate with other Drs with in the practice to see if they had similar cases to ours! Overall I’m happy with her and am still holding hope that I’ll have a live birth!

If you want someone to give you hugs and kisses, Dr Thornton isn’t the one for you, but if you want an honest approach she definitely won’t sugar coat the process.

When I first met with add Thornton I was 39 turning 40, my husband had a failed vasectomy reversal. She initially suggested we go back to the office who did the reversal to see if we could retrieve sperm from him. Once that procedure was complete we moved very quickly. We started with Gonal-F and Menopur and then added Cetrotide. Trigger was done and then egg retrieval. Once retrieval was done I started on Endometrin 3 times a day.

Costs were pretty high! I am self pay meaning insurance doesn’t cover anything for the cycle. All pre blood work was covered but once the cycle started I obtained a loan for $15,000 and paid $1000 out of pocket on top of that. That included medication

I was only a patient for a few months as my second treatment cycle was successful, so I can't comment on some of the questions like how compassionate Dr. Thornton is or how willing to change treatment course she is -- those didn't come up during our treatment course. What I can say is that in my initial consultation, Dr. Thornton gave me a lot of reassurance that treatment could work for us, got me started on treatment right away as I had hoped, and explained what she would recommend for us and why very thoroughly. I ultimately had positive results after just two months and am forever grateful.

I would recommend advocating for yourself and what you feel is the best for you. Dr. Thornton recommended that we do letrozole + IUI, which did not work during our first month of treatment. I was concerned that the timing of the IUI the first month could have been a bit off and that that could have caused the unsuccessful cycle (we did not use a trigger or do any monitoring). As a result, for our second cycle, I felt strongly that I wanted to try letrozole + timed intercourse instead of the IUI, and expressed that to Dr. Thornton and her team. They were supportive of this change, and that was the month that we were successful. I'm glad that my husband and I trusted our gut instinct about what was best for us, and appreciated that Dr. Thornton and her team were flexible and supportive of our decision.

Both cycles, I took letrozole (I believe the dose was 7.5ish?) CD3-7. This was to help me ovulate strong eggs, and ideally more than 1 to help increase our chances of success. Our first cycle, I had an IUI performed. I was told to test with OPKs every morning before noon starting at CD 15. Once I had a positive test, I was to call and schedule my IUI for the next morning, and my husband would go in and drop off a fresh sample. We did this one time and were unsuccessful. Our second cycle, we used the same letrozole protocol but had timed intercourse once I began testing positive on OPKs. We were successful.

Dr. Thornton was kind and somewhat compassionate. If I was down about a high FSH she reminded me it wasn't that high (11). She is straight to the point though, she isn't really going to coddle you. After my first round of treatment only resulted in 2 dominant follicles and I was converted to an IUI, she asked me if I ever considered donor eggs. I was really disappointed that was discussed so quickly, but she was being real with me I guess. She agreed to change the protocol and move forward if I only had one follicle next time. Unfortunately that cycle was cancelled when they went in to retrieve and found no follicles, they assume I prematurely ovulated.

Be prepared going in. Dr. Thornton goes over things for sure, but there is a lot of information out there and questions you should be asking of any doctor. If she hesitates on proceeding, keep in mind that it is your choice and your body and don't give up.

Cycle 1 - Day 3 start, 450 iu Follistim, low dose HCG; Day 5 Ganirelix, up to 600 iu Follistim, low dose HCG. One decent follicle, one smaller - converted to IUI. Ovidrel shot. BFN Cycle 2 - Ganirelix and Estrogen patch prior to cycle start, Day 3 450 iu Follistim, 150 iu Menupur; Day 9 Ganirelix, Follistim same, and Menupur same. Day 11 had two dominant follicles and some smaller ones starting. Pregnyl shot, retrieval 36 hours later showed no follicles. Was instructed to go home and have sex (not sure why they didn't do an IUI at that point)

Pretty much 100% insurance paid after deductible. I think we paid $150 for one medication through Village Pharmacy. My scripts cost me a small co-pay (like $30) but the 'real' price was $15,000 just for the drugs! Phew!

Dr Thornton explained the process thoroughly using language that I could understand. She even drew pictures which made it easy to understand a complicated process. She also was very direct and didn't tell me what I wanted to hear, she told me what I needed to hear. Since I am 43, nothing is a guarantee.

Don't go in with the expectation you absolutely will be able to get pregnant, there are tests to be done to see if you're a candidate or not

I had to take the pill for two weeks to jump start the ovaries. Then once I got mt period, I started gonal f, HCG, cetrotide, and ovidrel. I needed to get my ovaries ready for egg retrieval. The meds made me feel tired, bloated, and a little nauseous. My ovaries were get getting enlarged. I get blood work and an ultrasound tomorrow to figure out the next round of injections.

My appts are covered by my insurance . Normal dr appt were 25$.

Dr Thornton has a great ability to explain complicated processes. I know the general gist of what happens but she literally drew out a map of the process. I know it's more complicated but it made it easier for me to follow ans understand. And she tells us like it is. She didn't tell me what I wanted to hear, she told me what I needed to hear

Be ready to hear the real facts if you're in the grey area of becomming pregnant. She doesn't hide reality.

I just started. So the only protocols I started was first with the birth control pill. This is to "jump start" my ovaries. Once I get a period after stopping the pill, I'll get a blood test the next day and then I'll start the injections. The lady I spoke with about the injections was super helpful and figured out a way that I could do one injection a night with all the medication instead of 3 injections! Very helpful, I'm not a fan of needles.

My health insurance covered a good portion of appointments. I'm not sure if the cost yet going forward. Waltham is a certified wellness center and I get and extra 10k$ towards my lifetime IVF coverage

Waltham IVF only does single egg transfers. This reduces the risk of injury to the mother and babies should Multi births happen. This is fine by me.

We have met with Dr Thornton 3x over 7 months. The initial consult was Dec 23, 2 days before Christmas, in the Worcester office. She had the uncomfortable job of delivering life changing, devastating news - that couldn't have been easy. I was 28 and my blood work showed Premature Ovarian "Insufficiency" (Failure). She was clear that the odds of us conceiving naturally were about 5% if I was ovulating, which I was not. She's a straight shooter and I respect that about her. She didn't sugarcoat anything just to make us feel better and didn't create any sense of false hope. She was direct. There was no hand-holding. I felt that she had put the best plan together for my specific situation, and trusted her medical expertise. Dr. Thornton felt that we needed to be aggressive and move straight to IVF. Anything less than that would be a waste of time. I appreciated that she felt the same urgency. We started the full panel of diagnostic testing 5 days later to rule out genetic disorder and prep for IVF. The 2nd time we met was in February at the Worcester office after all the diagnostic testing. The plan was to proceed with IVF knowing that we won’t get many eggs, but hoping that they will be excellent quality due to my age. The 3rd time we met was in April at the Waltham office after IVF Cycle 1 was cancelled during day 7 of stimulations, over a holiday long-weekend. My body sort-of responded, but nowhere near the anticipated response given near-normal AMH and Follicle count of 8 in January. The blood work/AFC counts didn’t line up with the results. She was clear that IVF only works when you have follicles that respond to stimulation. If you don’t have follicles to stimulate, IVF can’t help make eggs that aren’t there. We decided to do an estrogen-priming cycle, change the ratio of meds, and push the dosage to 600iu. We also decided to do a mock cycle to prep the paperwork for Donor Eggs and attend the Donor Egg seminar at BIVF in case IVF Cycle 2 didn't work.

Make the commitment and go to the Waltham office for the best care. All of the ultrasounds are recorded on video and it allows the doctors to see what the ultrasound tech sees in real time, significantly better than printed out screen-grabs, or handwritten data. Also be aware that if the odds of IVF working is 25%, that means that 75% of the IVF cycles are failing. Yes, IVF gives you a chance that you may not have otherwise had, but it's not a magic bullet and it doesn't fix everything. Keep your own log of everything - it will help you advocate for yourself. Write down notes, dates and times of appointments, names of the nurses, what the results were for all of the tests. Keep track of invoices and health insurance coverage - otherwise you may get stuck with the bill.

Birth Control Pill for 2 months while waiting for insurance approval. CoQ10 to help improve egg quality. Levothyroxine for thyroid (within normal range but higher than ideal for pregnancy). Continued prenatal vitamins. IVF Cycle 1: 450iu total does of stimulations. 300iu Gonal F Redijet Pen, 150 Menopur daily injections. Stimulation day 5, blood and ultrasound. AFC: 2 - 4 in left and right ovary. Estrogen 33. Nurse warned that cycle may be cancelled if estrogen didn't increase, but that it we had a chance. Stimulation day 7, blood and ultrasound. AFC: 2 - 4 in left and right ovary, 1 10mm follicle in left. Estrogen 80. Tanya (nurse) called - cycle cancelled. Mock Cycle to prep for Donor Egg in case IVF Cycle 2 doesn't work. Estrogen Patch, 2mg Estrace pill 2x daily for 3 weeks, then ultrasound/blood work to check AFC, uterus lining (8mm needed for Donor Egg cycle). Then Prometrium 200mg for 7 days to induce period. IVF Cycle 2: 600iu total dose of stimulations. Menopur 450 iu, Gonal F 150iu daily injections for 14 days Stimulation day 6, blood and ultrasound: AFC: 2 to 4 in left and right ovary. Estrogen 17.95. Instructed to continue injections, next appointment in 3 days. Stimulation day 9, blood and ultrasound: Left AFC: 2 to 4, Left Follicle: 11.7mm, Right AFC: One, Right Follicle: 10.14mm. Estrogen 183. Instructed to continue injections, next appointment in 2 days. Stimulation day 11, blood and ultrasound, Left AFC: 2 to 4, Left Follicle: 10.5mm Right AFC: One, Right Follicles: 15.47mm,14.24mm. Estrogen 370. Instructed to keep taking 450 menopur, 150 gonal F, add cetrotide 25mg to suppress ovulation. Next appointment in 2 days. Stimulation day 13, blood and ultrasound, Left AFC: 2 to 4, Left Follicle: 11.35mm Right AFC: 2 to 4, Right Follicles: 18.55mm,17.48mm. Estrogen 610. Instructed 450 Menopur, 150 Gonal F, and 25 of Cetrotide tonight. OR Nurse will call on Friday with instructions on when to inject Ovidrel (trigger) and schedule retrieval on Sunday! Stimulation day 14, Ovidrel 250mcg at 9:30pm Egg retrieval @ BIVF Waltham 36 hours later. Retrieved 2 eggs, 1 fertilized. Day 3 transfer of "textbook perfect, High Implantation Potential, 7-cell embryo". Begin crinone 8% daily until beta test. Period starts 1 day before beta test, instructed to continue crinone and come in for blood pregnancy test anyways. HCG 0.343 mIU/ml, negative. Follow up appointment scheduled in 12 days.

over $50,000 for all diagnostic testing, cycle monitoring, medicine.

Dr. Kim Thornton is a straight shooter and I respect that about her. She didn't sugarcoat anything just to make us feel better, and I appreciated that. She was direct, to the point, and pretty serious. There was no hand-holding. I felt that she had put the best plan together for my specific situation, and trusted her medical expertise. At 28, my FSH levels and AFC was that of a 40 year old, and she diagnosed me with Premature Ovarian Insufficiency - time was not on my side. She felt that we needed to move straight to IVF and not waste any time, so we went for it. I appreciated that she felt the same sort of urgency that if I was going to have my own healthy babies with my husband, it needed to be ASAP. I met with her twice. Once for the initial consult just before Christmas, and once again in Feb after all the diagnostic testing. My first IVF cycle started in April and after 8 days of stimulation it was abruptly cancelled (on a Saturday), because not enough estrogen was being produced. I trusted her expertise, and was instructed to call on Tuesday (after marathon Monday) to schedule followup consult. When I called on Tuesday, I was told that she was on vacation for the rest of the week, and the next available appointment was 8 days away. Not only was she on vacation, there were no other doctors available that could talk to us sooner, except the emergency on-call doctor, but that wasn't an option. As a patient undergoing something as extreme and sensitive as IVF, I'm shocked that my Doctor would go on vacation without a back-up. I'm also shocked that there was no professional courtesy to give us a heads up that she was going away during the most sensitive part of the cycle (days 7 - 16!!!) because that's the critical time for everything IVF related. I would have postponed it, or asked for another Dr to monitor the cycle. Not only that, but I'm also left wondering if my cycle was cancelled because it was inconvenient OR if there simply wasn't anybody there to monitor my cycle.

Ask about upcoming vacation days that may occur during your cycle. Be proactive and be an advocate for yourself.

I'm 28, in-shape, besides my sub-fertility, I'm generally healthy. My husband and I were officially trying, but I wasn't getting my period. I went to see my OB after 6 months and he tested my blood work to see the thyroid/hormone levels. After that he referred me to Dr. Kim Thornton. She revealed that I wasn't ovulating at all, and my FSH was about 2x - 3x higher than it should be at 28. During preliminary ultrasound scans there were 8 antral follicles, not as many as there should have been for my age, but enough that she thought IVF was our best shot. She didn't want me to waste my time with Clomid or IUI. The goal was to stimulate the few follicles that I had with injectibles, and hope for high quality eggs. After diagnostic testing she prescribed levothyroxine to bring my Thyroid levels down. It was within the normal range, but was higher than ideal range for pregnancy, had me start the birth control pill, and start taking CoQ10 to help with egg quality. I continued taking a prenatal vitamin. Summary: Antagonist protocol 300iu Gonal F Redi-Pen and 150 Menopur during stimulation days 1 - 8. Cycle cancelled on stimulation day 8, not enough estrogen being produced. Stim day 6: Ultrasound + bloodwork 7am. Ultrasound technician wouldn't comment on anything. Nurse called around 1p and said that results showed 1 dominant follicle 10mm in left ovary and 2 - 4 small follicles in each. She also said estrogen was way too low and that my cycle may be cancelled, but for now Dr. Thornton wanted me to continue same dose of meds and come back for testing on stim day 8. Stim day 8: Ultrasound + bloodwork 8:30am. The ultrasound technician said there was nothing going on in the right ovary, but 1 dominant follicle 10-11mm and 10 follicles too small to measure in the left ovary. Nurse called around 1:30pm to say that the cycle had been cancelled, and to call on Tuesday to schedule followup meeting with Dr Thornton.

Dr. Kim Thornton was easy to communicate with, was very knowledgeable and adjusted the course of treatment based on my timeline, needs and insurance restrictions. She treated me like a person and was easy to talk to.

Dr. Kim Thornton is very experienced and has a lot of practice treating infertility issues.

We had already had frozen eggs being stored so the treatment protocol was fairly straight forward. She put me on birth control for 6-8 weeks to regulate my cycles and finish testing. When that was completed we started estrogen patches and pills. The next step is an ultrasound and blood work and depending on the outcome we will be discussing the transfer.

Most of my procedures have been covered by my insurance minus my co-pay and out of pocket expenses. Costs of treatments vary.

We are only allowed to transfer one embryo at a time based on my age and insurance restrictions. Dr. Thornton is passionate that multiple embryos lead to a more high risk pregnancy for the mom and baby.

I did not find Dr. Thornton to be a caring physician. She did not take the time to answer our questions or to fully explain everything that was going on. I always felt rushed and that I was taking up her time.

Do not go to her. Find a different provider or clinic.

Extremely knowledgeable, easy to talk to and gave us choices. We always felt like we had a say in the changes to the plans. She was very thorough. Sometimes getting an follow up appointment was hard because she is so busy. I missed a cycle because of it. Not sure if that was her schedulers fault though.

Be patient