He [Dr. Mark Surrey] always remembered us and our situation. He would always contact us with lab results, new information or just to check in. He was very informative and always presented us with options in moving forward with procedures or testings...We began with an egg retrieval, followed by a FET cycle a couple weeks later. My fiancé experienced hyper stimulation, severe bloating and swelling. Resulting in 2 taps to remove the excess fluids. The hormone injections may have been too strong for her body. We retrieved 33 eggs, made 5 embryos, 2 were mosaic.
The nursing staff [at Southern California Reproductive Center] was awesome, all very sweet, welcoming and polite. My fiancé had a lot of discomfort with the ultrasound probe. Except with one nurse, Sue. Who was extremely gentle and aware of her sensitivity, so we requested her every time and the nurses would coordinate to make it happen...Very nice, clean, plenty of seating, calming environment with lots of natural light. 8am - 10am there is a lot of patients coming and going. The administrative desk can be a little distracted at times. It would sometimes take a few moments to be greeted or acknowledged if they were typing, filing, etc. But overall very nice. The nursing team was awesome, always available, after hours or on the weekends.
How was your experience with Mark Surrey at Southern California Reproductive Center?
Overall, Dr. Surrey was very great and very pleasant. He always remembered us and our situation. He would always contact us with lab results, new information or just to check in. He was very informative and always presented us with options in moving forward with procedures or testings. Financial stresses and work related challenges have been very present throughout our process. This is probably just a personal/emotional experience, but I felt as though Dr. Surrey was not mindful of our financial struggles. I understand he has an accounting department for that, but sometimes it almost seemed like we were encouraged to take the most expensive procedures/actions to move forward. However, if finances were not an issue, I probably would not feel that way.
What's one piece of advice would you give a prospective patient of Mark Surrey at Southern California Reproductive Center?
Educate yourself as much as possible, talk to others who have gone through IVF treatments successfully and unsuccessful. Don't be afraid to ask questions.
During treatment, were you treated like a number or a human with Mark Surrey at Southern California Reproductive Center?
Dr. Surrey was always very involved. He would personally check in on my fiancé in addition to his nurses calling us as well. If he solely spoke to my fiancé on the phone, he always volunteered to call me directly and relay the information, or encouraged me to call if we had any questions. We had a couple emergency situations, over a weekend, due to hyper-stimulation and Dr. Surrey, literally left the golf course to come see us at his clinic. He was also very warm and friendly and very familiar with our situation, considering all the other patients he has, it made us feel special.
Describe the protocols Mark Surrey used in your cycles at Southern California Reproductive Center and their degree of success.
We began with an egg retrieval, followed by a FET cycle a couple weeks later. My fiancé experienced hyper stimulation, severe bloating and swelling. Resulting in 2 taps to remove the excess fluids. The hormone injections may have been too strong for her body. We retrieved 33 eggs, made 5 embryos, 2 were mosaic. Of the 3 viable embryos, two were Day 7 and one was Day 5, which we transferred. Unfortunately our transfer was not a successful pregnancy. A couple months later we decided to do another egg retrieval and freeze. This time Dr. Surrey lowered the hormonal dosage, which prevented hyper stimulation happening again. This time we got 20 eggs and just froze them due to finances at this time.
Describe your experience with your nurse at Southern California Reproductive Center. (Assigned nurse: Paulina)
Paulina was great. Very responsive and thorough with information. The nursing staff was awesome, all very sweet, welcoming and polite. My fiancé had a lot of discomfort with the ultrasound probe. Except with one nurse, Sue. Who was extremely gentle and aware of her sensitivity, so we requested her every time and the nurses would coordinate to make it happen. Olivia was also very helpful, she was aware of our finances and helped in obtaining coupons for medications. Desta was also amazing. He was the phlebotomist that my fiancé always requested as well. She does not like needles, bruises extremely easy and has delicate arms, so his care was highly appreciated!
Describe your experience with Southern California Reproductive Center.
Wonderful clinic. Very nice, clean, plenty of seating, calming environment with lots of natural light. 8am - 10am there is a lot of patients coming and going. The administrative desk can be a little distracted at times. It would sometimes take a few moments to be greeted or acknowledged if they were typing, filing, etc. But overall very nice. The nursing team was awesome, always available, after hours or on the weekends.
Describe Mark Surrey's approach to eSET (elective single embryo transfer) vs. multiple embryo transfer at Southern California Reproductive Center.
Dr. Surrey was very neutral and didn't really encourage one way or the other. He educated us on the tradeoffs.