Mark Trolice

From the moment I met Dr. Trolice in his bow tie I knew he was going to be different than the other office/doctors I had seen before. Upon consultation, he knew exactly who my husband and I were and he had fully prepared beforehand by knowing all our medical history. We sat down with him for over an hour, going over every single thing we had done prior, testing and treatment. We went over my history, my husbands history, medications, etc. h was very thourough and we appreciated that because other doctors are so act to assume you may have one issue, may prescribe you medication you don’t need, etc. He took me off meaningless medications I was taking because he took the time to understand my history and realize this medication was doing nothing for me but making me feel sick ALL THE TIME. At our consultation, we had only been TTC for one year and he agreed I had PCOS and that I was most likely ovulating. The probability of me ovulating every month had never been communicated to me by prior doctors. In his opinion at that time I did not need to jump head first into IVF and because my husband had a normal SA he did not recommend IUI. He told us we could try on our as he suspected I was ovulating and that is what we wanted to do. He didn’t pressure us into any treatment. I had taken Letrozole with the previous doctor and had good response so he had us continue on with that. We were relieved that he was willing to let us try on our own for a little longer before we went for something drastic, despite having done two miserable failed IUI’s elsewhere. My husband hadn’t done as much googling as I had so Dr. T took the time to explain to my husband the right time for us to try, when I needed to come into the office for ultrasounds to check my follicles, etc. He answered every question we had and then brought up helpful things we didn’t even know about. We went thru two months of treatment and we didn’t have one on one time with him, but the staff during this time. Fast forward to one year later, I still wasn’t pregnant, and I wanted to see Dr. T again. I went in for my appointment fully expecting for him not to remember me, but alas I was proven wrong. He chatted with me about my running and cycling hobbies, something we had talked about at our first meeting. Then we got into the real important discussion, the reason I was there. This time he recommended we start proceeding with IVF. I hadn’t had a pregnancy in the two years I was trying and while I could of done lots of other things first, he wanted me to know what my best chance of success would be up front. I was terrified because we don’t have the money laying around and we don’t have family to borrow from. He eased my mind by telling me I had so many option available to me. He didn’t pressure me to decide to start IVF when I got my period. He wanted me to go home and talk to my husband and decide when it would be best for us and if it would be best for us. He understood and made it clear that it was ok for us not to do IVF and we would be just as important as every other patient. What’s right for one person isn’t right for everyone and he just wanted us to know our best option and go from there. It’s a huge relief when the doctor is upfront and honest and not just trying to “sell” us expensive treatment. He sat with me for over an hour at this appointment and went thru all the details of IVF, what I would expect, what I would feel, everything. He answered every question I had and when I had even more questions following my appointment, I emailed him the very next day and he responded within the hour providing me with answers to my questions and again offering no pressure when we said we had discussed our options and wanted to move forward with IVF in December 2018, because we needed time to figure out how to pay for it. I forgot to mention that he called us after our first appointment the following day making sure we didn’t have any lingering questions. I’ve never had a doctor that made me feel so completely comfortable like Dr. T. He is honest and extremely compassionate and when you’re going thru infertility that is one of the most important qualities for a doctor to have. Another being that he is so quick to respond to an email or phone call. I’m sure he’s extremely busy but he makes us feel like we’re the only patient he has. I’ve recommended him to anyone that’ll listen to me.

I’d recommend preparing questions in advance. Don’t hold back during your meeting if you have a question or concern. He’s extremely knowledgeable and he will take the time to answer or walk you thru anything.

I felt like a human with Dr. Trolice because from our initial meeting and onward everytime I’ve spoken to him in person, on the phone, or in email, he and the staff always know who I am and what is going on with me. I don’t feel like they are just talking to me not knowing who I am. They actually come across as vividly understanding the patient they are speaking to and I never have to go into some crazy monologue of who I am and what the plan is.

I did two rounds of Letrozole at the max doses Fe, 3pills for 5 days. It’s been almost a year so I’m not remembering what else we did but I do remember going in for multiple ultrasounds to make sure my follicles we good and the treatment cycle was safe to proceed with.

The staff is just as wonderful as Dr. T. They always return calls and emails within the same day (this is huge to me, my old doctor would go 5 days without returning calls). They’ve always been able to answer my questions and not treat me like a number. When I called for my second appointment they were able to squeeze me in promptly and at a time that worked for me. So happy to be working with these people who make me feel like family.

The clinics strengths are definitely compassion, knowledge, care, and understanding. They don’t treat you like a number. I haven’t figured out the weakness yet because I’ve been really satisfied but if I do I’ll be sure to send you an update.

I used insurance for everything so far, but our cost for our future IVF cycle is $6,550 in physician fees. $4,600 in lab fees and outside prescriptions running between $3-5,000

We haven’t had this conversation yet. We’re still saving to begin the treatment cycle and go over protocol.

To be honest, I don't see many weaknesses from Dr. Trolice. He is matter of fact and is up front with what to expect -- which is always comforting to me. He is very intelligent and shares his wisdom with us all. He is very present in the social media world, he's always doing live Facebook videos to answer questions to the masses. He is very detailed oriented and spends time ensuring his patients feel good about next steps. He is always optimistic, which puts me in a good mindset. For example, any time we've done an IUI, his saying is "Let's make a baby" -- he will always entertain me with a picture afterwards (because, you know, I want this all to be documented to share with my family and friends). I feel so comfortable with him that I have in fact recommended him to my best friend also struggling with infertility.

Don't wait, get enrolled with their practice ASAP.

Dr. Trolice and his team are with you every step of the way. To me, they feel the highs and lows with you. They are always concerned on how we are "feeling" -- because, they care and at the end of the day, want the same results we do.

So far, we have only done IUI's. 4 to be exact. The first IUI was successful and gave us so much hope. Unfortunately, at week 6-8 we couldn't locate a heartbeat and had to go through a miscarriage. Since the first IUI was successful, we agreed as a team to do another. And another. And another. At this stage, we are looking to do IVF.

Oh, the nursing staff. From the front desk to the ultrasound table -- these ladies took great care of us. They reassure us when we are at a loss, they show light at the end of the tunnel and genuinely care about your wants and needs.

Strengths - you have the best staff working side by side with you. Weakness - the only weakness is struggling with infertility in general, although, this is not something the staff/clinic can overcome, that is my only con.

It was under $300 for a consultation with Dr. Trolice. Ultrasounds varied between $170-$220. Blood work wasn't much. IUI's were about $1000.

Dr. Trolice was great during the initial visits. Once IVF was underway, the communication was lacking and the ball was dropped many times. The slowed embryo growth was not told to us until 30 minutes after we arrived for the embryo transfer. This didn't give us time to really consider our options. We felt rushed and uneasy about what was being presented so matter of factly. Getting directly in touch with Dr. Trolice even after the transfer was near impossible. He never went over the possible causes of our failed transfers with us. After spending thousands of dollars, we were out of money and no further ahead than when we started. After expressing my concerns about his practice, Dr. Trolice never reached out to rectify the situation.

I would advice prospective patients to seek treatment elsewhere. The nurse failed to communicate medication increases on 2 separate occasions which negatively effected our transfer. Communication is a major issue. If you seek treatment here, make it your daily job to call to make sure you have all necessary information. Dr. Trolice would order medication increases and we wouldn't find out until a week after the fact. We would have to call the after hours nurse to get any information because our assigned nurse was very hard to get in touch with.

Prior to stimulation, the staff was very attentive and easy to get in touch with. From the point of stimulation through my two embryo transfers, the nurse assigned to me was almost non-existent. It was hard to get ahold of her and she rarely had the information needed when I could reach her. The negative pregnancy test and then the chemical pregnancy that occurred were almost ignored. No information as to why the transfers failed were ever discussed but they were always quick to get you to sign up and pay for another transfer.

High dosage on stimulation medications due to delayed response the first few days. Endometrial scraping for our gestational carrier but both were not helpful due to the timing of the scraping in comparison to the actual transfer date. The transfer date was delayed for each transfer, so the money spent for the scrapings were a complete waste.

Amy has terrible communication skills, does not follow through with relaying information from the doctor, very hard to get in touch with, and shows little compassion considering the field that she's in.

The billing department is very easy to work with and get in touch with. They were always there to answer financial questions and guide me along the way. The nurse that I was assigned dropped the ball on too many important things. Communication as my biggest concern. I rarely knew what was going on and spent a lot of time trying to find information from anyone who would take a minute to speak to me. The lab closed for a couple weeks which delayed my embryo transfer and caused my GC to be on medication for an extended period of time, thus increasing the overall cost.

Dr. Fees, administration fees, lab fees (these fees are in addition to any quote you receive about 4-6k)

The lab does not rate the embryos at all, so you can't make an educated decision on which embryo to transfer. I still don't know how they chose which embryo to transfer each time. Single embryo transfer is recommended for most under 35 years old.

Dr. Mark was a really great doctor. He did all my procedures. He made sure I was comfortable with the choices he presented and didn't give a cookie cutter approach to our diagnosis. He was aggressive with stims and that was what we wanted. We wanted an aggressive approach to our issues.

Write things down, ask questions when needed, he will be open and honest and supportive of your journey, no matter the reason you're there.

He spoke TO me, not at me. He listened to me and I felt like he heard what I was saying, rather than waiting to speak.

We did three IUI's with Letrozole days 5-9 and triggered with Ovadrel. These did not result in a pregnancy. We did an Antagonist protocal for stims. He wanted to be aggressive with stimming because the goal was to perform the stims once and get as many eggs as we could. We started with 21 days of birth control. Starting with day 1 of the cycle following birth control, we began Letrozole and an Antibiotic as well as baby aspirin. Day 2, 3, 4 we added Follistim at 300U per day. Day 5 we began Ganirelix in the AM and Follistim in the PM. Day 9 we triggered with Pregnyl. Day 11 we went for retrieval. Dr. Mark got 14 eggs, of which 13 fertilized with ICSI, of which 6 viable embryos made it to the freeze. We did not PGS test the embryos. We did a frozen transfer because of the aggressive stims treatment and Dr. Mark's desire to have the body back to "normal" post-hormone stimulation. He believes that it's important to have the body be back to normal before implanting an embryo. We started progesterone in Oil shots as well as Estridiol patches five days prior to the frozen transfer which resulted in a viable pregnancy. I am currently 6 weeks pregnant. Post positive pregnancy test, they performed two HCG beta tests. Each week I return to have bloodwork monitored and they make adjustments when necessary for my progesterone shots and estridiol patches. A sonogram will be performed at 7 weeks to check for a heartbeat.

The nursing staff, including Amy, were amazing. I always dealt with Amy when it came to medicine and my cycles. I always had the same blood nurse, the same financial consultant. This was very important because they came to know me as an individual and not a number.

Comfortable waiting room, kind staff, always willing to aid in your comfort with drink or snacks. They have an education room where they train you on things like shots and stim meds. You will come to call this place your second home. Always ask if they need a urine sample before you go!

Ultrasounds were $250. HSG was $750. Saline Sonogram was $750. Each IUI including meds was $1400 which including all monitoring. Stim Meds were $4300. IVF was $17000. Frozen transfer was $4000 Post monitoring was included in cost. Post transfer meds were $900

Dr. Trolice had me go through 5 cycles using the same strength of medications because every time I responded well to them. He was kind and thorough when explaining the procedures. If something was going to be painful or uncomfortable, he made sure to tell you up front so there weren't any surprises.

As with any doctor, try to be as complete as possible in telling him what you have gone through and are experiencing. Sometimes the things we don't think mean anything are actually symptoms that can be treated!

I felt like Dr. Trolice actually took the time to read my chart before coming in the room. He wasn't flipping through pages while talking with me. Also, he made eye contact while talking with me.

This clinic was centrally located and was pretty easy to find. Overall the staff were helpful and kind.

The IUIs were covered by my husband's insurance so each visit only cost us the office visit co-pay.

Dr. Trolice really made you feel like his heart was fully vested in your treatment plan. However communication and attention to details or clearly communicating those details seemed to be an issue.

Pay attention and be your own advocate. Be informed. Ask questions. Clarify!

Dr. Trolice always seemed to show such compassion and care for us. He was sympathetic and understanding.