How was your experience with Matthew Cohen at Northwell Health (FKA North Shore Long Island Jewish)?
Dr. Cohen strengths is the way he approaches his patient’s. He’s very caring and careful with his words in describing an outcome that may not occur. When I first sat down with Dr. Cohen he first explained to me why the human body preforms the way it does. And that no amount of medicine or modern technology can change that. With that said, he laid out for the reason why it would be extremely hard for a women my age to get pregnant naturally with my own eggs. He told me this information in a way as if he was letting me down easy and not to have high expectations. He was not rough by saying, “you too old to get pregnant”. He did recommend using donor eggs, but at the same time he did not force it or say to me that this was my ONLY option.
What's one piece of advice would you give a prospective patient of Matthew Cohen at Northwell Health (FKA North Shore Long Island Jewish)?
With the number of years he has in this profession, I would tell them to consider all of his advice and follow it. And understand, that’s he’s trying to help you get pregnant and not discourage you from starting a family.
During treatment, were you treated like a number or a human with Matthew Cohen at Northwell Health (FKA North Shore Long Island Jewish)?
He treated me with kid gloves. As an expert in this filed he told me delicately that because of my age the expectations will not be good. But at the same time he was very encouraging because of my AMH levels which is high for a women of my age.
Describe the protocols Matthew Cohen used in your cycles at Northwell Health (FKA North Shore Long Island Jewish) and their degree of success.
Usually in a women my age, my AMH would be low and my FHS would be high. But because my levels were good, Dr. Cohen was more excited than I was to start treatment. This encouragement from him made me feel more enthusiastic about starting fertility treatment regardless of my age. On my first round of treatment, Dr. Cohen had me on 300 iu of Gonal F and 150 of Menopur per day. He did this for about 12 days (I can’t remember the exact number of days). Again his rational for this protocol was because my AMH levels where 1.1. He was able to retrieve 13 eggs.
Describe your experience with your nurse at Northwell Health (FKA North Shore Long Island Jewish). (Assigned nurse: Vahida Gilic, RN)
Very informative and walked me through each progress step by step. Called me every night to see how I was doing on the medication. She was concerned about any side effects. She was also very encouraging because my of AMH levels.
Describe your experience with Northwell Health (FKA North Shore Long Island Jewish).
I would tell any person coming into this clinic that the fertility clinic and the laboratory that maintains the sperm are 2 separate entities. I would tell them that they would have to be on top of the laboratory to ensure that they have the doctor’s orders that the it is followed exactly.
Describe your experience with your monitoring appointments at Northwell Health (FKA North Shore Long Island Jewish).
You could go in between the hours of 7 to 11 for monitoring, but I always made sure I have an appointment for 7:00 am. One time, I was not able to get an appointment until 7:30 am. I did this so that I could ensure I would get seen and leave the clinic by a certain time because I still had to go to work. If you did not have an appointment, you had to wait but was still seen.
Describe the costs associated with your care under Matthew Cohen at Northwell Health (FKA North Shore Long Island Jewish).
Since my insurance only cover 80% of treatment my co-payment was $4,000. My insurance does not cover fertility medication, which $8,000.00
Describe Matthew Cohen's approach to eSET (elective single embryo transfer) vs. multiple embryo transfer at Northwell Health (FKA North Shore Long Island Jewish).
Because of poor egg quality, we were not able to transfer any embryos.
What specific things went wrong at Northwell Health (FKA North Shore Long Island Jewish)?
Describe the specific things that went wrong at Northwell Health (FKA North Shore Long Island Jewish).
When my partner left his sperm sample, the Laboratory was to analyze and store his sample. Instead the lab analyzed and threw out his sample by mistake. We did not know this until the day before retrieval. Because of my partner work schedule (he works for MTA) he just could not get off to come with me the next morning to produce sperm while the doctor was retrieving my eggs. Which is why I would tell anyone coming in that they should stay on top of the lab.