Verified
This patient has provided documentation of treatment at this clinic.
2020, Unknown Success
Melanie Ochalski has a pleasant demeanor and automatically you feel welcome...spent time drawing diagrams to help explain what the body does during each cycle and how that contributes to infertility and relates to us...she was able to quickly interpret the results and put my mind at ease with any anxiousness I was feeling about the results...I understand optimism, but I want to know truly if moving forward with one treatment or another is not going to work
The nursing staff [at Shady Grove Fertility of Philadelphia] that I have seen so far have all been very nice and welcoming in the facility. They have provided me with care and helped to calm my nerves each time...The care coordinator we were assigned at the beginning of this journey was very informative...The clinic has always been clean and sterile...There has been very little wait time to get into the appointments
How was your experience with Melanie Ochalski at Shady Grove Fertility Pennsylvania?
Melanie Ochalski has a pleasant demeanor and automatically you feel welcome when you step into her office. Obviously, that is a main component when working with a fertility specialist.
For us, Dr. Ochalski took the time to get to know our history further than what we had written down on paper and took the time to get to know our fears and concerns. During our appointments, she spent time drawing diagrams to help explain what the body does during each cycle and how that contributes to infertility and relates to us. She did this each cycle and I felt that I understood more of what was going on. She took time to answer questions that we had and would take time to reexplain what we may not have understood.
During my HSG exam and Saline sonogram, she was able to quickly interpret the results and put my mind at ease with any anxiousness I was feeling about the results. During my HSG she had a calming presence that allowed me to relax and not feel as tense about what was going on.
The only weakness that I felt was that there were times where I couldn't tell if she was just giving me a line about our fertility journey and where we were headed. I understand optimism, but I want to know truly if moving forward with one treatment or another is not going to work. As we are not too far in the journey, maybe she will be more blunt further on.
What's one piece of advice would you give a prospective patient of Melanie Ochalski at Shady Grove Fertility Pennsylvania?
Go into the appointment with questions and concerns ready to go. They may change once you hear results or discuss further, but it was helpful to have items to discuss. She spent time addressing those questions for us and it helped to alleviate some of our stress and concerns.
During treatment, were you treated like a number or a human with Melanie Ochalski at Shady Grove Fertility Pennsylvania?
Dr. Ochalski took the time when we first met to get to know who we both were as individuals. She took the time to allow us the opportunity to tell our side of the story. My husband and I are both quiet by nature but she sat and listed to us during that appointment.
After our results came back, she explained to us the results and what we were looking at moving forward. Of course, it is hard to digest the words that we were hearing, but she allowed us to feel our feels and ask any questions that we had. She offered us at many times to reach out to her with questions as we continue in our fertility journey. Overall, it felt like we were heard with concerns and with questions that we had.
My only hesitation with saying i felt fully human was when she was talking about IUI and how this was our best option (later, we found out it would not be) she mentioned that we both are healthy individuals and that we would have no problem with the IUI. She then gave us numbers and it felt like that was something she might tell many patients, almost like a "line."
However, that was the only instance in which I didn't feel like a number. At this time, we have only recently started our journey but it feels good to be heard.
Describe the protocols Melanie Ochalski used in your cycles at Shady Grove Fertility Pennsylvania and their degree of success.
At this time, we are early in our journey and only had the diagnostic testing along with the consult about what our steps our. It was first recommended that we do IUI to begin with. However, after a sperm wash on my husband, Dr. Ochalski rejected this method because the sperm wash did not have as many good sperm as she thought would be there. Her next recommendation is IVF. Specifics for this treatment have not yet been fully discussed. We were looking into it and beginning the steps, but of course, with CO-VID 19, we are unable to do anything at the present moment.
Describe your experience with your nurse at Shady Grove Fertility Pennsylvania. (Assigned nurse: Care Coordinator- Cierra Steffe )
The care coordinator we were assigned at the beginning of this journey was very informative. She was very active on the patient portal and explained everything in the messages that she sent so we knew what we needed to do.
If she needed to call to schedule appointments or provide information, she would have the phone conversation and then within 15 minutes would already have sent out a message on the portal explaining everything in writing.
The nursing staff that I have seen so far have all been very nice and welcoming in the facility. They have provided me with care and helped to calm my nerves each time.
Describe your experience with Shady Grove Fertility Pennsylvania.
Shady Grove Fertility Clinic is a well known clinic in many states in the northeast. For this reason, I trusted them to provide the best care and was not disappointed. The clinic I frequent is small and friendly and each time I enter the doors I feel welcomed into the office.
One nice thing is that there are very little patients there at the same time, so you don't feel awkward waiting in the waiting room with lots of people. There are usually only 1-2 other couples there at the same time.
Since it's a smaller building, it can be awkward leaving the exam room and walking back out the door if other people are waiting in the waiting area, but it hasn't been a problem.
The clinic has always been clean and sterile. Each room is set up and ready for the patient prior to them entering. Each appointment check have gone smoothly and quickly because of this. There has been very little wait time to get into the appointments, so I am quickly able to go early in the morning prior to work as I know I won't have to wait around for a long time.
In the times that I have gone to the clinic for check-ups I have not had any bad experiences.
There have been times in which I have gone in and had to wait until the front desk receptionist was back at her desk. She often seemed to be elsewhere in the building and I had to ring the bell or someone else had to get her.
Describe the costs associated with your care under Melanie Ochalski at Shady Grove Fertility Pennsylvania.
When looking at IUI, the cost was about $2,000 dollars for the treatment which didn't include medications or anything like that.
For IVF, there were three tiers of options that were offered to us along with genetic testing and not genetic testing. The tiers for us can be seen below.
For IVF there are three options to choose from.
Option #1 - IVF Global (1 freeze all cycle includes cryopreservation, does not include the frozen embryo transfer (FET): $10,500
Option #2 - IVF Multi-Cycle (2 fresh cycle attempts): $18,500
Option #3 - IVF Shared Risk (6 fresh cycle attempts): $19,500 *Must be approved by Dr. Ochalski*
If you have PGS genetic testing of embryos:
Option #1 - IVF with PGS Global (1 cycle attempt includes cryopreservation. FET not included): $13,900
Option #2 - IVF with PGS Multi-Cycle (2 fresh cycle attempts): $23,500
Option #3 - IVF with PGS Shared Risk (6 cycle attempts): $24,500 *Must be approved by Dr. Ochalski*
This of course does not include medications, but Dr. Ochalski had mentioned that I would probably need about 2,000 units of medication and each unit translated to about $1.00 so we were looking at about $2,000 dollars in medication.
Our whole IVF cycle would not be covered under insurance.
Describe Melanie Ochalski's approach to eSET (elective single embryo transfer) vs. multiple embryo transfer at Shady Grove Fertility Pennsylvania.
I remember that in our phone consult about IVF she mentioned a single embryo transfer based on the number of viable embryos we got. She would transfer one per month. This was the last of the information we were given.