I like that Dr. Tran answers questions candidly. He never "sugar coats." I personally am data driven and prefer facts over feelings, especially in my situation (diminished ovarian reserve at 30 yrs old), so I prefer his approach. He's kind but not warm which is fine with me considering he's supposed to be my doctor, not my friend...[eSET approach] I am doing day 3 embryos because I have so few so we will be transferring 2.
my primary nurse [at Spring Fertility] she's been amazing throughout my treatment (I've been with them for almost 4 months now). She responds thoroughly to all my questions and is also generally kind...[check insurance]Apparently, insurance contracted rates are different then self pay rates. For example, paying for my medication through insurance would have cost $9000 against my lifetime max of $20k (for ONE cycle). That doesn't even count the procedure or monitoring appts. Self pay was only $1600
How was your experience with Nam Tran at Spring Fertility?
I like Dr. Tran because he seems very knowledgeable and data driven. I only have one complaint which is that he does not seem able to give recommendations on specific treatment protocols. I have very very low amh for my age, and at the beginning of my treatment, I didn't know if I should be trying to do multiple retrievals to get more eggs before trying a transfer. I asked what people in my situation normally do and he seemed hesitant to provide any detail and a comparison point for me. In addition, I've done 3 min stim cycles (oral medication + injections), the first two with clomid and the 3rd with letrizole because I wanted to do a fresh transfer with the last one. The first two went very well. The last failed in that my follicles did not grow. Although it's a small sample size, I would think we should want to go back to clomid and then try a FET. He wasn't able to provide much guidance for me. In that situation, I would have wanted advice. However, I think for liability reasons, they cannot "recommend" particular treatments protocols or fresh/frozen transfers so I'm not sure if this is something I can truly fault him for.
What's one piece of advice would you give a prospective patient of Nam Tran at Spring Fertility?
Be sure that you want a more scientific doctor as opposed to a warm and friendly doctor.
During treatment, were you treated like a number or a human with Nam Tran at Spring Fertility?
I like that Dr. Tran answers questions candidly. He never "sugar coats." I personally am data driven and prefer facts over feelings, especially in my situation (diminished ovarian reserve at 30 yrs old), so I prefer his approach. He's kind but not warm which is fine with me considering he's supposed to be my doctor, not my friend.
Describe the protocols Nam Tran used in your cycles at Spring Fertility and their degree of success.
I've done three retrievals with Dr Tran. All three were min-stim cycles meaning 5 days with clomid or letrizole and then another 4-8 days with gonal f and menopur (150 units gonal f, 75 menopur).
The first went very well- clomid seemed to work well for me and from an initial scan where only 2-4 follicles were visible, I had 6 eggs retrieved, 4 mature, 1 almost mature=3 frozen day 3 embryos; 2 ok quality, 1 good quality. That took 11 days total until trigger; 5 days of clomid and 6 days of stims.
The 2nd cycle similar thing happened- I had EIGHT follicles as of day 8 of the cycle! But unfortunately at retrieval, the doctor said 2 follicles on the left prematurely ovulated and they couldn't retrieve them. So we only retrieved 5 eggs, only 3 mature and 1 almost mature. Crazy enough, the 1 that was almost mature did mature and ended up becoming a Morula (stage between day 3 and blastocyst) and I had one other good quality day 3 embryo (both frozen). That took 9 days total until trigger, 5 of clomid, 4 days stims.
The 3rd was a disaster. I decided I wanted to try and fresh transfer so we switched to letrizole for the first 5 days. At day 5, I had a measly 3 follicles, one at 10mm, the other two small. Day 8, had more 6, but the largest one had only grown one mm. Day 11, I had 8 follicles but the biggest ones weren't growing. He made me go for another 3 days so in total, I did 5 days on letrizole and NINE days on stims. We ended up cancelling which I was happy about and to be honest, I was a little frustrated that they let me go that long bc it ended up doubling the cost of my medication that cycle.
After that, I knew logically I should go back to using clomid. So am going to do a 4th cycle, freeze only, and then do a FET after that. Dr Tran didn't necessarily push me that way but to me, it seemed obvious (even if the sample size was small).
Describe your experience with your nurse at Spring Fertility. (Assigned nurse: Jillian)
Jill was my primary nurse and she's been amazing throughout my treatment (I've been with them for almost 4 months now). She responds thoroughly to all my questions and is also generally kind.
Describe your experience with Spring Fertility.
Spring's facilities are clean and updated. The doctors, nurses, and receptionists were all lovely. However, Spring's billing department was frustrating to work with. The kind of insurance I have is a lifetime max. Meaning that once I've used up $20k, they won't cover anything else and we will have to pay everything out of pocket. It was very unclear what would be applied against my lifetime max. Apparently, insurance contracted rates are different then self pay rates. For example, paying for my medication through insurance would have cost $9000 against my lifetime max of $20k (for ONE cycle). That doesn't even count the procedure or monitoring appts. Self pay was only $1600! Would have been great for the billing department to have presented these options to me upfront and show how everything is broken down. The only thing they gave me upfront was a piece of paper that showed total self pay for my cycle with nothing itemized.
Describe the costs associated with your care under Nam Tran at Spring Fertility.
First cycle cost $13,049, 2nd cost $13,165, third cost $4,854 (was just medication and monitoring appts because it was cancelled). The first two costs are generally related to contracted rates between my insurance and Spring. A portion of that is out of pocket related to medication or certain procedures that are out of network. I expect the fourth cycle to be around $13k total.
Describe Nam Tran's approach to eSET (elective single embryo transfer) vs. multiple embryo transfer at Spring Fertility.
No comments. I am doing day 3 embryos because I have so few so we will be transferring 2.
What specific things went wrong at Spring Fertility?
Describe the specific things that went wrong at Spring Fertility.
Only one time did I confirm a day three baseline appointment over email with my coordinator and she forgot to schedule it. She told me I never responded but I can see via email I did. She quickly found another appointment for me though so it wasn't a big deal.
8
Clinic
Spring Fertility
San Francisco