How was your experience with Pravin Goud at California IVF: Davis Fertility Center?
I felt as though Dr. Goud came with a fair amount of knowledge and experience. He and the other doctor I saw in the clinic were able to back up everything with the latest research and statistics. It was important to me to have a doctor that not only was forwarding his own knowledge, but had a learning and research based practice, and I felt comfortable with Dr. Goud due to this as he was published in his own research and was curious about making sure he had all the information and testing needed to address my issues.
What's one piece of advice would you give a prospective patient of Pravin Goud at California IVF: Davis Fertility Center?
Be open and honest about your concerns, don't be afraid to speak up, because he is open and willing to address these. Don't be afraid to question why they do what they do. I was so confused at first as to why they did things so differently from my previous clinic. An IUI is an IUI is an IUI, right? But both Dr. Goud and Dr. Zeringue (who completed one of my IUIs) were open to this, and backed it all up with research. They never seemed offended or too proud or conceited to answer my questions.
During treatment, were you treated like a number or a human with Pravin Goud at California IVF: Davis Fertility Center?
It may have been because I came in guns a'blazin' after my rough experience with my previous doctor, but I felt like Dr. Goud was very responsive to my concerns. He tailored my testing to address my concerns and tailored my cycle to address the failed cycles. They actually refused to start treatment when they were waiting to get results back from some nutritional tests. He listened when I said I'd rather get more testing done on the front end rather than push through and try treatments blindly.
Describe the protocols Pravin Goud used in your cycles at California IVF: Davis Fertility Center and their degree of success.
We completed 3 IUIs with letrozole. Dr. Goud wanted to change the medications as I had not had successful cycles with clomid. I believe they may have also tried different sperm washes as well. None of our IUI's resulted in a pregnancy and he recommended we move on to IVF.
Describe your experience with your nurse at California IVF: Davis Fertility Center. (Assigned nurse: I don't recall her name)
First I will say after my last experience with a previous clinic in which almost all of my treatments and communication was with the nursing staff or nurse practitioner, I was impressed with this clinic in that the nurses were responsive and knowledgeable, but all of the treatments were either with my doctor or the doctor on call. This clinic only had one more doctor on staff (3) than my previous one (2). My IUI nurse gave me a one-on-one injection class to show how I was to mix, dose, and inject the HCG trigger and my shots after the IUI. One thing I didn't like was that when I asked to leave a message for my nurse, the front office would take a message, rather than sending me to her voicemail. I was always nervous about this, that my message would be jumbled or lost, but was not my experience. My messages were always returned, and not jumbled to my knowledge.
Describe your experience with California IVF: Davis Fertility Center.
When I went there, they were between their Sacramento clinic and the Davis clinic. It was a little confusing as I always had to clarify which clinic I was going to and the one in Davis was very small, which made the busy days very awkward, with lots of couples crammed in there, trying not to make eye contact. There was one day we were there for a treatment and the nurses and staff all lined up to applaud and congratulate a couple who was leaving that had gotten pregnant. It was sweet to see what a big deal they made it and the couple left in (happy) tears. They are now settled in another Sacramento clinic and no longer using the others, so the confusion I mentioned before should not be an issue any longer. I liked that they have a partnership with UC Davis, and went so far as to send me to a MFM doctor at UC Davis prior to beginning IUI. Also, when I called to make an appointment for my first IUI, they checked my chart and then told me I couldn't start until the tests the MFM doctor had requested were performed. They apologized profusely, explaining that if I started and the results came back with concern, the cycle would be canceled and they didn't want to risk that. Having come from a clinic that I felt was just herding us through and not doing their due diligence, I couldn't be upset with this and was thankful that they were so thorough.
Describe the costs associated with your care under Pravin Goud at California IVF: Davis Fertility Center.
All my visits and testing were covered under my insurance. We paid out of pocket for the IUI's, which were less than $1000 per cycle. We also had to purchase a $100 trigger shot that was used at each cycle.
Describe Pravin Goud's approach to eSET (elective single embryo transfer) vs. multiple embryo transfer at California IVF: Davis Fertility Center.
This was not discussed with him as we never completed an IVF cycle with this clinic.
What specific things went wrong at California IVF: Davis Fertility Center?
- Failed to convey critical information
Describe the specific things that went wrong at California IVF: Davis Fertility Center.
Nothing specific or as serious as what I had marked, but I did want to note that during my second IUI, Dr Goud noticed an endometrial cyst and did not discuss it with me at first. This was my only real complaint with him. At first, he said he was just checking on things and tried to make it sound light, but I knew that wasn't true as he had not spent that much time on my ultrasounds or taken pictures of the ultrasounds and color contrasts of the images before. He had noted it in my chart though, so at my next visit, when Dr. Zeringue did the IUI, he mentioned that "with the endometriosis, it may take a little longer." When I questioned him and stated that I didn't have endometriosis, he was the one to tell me that I had an endometrial cyst and while that wasn't a diagnosis, they were just going to operate under the assumption that I had endometriosis.