How was your experience with Rachana Garde at Shady Grove Fertility?
Dr. Garde is very personable and relatable, and is the only woman that practices at the clinic I was at. In hindsight she was a little too optimistic and her hopes for a pregnancy with my own eggs ended up costing me a lot more than I thought I would expend to get pregnant, finally only having a viable pregnancy through donor egg (and two separate donors at that). I only saw her in person twice, once for my initial consult and once during an early ultrasound with my first pregnancy. The rest of the time all comms came through the nurse. I did have several phone calls with Dr. Garde to discuss the outcome of my miscarriages and the way ahead. She was always very supportive, but I feel like almost too gentle without providing solid recommendations for the next step, ie when to move on to donor egg.
What's one piece of advice would you give a prospective patient of Rachana Garde at Shady Grove Fertility?
Ask her the hard questions, because she will not tell you unless you ask. If you ask, she's very forthcoming.
During treatment, were you treated like a number or a human with Rachana Garde at Shady Grove Fertility?
Dr. Guarde is excellent in person and on the phone, and very relatable. My concerns are that she never informed me in advance when she would be unavailiable.....she was on vacation or otherwise not working during two of my three "own egg" transfers, which was very upsetting to discover in the moment.
Describe the protocols Rachana Garde used in your cycles at Shady Grove Fertility and their degree of success.
I did 3 cycles using an "antagonist" protocol, each with increasing doses of menopur and gonal F. My first cycle rendered the most eggs and embryos, but none of the cycles ever ended up producing a PGS-testable "blastocyst" and so embryos were implanted without testing, resulting in miscarriage or BNF. First cycle implanted 3 embryos resulting in week 11 miscarriage. Second cycle implanted 2 embryos resulting in week 7 twin miscarriage. Third cycle implanted 2 embryos resulting in BNF. Dr. Garde never explained the rationale behind the protocol or the increase in dosage or why she didn't want to use a different protocol. After the third cycle I moved on to donor egg.
Describe your experience with your nurse at Shady Grove Fertility. (Assigned nurse: Ashley (forget last name))
Ashley was very caring and supportive when providing the results of my blood tests.
Describe your experience with Shady Grove Fertility.
Shady Grove Fertility is very much a baby making factory that is interested in outcomes and not so much the care and treatment of the individual. But they get results....they just might not be the results you hoped for (pregnancy via donor egg instead of your own eggs) and the way you hoped (seeing your doctor verses the "on call" doctor).
Describe the costs associated with your care under Rachana Garde at Shady Grove Fertility.
I was a self-paying patient (no insurance coverage) and was provided a 25% discount for being active duty military. First 2 cycles were purchased as a group for ~$17000 (with discount) and 3rd cycle was purchased separately for ~$12000.
Describe Rachana Garde's approach to eSET (elective single embryo transfer) vs. multiple embryo transfer at Shady Grove Fertility.
We discussed very early on my desire for a singleton, but was convinced that due to advanced age that more embryos needed to be implanted, and my decision was helped because the embryos were not of freezable quality, so it was either implant or destroy, so I did the multiple embryo transfers.
What specific things went wrong at Shady Grove Fertility?
- Lost appointments
- Failed to call with results
- Failed to convey critical information
Describe the specific things that went wrong at Shady Grove Fertility.
Multiple times I had to call the emergency care number to get results and be provided the correct dose of meds or timing of my shots/appointments because they failed to follow instructions on which number to call. Admittedly, my schedule was unique, but I provided very clear instructions on which phone number to leave results but they often failed to read the notes in my file and called the wrong number which I could not reach remotely to verify the next step in my protocol. Fortunately, no cycle was ever lost due to the comms error, but it did cause extra stress that I did not need.