How was your experience with Samuel Brown at Brown Fertility?
I do feel he promised the moon and then when it fell flat, the viewpoint wasn't entirely adjusted. I'm far more of a realistic person and he's very optimistic which I'm sure most appreciated, but I preferred to hear it straight. As time went on he caught on and his approach switched and we was more forward and blunt about realistic chances. He was very personable, remembered personal details and our appointments were never rushed. That did lead to long wait times, but as frustrating as that could be, I'd be more frustrated if I was rushed. My longest appointment with him was 2.5 hours where we hashed out all the details.
My husband liked him a lot. He was very personable and would include the spouses in the conversations a lot. Face to face he was always great. The downside is that there's no direct contact with him not face to face. I understand why, but it can be frustrating at times when it's an answer only he can give. Though the nurses usually had my answer by end of day.
What's one piece of advice would you give a prospective patient of Samuel Brown at Brown Fertility?
Ask him to be realistic about your odds and chances. He can be a bit too optimistic and it can leave you reeling when it doesn't work out that way.
During treatment, were you treated like a number or a human with Samuel Brown at Brown Fertility?
The first cycle I felt a bit more like a number (many women experience first cycle success), but with the failure for any eggs to fertilize it was he who called me with that news instead of a nurse which I respected. With each subsequent cycle we've become even more acquainted and he really respected my opinion and research. I appreciated that he was willing to be as aggressive as I was willing to be. To the point the last cycle protocol was one I developed.
Describe the protocols Samuel Brown used in your cycles at Brown Fertility and their degree of success.
Oh boy. I've done 3 IUIs and 5 retrievals so this is long. All 5 were antagonist.
IUI # 1 – August 2017
Letrazole 2.5mg 2x per day CD 3-7
Trigger with Ovidrel on CD 9
1 follicle, Negative
IUI # 2 – October 2017
Letrazole 2.5mg 2x per day CD 3-7
Trigger with Ovidrel on CD 12
1 follicle, Negative
IUI # 3 – November 2017
Letrazole 2.5mg 2x per day CD 3-7
Trigger with Ovidrel on CD 12
2 follicles, Negative
Retrieval #1 – January/Feb 2018
Antagonist Protocol:
• Primed: 11 days BCP
• Stims (9 days):
o Gonal F: 4 days 225iu, 1 day 175iu, 2 days 150iu, 2 days 175iu
o Low dose hCG: 20 units
o Cetrotide: Day 7-8
• Trigger: Ovidrel
E2 day 4: 563; E2 day 7: 1152
Results:
• Retrieved 4, all appeared mature, all degenerated at fertilization
o Unable to access left ovary at retrieval
• Nothing to transfer
Retrieval #2 – March/April 2018
Antagonist Protocol:
• Primed: 10 days BCP
• Stims (11 days):
o Gonal F: 11 days 300iu
o Low dose hCG: 20 units
o Cetrotide: Day 8-11
• Trigger: Ovidrel
E2 day 5: 231; E2 Day 8: 802
Results:
• Retrieved 11, all appeared mature
• 4 fertilized, 7 appeared healthy/DNF
• 2 day 5 blastocyst, 1 day 6 blastocyst
o Fresh transfer of 1 failed
FET # 1 – July 2018
BCP for 2 months (partially for Lap); Lupron 28 days; Estriadol, 5 days PIO before transfer (100mg/2mL)
Negative beta
Retrieval #3 – August/September 2018
Antagonist Protocol:
• Primed: 23 days Estrogen (2mg 2x day) & Provera final 3
• Stims (12 days):
o Gonal F: 12 days 325iu
o Low dose hCG: 20 units
o Cetrotide: Day 8-12
• Trigger: Ovidrel
E2 day 6: 246; E2 day 9: 622; E2 day 12: 1367
Results:
• Retrieved 9, 7 mature
• 5 fertilized, 2 appeared healthy/DNF (lead follicles we sacrificed)
• 3 day 3 embryos (2ea 8cell, 1ea 4 cell)
o Fresh transfer of 3 failed
Retrieval #4 – October/November 2018 – USED DONOR SPERM
Antagonist Protocol:
• Primed: 11 days BCP
• Stims (11 days):
o Gonal F: 2 days 400iu, 7 days 350iu
o Low dose hCG: 20 units
o Cetrotide: Day 9-11
• Trigger: Ovidrel
E2 day 5: 282; E2 day 7: 468; E2 day 9: 1018; E2 day 12 (trigger day): 1811
Results:
• Retrieved 7, 5 mature
• 3 fertilized, 2 appeared healthy/DNF
• 3 day 3 embryos (1ea 8cell, 2ea 4cell)
o Fresh transfer of 3 failed
Retrieval #5 - January - March 2019
Antagonist Protocol:
• Primed: 6 weeks prior to stims 38 units of omnitrope daily; 10 days BCP
• Stims (11 days):
o Gonal F: 11 days 300iu
o Menopur: 11 days 150iu
o Cetrotide: Day 7-11
o HGH: 38 units continued through trigger day.
• Trigger: 2ea Ovidrel
E2 day 5: 386; E2 day 7: 512; E2 day 9: 1090; E2 day 12 (trigger day): 1960
Results:
• Retrieved 12, 9 mature
• 4 fertilized, 5 appeared healthy/DNF
• 4 day 5 blasts
o Fresh transfer of 2 successful
Describe your experience with your nurse at Brown Fertility. (Assigned nurse: Kristina & Jennifer)
They are all pretty wonderful women. Emily, the NP who does most of the monitoring is amazing. Kristina responds to emails super quick. Jennifer as well. All the nurse assistants are amazing too and cheered me on and let me cry on shoulders a few times. I can't complain about them at all.
Describe your experience with Brown Fertility.
Biggest weakness would be batching, but even with my diminished ovarian reserve (DOR), we managed to make it work to even do estrogen priming one time. The other is monitoring. They do schedule more than one person at each time slot and if someone is taking up more time with lots of questions it does push the times back. They do start people on different days and you aren't forced into a certain retrieval day either, just within a certain week though if you go earlier or end up later they will make it work instead of jinxing your cycle.
The strength is most everything is up to date and well taken care of. The clinic (both locations) is clean and well kept. Also HGTV is on in the waiting rooms all the time (which is amazing, my fave).
They have a good system in place and with a few tweaks it could be a pretty amazing system.
Describe the costs associated with your care under Samuel Brown at Brown Fertility.
The costs on the website are pretty spot on. We weren't really hit with any surprise fees. It's all included in the costs except for the cycle initiation fee $375 and anesthesia $350.
Describe Samuel Brown's approach to eSET (elective single embryo transfer) vs. multiple embryo transfer at Brown Fertility.
He starts with and recommends an eSET unless you're doing a day 3 transfer, multiple failures, or older. He will not balk at doing more than 1 after a failed transfer. We transferred 1 blast, 2 blast, 3 day 3, 3 day 3, 2 blast.
What specific things went wrong at Brown Fertility?
- Failed to order appropriate test
- Failed to send your chart to another clinic
- Provided conflicting information
Describe the specific things that went wrong at Brown Fertility.
Most of the wrong things were human error and one was a system. They were switching to a new records system when I was requesting my records sent over, but when I called about it, I did get my records sent to me and the other clinic.
The right tests didn't get sent once, but we were ordering somewhere around 35 tests at one time, so it's a pretty understandable error and quickly corrected. One time was the lab actually lost it versus the clinic.
Another was once given a different instruction than I was before, but that happened only once in about 50+ visits so I consider it a pretty good success rate.