How was your experience with Sanaz Ghazal at HRC Fertility?
Strengths: Dr. Ghazal is highly trained and has a lot of great experience in the field and she has the highest fertility rates in the clinic. When you ask her a question, she is straightforward, authentic, and detailed. When she shared information that I considered bad news for me, she was compassionate and did it in such a way that made me feel that there was hope for my situation. The only downside is that I did not get much contact with her and everything is communicated through her nurses and coordinators. Yet, when she did meet with you over the phone or in-person, she made you feel as though she was present with you and not trying to rush off to the next patient.
What's one piece of advice would you give a prospective patient of Sanaz Ghazal at HRC Fertility?
If you want a doctor who will be available by phone or text or more available, Dr. Ghazal is not the one.
During treatment, were you treated like a number or a human with Sanaz Ghazal at HRC Fertility?
Dr. Ghazal answered every single one of my questions each time I spoke with her. She has a great bedside manner and she makes it a point to answer your questions in a very detailed manner, so that there is no confusion. She listened to my struggle, and responded in a compassionate manner. I did not feel as though she was trying to rush me out of her office.
Describe the protocols Sanaz Ghazal used in your cycles at HRC Fertility and their degree of success.
Because I am an older person, with great eggs but with numerous complications with my uterus, the goal was to try to go slightly more aggressive with my medications, so that I can produce a lot more eggs for my egg retrieval, in the hopes that when the eggs are fertilized, I can get the most genetically normal embryos possible. Then I would freeze these embryos, fix the problems with my uterus, and then do a frozen embryo transfer. The goal is to be successful in maintaining a pregnancy and reducing the chances of miscarriage. I believe the drug protocol is similar for most IVF cycles, just the dosage may be different. The overall goal is to have one successful IVF cycle with great outcomes in regard to have a number of genetically normal embryos.
Describe your experience with your nurse at HRC Fertility. (Assigned nurse: Natalijia)
Regarding the clinic, there seems to be people switching into new roles often within the office. When it seems as if you are going to do a procedure right away, they are very responsive to emails and other forms of communication. Yet, it seems as though if your procedure is not happening for a few months, they take longer to respond to emails (if at all).
Describe your experience with HRC Fertility.
Weaknesses: They seem more responsive at the start of your process (consultation/diagnostic workup/treatment planning); yet if you wait a few months for the actual procedure, they seem less responsive to questions you might have. You can be on hold for a long time early in the morning. Financial people seem to change often. I would have preferred more direct contact with the RE to ask questions when they came to mind.
Strengths include having a very well trained doctor (Dr. Ghazal) with great rates of success. The cost of treatment is clearly delineated in their forms, so you are not going in blind. They have one of the best labs in the nation.
Describe the costs associated with your care under Sanaz Ghazal at HRC Fertility.
For one cycle of IVF, including genetic screening of any embryos, and freezing embryos, I was looking at a bill around $21,000 out of pocket. This estimate also includes the price of fertility medications for the one cycle. You can also tack on an additional $2000 to 3000 for diagnostic procedures conducted prior to treatment planning. These are all out of pocket costs.
Describe Sanaz Ghazal's approach to eSET (elective single embryo transfer) vs. multiple embryo transfer at HRC Fertility.
My doctor had a strong preference for single embryo transfer, primarily because there is a higher success rate for a single embryo transfer. Also, she explained that if you place more than one embryo into the uterus, you never know whether one of those embryos will split and produce twins and triplets. So she wants to reduce the chance of multiple unexpected growing babies.