Semara Thomas

I have no negative feedback for Dr. Thomas. From our very first consultation, she was kind and positive, while also setting realistic expectations and what problems and roadblocks we may or may not face. Everything went according to plan and I think she did a great job in adjusting medication based on how my body reacted. We love her and if we ever need a little extra help, we're going back to her.

I would tell them to trust her and the process, while also having realistic expectations. Don't be afraid to ask questions.

For IUI we had half a dose of letrozole so that we're only producing one egg. our IUI failed. For IVF: Egg retrival: we took 300 units of gonal and then 150 iu of monpur, and then gonal decreased to 150 on the 5th day. we did around 10 days of medication before getting novarel and lupron trigger shot 2 days or so before retreival Transfer: We did 4 mg of estrace for first 6 days, then increased to 6mg every day for the rest of the cycle. we started progesteron in oil + progesterone suppositories on the 10th day onwards, and we did the transfer on the 16th day after starting medication. We kept taking estrace, progesterone in oil + progesterone suppositories until the the 12th week or so of pregnancy

The cost was out of pocket for me. While they were closed during the pandemic they were a little harder to reach and coordinate with as we were preparing, which is understandable. I had a scheduled call with their finances, but I ended up getting a call from their CEO who walked me through financial options as well as what was covered. All procedures, testing, ultrasound and consultation was part of a packaged price, and medication and genetic testing was extra. Tests that were done with my hospital prior to starting care with CARE fertility were taken out of the package price.

We did single embryo transfer because of my uterus' limitations. She had warned me that it was risky for me to carry multiples.

Dr. Thomas was attentive, encouraging, and also very honest with me. She made a good balance of respecting my wishes to try lower intervention methods before higher intervention procedures while also being honest about the odds and potential challenges should I wait until after or closer to age 35

Her nurses/clinical staff are very helpful. Get their contact info/email addresses. Sometimes you’ll see them during visits and phone sessions instead of the doctor

Clomid used because I had conceived once before on that medication. We tried Clomid and injectables (Menopur) for 3 cycles before switching to Letrazole because Clomid made me very emotional/depressed. I was on Letrazole and Menopur for 1 cycle before I conceived

I had to pay for medications and some visits although I have fertility insurance through my employer (Progyny)

She is well informed and knowledgable and does her best to have fertility treatments happen as quickly as possible. I appreciate being able to get in touch with her to ask questions when I very much need to and find her to be someone who is easy to communicate with. Her only weakness is that at times she can speak rapidly without always giving enough time for information to be digested but her kindness and compassion are still present.

Just to follow up with her directly and be persistent if need be as she's busy and seems to want to be responsive.

First IVF without transfer done was about 24K, Second was around 16K and third 11K +6K for medication

People often use the phrase "dream come true". I had a goal without a reasonable path until I met Dr. Semara Thomas, I love this physicality and their process because the decision was all mine and they facilitated that as a possibility. They never gave up on me, and made me feel supported till the day my goal was met. If it was up to me I would rename them "A dream come true" I love my baby already and I haven't even met him. Thank you Dr. THOMAS you are TRULY my dream come true.

Be patient and trust the Dr. Follow her instructions and pray

She did ivf.

The financial department worked with me to make it affordable and make my dream come true

Multiple embryo transfer , 1 took and I am 5 months pregnant now

Dr. Thomas was everything my husband and I needed and more! I had experienced a miscarriage at 7 weeks (Feb. 2019) and a loss at 20 weeks (Feb. 2020). We had done all types of testing prior to meeting with Dr. Thomas to determine if I or my husband had fertility issues, but everything came back normal. We were told to keep trying, but after 10 months of ttc after the loss of our daughter, we felt that IVF may be our best option. We were uncertain if a doctor would see us because we technically hadn't been diagnosed as infertile, but Dr. Thomas listened to our story, understood our fears, and explained that she would do everything she could to ensure that we achieved our goal of having a family. She conducted fertility testing on both my husband and I and found out that I had a low number of eggs for my age and possibly poor egg quality. We started the first cycle for egg retrieval in Feb. 2021. However, I grew a cyst in my ovary from the medication and needed to cancel that cycle. I was devastated, but Dr. Thomas was compassionate and ensured that the journey wasn't over and that we needed to change the protocol. We started our second cycle in March, 2021, and Dr. Thomas changed the protocol to a more gradual approach. Throughout the monitoring period my eggs were growing, but not quickly enough. Because of that, Dr. Thomas made additional changes and added medications to ensure that we were able to retrieve quality eggs at the end of this cycle. Fortunately, we were able to do a retrieval and get 6 eggs, 3 matured, and from there 2 embryos were formed. Initially, my husband and I were a little disappointed with only retrieving 6 eggs because we've heard retrieving was about getting as many eggs as possible. However, Dr. Thomas was elated and reminded us that it's also about quality and that we produced 2 beautiful embryos. In May, 2021, we decided to transfer 1 embryo and it was such a special experience. Dr. Thomas and her staff made it such a calm and enjoyable moment for my husband and I. We watched as Dr. Thomas transferred our embroyo and she held my hand when I stated to cry from joy. Those days following the transfer were stressful, but Dr. Thomas and her staff were attentive and answered all of our questions. It felt that they were just as invested in ensuring a positive pregnancy test as we were. Fortunately, we had a positive test and my hcg numbers continued to double throughout the week! At 7 weeks we went in for our last appointment with Dr. Thomas and it was probably one of the saddest visits because my husband and I didn't want to leave Dr. Thomas. She treated us like family and the thought of continuing this journey without her and her staff was hard. But again, Dr. Thomas ensured us that this is a good thing! That we were pregnant and that her job was done. It was time for us to move on and watch this embryo grow. We are currently at 14 weeks and Dr. Thomas is still checking in on us.:) She is an amazing doctor and there are no words to express how much we appreciate her.

As fearful and stressful as this process is, trust Dr. Thomas because she will do everything she can to get you pregnant and having that dream family.

I went through 2 cycles before being able to retrieve. The first cycle was a more aggressive approach because we wanted to ensure that I produced quality eggs. The protocol was, Gonal F (225 units), Menopur (150 units), Dexamethasone (1 pill), Omnitrope-growth hormone (0.25 mL), Provera (10 units), HCG (10 units). Sadly, at 5 days in to the cycle I developed a cyst in my left ovary and we canceled the cycle. My second cycle we initially planned to be a fresh transfer, but changed into a frozen transfer. We started with Gonal F (225 units), Menopur (150 units) and HCG (10 units). Dr. Thomas later added Omnitrope-growth hormone (0.25 mL) because my eggs were not growing quickly enough. Once we added the Omnitrope my eggs grew and we were able to do a retrieval. I must note, that my left ovary was quiet/did not produce any eggs this cycle. We retrieved 6 eggs just from my right ovary, 3 were fertilized and 2 embryos formed. We chose not to do any pre-screening or testing on the embryos and transferred 1 embroyo in May, 2021. We're currently 14 weeks pregnant.

Dr. Thomas and Care fertility were in our insurance plan. However, we did have certain co-pays for tests, visits, ultra-sounds and medications not covered by our insurance. When we started, our insurance estimated out-of-pocket expenses to be $5000. We ended up needing to $4000 out-of-pocket, which we're currently on. payment plan for.

Dr. Thomas did not have a strong preference and left that up to us. We discussed with her my age, prior pregnancy history and the risk factors for transferring multiple, but in the end my husband and I decided on 1 embroyo.