Belinda "Sissy" Sartor

On my first visit with Dr. Sartor, I met with her for over an hour. She explained everything very carefully with me and made sure I understood all the costs and risks. She is very direct but sincere. I never felt as though she had given me false hope or made it seem impossible. During IUIs, she is very gentle and talks her way through it so there are no surprises. My only suggestion is that I wish I could see her more, instead of a nurse, on visits when they are adjusting the procedures.

If she doesn't call you back, her nurse definitely will before the end of the day. Don't worry if they don't get back to you within the hour.

My first IUI cycle we did 10 days of oral hormones, and 3 injections of Follistem. I had three good follicles, but a negative pregnancy test. My second IUI cycle, we did 2 weeks of birth control, then 5 days of oral hormones, and 3 injections of Follistem. We also followed up with progesterone after the IUI. I had one good follicle, but a negative pregnancy test. We skipped the following month because I had a very large cyst on one of my ovaries. My last IUI cycle we did 8 days if Follistem, I had three good follicles and the best sperm count we've ever had, but still, a negative pregnancy test.

An IUI cycle averaged $2500-$3000 depending on the amount of injectable medication.

n/a

I saw Dr Sartor 4 times- initial consult, pre IUI consult, my third IUI and IVF consult after the third IUI failed. During the course of my treatment, I found out I am BRCA 1 positive, putting me at higher risk for ovarian and breast cancer. My treatment started with one round of unmonitored Femara. Instead of improved ovulation, I had an annovulatory cycle. The next step was IUI with ovulation induction. I started with Femara and Menopur and an HCG trigger shot. My first cycle was 1-2 follicles, second cycle was the same. The third cycle started with 2 weeks of birth control pills due to a large cyst at start of cycle. Then went on to the meds continuing with the same. But this cycle was different in that my body didn’t respond right away and so through the nurse Dr Sartor kept upping my dose of Menopur. Finally after 3 weeks of stimming we had 4 follicles. But again the cycle failed. Next step would be IVF. Dr Sartor was recommending ICSI, PGD (for BRCA 1) and possibly assisted hatching. We didn’t and still don’t have that kind of money. And medical loans have a very high interest rates. We weren’t interested in taking on such massive debt. As much as we want a family we have to be prudent. Also Dr Sartor pushing for PGD was very uncomfortable especially when we found out it was 12000 per cycle minimum. We stepped away from treatment at that time and have been trying on our own since.

Be prepared to stand up for yourself. Don’t let her rush you or steam roll you.

I don’t remember dosing but all cycles started with Femara then Menopur injections with dosing going up as needed for response. I also used gonadotropins to prevent early ovulation and an HCG trigger shot for the 3 IUI cycles. After each insemination the doctor performing it would determine when to start oral progesterone supplementation. I only had 7 dpo progesterone testing once and never had a pregnancy test through the office.

I don’t remember any costs. IUI was about $1500 without meds.

Had we progressed to IVF Dr Sartor only wanted to transfer one embryo. Her reasoning was that you don’t know if someone has an incompetent cervix until something happens so she wants to prevent it.

Our experience with Dr. Sartor has been everything we hoped it would be. Nothing can prepare you for infertility. However, once you realize that infertility treatments are necessary, you hope for a doctor that will strive for success and treat you with compassion and understanding along the way. Dr. Sartor has been that and more for us. She is always prepared with the most recent information and takes the time to walk us through it. She is positive and also realistic, so you know exactly what to expect. We are looking forward to beginning IVF treatments with Dr. Sartor and hoping for a successful outcome.

Never be afraid to ask questions or for further explanation. Dr. Sartor considers each and every question/concern you have and answers it thoroughly based on scientific evidence and statistics.

In April of this year, I became a patient of Dr. Sartor's after receiving a diagnosis of PCOS and advanced endometriosis. After careful examination, ultrasound and review of my case, Dr. Sartor came to the same conclusion and developed a protocol for me. On April 20th, Dr. Sartor performed a hysteroscopy, D & C, and laparoscopy to remove 4 large endometriomas. While I was under, she also performed a hysterosalpingogram. I had excellent results from the surgery, as Dr. Sartor was able to remove all signs of endometriosis, while still keeping both ovaries and tubes in place. Now completely healed, I have begun IVF treatment with Dr. Sartor and will start stimulation medications in just a few weeks.

I felt she was thorough at first but when my first IUI failed she wanted to do the same protocol again. The only reason we changed it up is because I had questions and requested the appointment. Otherwise, we would have repeated the same thing over and I would have never seen her. Also, after a patient spends thousands how do you sit across from them with very little emotion? It just feels cold there at times. I also don't think doctors did deep enough to find the root cause of the issue. When paying cash I shouldn't have to come with lots of questions each time.

Come prepared and have lots of questions and don't be afraid to ask or you will get the same standard protocol as most pastients.

2 failed Femara cycles with timed intercourse and BFN both times. 1st IUI was with Tamoxifen, Follistim, Ganerelix, & 5,000 hcg trigger. IUI was 24 hours post trigger & BFN. 2nd IUI changed slightly because of questions I asked. Tamoxifen, Follistim, Menopur, Ganerelix, Lupron/2,500 hcg trigger. IUI 36 hours after with a BFN. She stated that the reason for pills with injection was there was no evidence to suggest that injections only in an IUI cycle was more successful & it cost more.

Dr. Sartor is very kind and extremely knowledgeable. She was honest about my chances of conceiving with my own eggs, but did so in a gentle manner. She told me pretty early on in treatment that donor egg route was my best chance. She was always positive and hopeful.

Be your own advocate. Ask any questions you can think of and expect an honest answer.

I don't remember the name of the protocol used. I started on Lupron injections, followed by bravelle and menopur every evening for 13 days. I was taking 4 vials each and that was adjusted throughout the 13 days. I wound up with 8 eggs on this cycle and 7 of them fertilized. By day 5, transfer day, I had 4 embryos left of varying quality. I transferred 3 (I was 40 years old at the time of transfer) and froze 1. I did get pregnant from this cycle, but lost the baby due to miscarriage at around the 7 week mark.

The medications cost me around $7000 in total. I had to order more than originally thought necessary. The procedure itself was right around $12000 and I added ICSI which was another $1750. There were different packages available for multiple cycles that would have been slightly discounted.

Due to my age at transfer being 40, Dr. Sartor and I had agreed to transfer up to 3 embryos.

Dr. Sartor went above and beyond to put my husband and I at ease during this very uncertain time. She always took the time to thoroughly explain our protocol including procedure, what to expect, medications, risks, etc. Not only did she answer all of our questions we were always presented with the most recent evidence based information. We felt like she spent as much time with us as we needed and never felt rushed. Being in Dr. Sartor’s care made this difficult time a positive experience. I truly do not feel like we would have had the same outcome with any other doctor. I believe that I would not be holding my 10 week old daughter if it was not for her. We look forward to being in her care when we decide to continue to grow our family.

As always, come prepared with any questions you may have and have an understanding as to what to expect for your first visit.

I had 3 egg retrievals, 5 embryo transfers, 2 endometrial receptivity arrays. -1st egg retrieval resulted in 8 embryos -1st frozen embryo transfer (transferred 2) resulting in singleton pregnancy -Miscarried at 10 weeks- testing showed that it was a result of trisomy 13 -Along with Dr. Sartor my husband and I decided to do genetic screening on the remaining 6 (2 came back as healthy embryos) -2nd frozen embryo transfer, transferred one resulting in negative pregnancy test -2nd egg retrieval resulting in 6 embryos- after PGS testing we were left with 2 -3rd frozen embryo transfer- transferred one- resulting in chemical pregnancy -Dr. Sartor recommended doing the endometrial receptivity array due to the chemical pregnancy and potential endometrial problems that could have arisen due to the difficult D&C I had with 1st pregnancy and miscarriage -1st Endometrial receptivity array (ERA) recommended another day of progesterone support before embryo transfer -We decided to do a 2nd ERA to confirm this -2nd ERA did indeed confirm extra day of progesterone support needed -4th Frozen embryo transfer resulted in a negative pregnancy test -3rd Egg retrieval resulting in 11 embryos- after PGS we were left with 7 -5th Frozen embryo transfer (transferred 2 embryos) resulted in positive singleton pregnancy -We now have a healthy 10 week old daughter and 5 embryos remaining.

I don't feel like Dr. Sartor cared about me as a patient. I don't think she would even know who I was if she saw me in the waiting room. She was once out of town for a scheduled IUI procedure, and I had no idea until a different doctor showed up to preform the procedure.

Don't go.

I don't remember.

I appreciated Dr Sartors experience and knowledge of the practice, however I didn’t always feel as if she was sensitive to the hormonal emotions involved - specifically depression. Dr Sartor seemed to be very well versed in the numbers and statistics, however pinning her down to explain something in layman’s terms felt difficult to schedule and sometimes even harder to understand. Not her fault, but I felt my diagnosis didn’t come until after my final failed IUI before moving on to IVF, I’m unsure if that is just an unfortunate part of the process or if that was a product of her method of practice to seek pregnancy over diagnosis.

Listen. Have your questions ready, she may not go out of her way to discuss topics that she might not consider relevant.

My insurance required 6 rounds of IUI before moving to IVF. Dr Sartor would have progressed us to IVF sooner (after 3 IUI). The medications increased with each failed IUI, this was mostly do to follicle response. Each failed IUI cycle the number of follicles and readiness in size improved with the changes in dosage.

I was enrolled in a High Deductible Health Savings Plan, I paid out of pocket up to 3000 depending on the plan year and then all other expenses were covered 100%. I was allowed to pay as I went for IUI, however the clinic wanted payment in full up front for the IVF (my out of pocket max) and then we settled insurance later

We were able to transfer two embryos at our discretion before the laws had changed to only allow one. There wasn’t much discussion or emphasis on her preference as to whether we transferred 1 or 2. I seem to remember transferring two was just the thing to do at the time.

Dr. Sartor is very thorough and is always willing to answer questions and explain something further when we didn’t understand. I always appreciated her honesty with us and felt like her advice always had our best interests in mind. Our treatment plan was customized to the challenges we faced and was ultimately successful.

Don’t hesitate to ask any questions you may have. In our experience, she’s great at educating her patients.

IVF - I believe we paid $18k and that included one transfer and the first year of embryo storage. This didn’t include medication. IUI - About $1000 plus $400 or so for the procedure. I can’t remember if this included the medication or not.

Dr. Sartor is good at what she does. Her curt bedside manner might not be for all, but she knows what she is doing and will give you a clear concise course of action to get you pregnant. We saw her for a long time through both IUIs and IVF.

Be prepared for a no nonsense approach to your treatment. She is very direct and won't mince words.

We started with IUIs because we were both young and had no known fertility issues (we are a lesbian couple). After several attempts without success we decided to move onto IVF cycles. We did two egg retrievals. After the first egg retrieval, we had five embroys. We did two transfers resulting in two miscarriages. With only one embryo left, we opted to do another egg retrieval. This time we got a lot of eggs and about 19 embryos. We used two and elected to freeze the best ten and nine made it. We got pregnant for twins in that fresh cycle after the egg retrieval.

Egg Retrieval cycles were about $16,000 all in (including medicine). FRET cycles are about $4,000 all in.

Dr. Sartor was very thorough and explained the process every step of the way. She was kind and was reassuring when we had negative tests. She was almost always positive but not unrealistic in what our expectations should be. I am a mom now because of her, what else is there to say.

Ask questions! Do not hesitate to say if you need somethings explained more thoroughly.

I don't remember the protocol I was on.

I would go for blood testing and ultrasounds on my lunch hour and I was always in and out of the clinic. Saturday is the only day that it is crazy busy and you have to wait.

The IUI itself was about 3,000 not including meds and the IVF was 12,000 for two rounds, not including meds.

Because of my age and fertility issues we always did multiple embryo transfer. With that said, Dr. Sartor was always careful to explain the pros and cons and left the ultimate decision up to my husband and I.

I loved Dr. Sartor. She is a very smart and brilliant. Unfortunately sometimes I thought her work load was too much. At this clinic you deal with the nurses alot more. But when I did have time with her it was amazing. She always had something new she was willing to do to try again. Also this clinic ran lots of blood test every visit, which i thought was good. The problem is I don't have the fiances to keep trying new things. but like with all of invitro it is a gamble.

Have all your questions together for when you meet with her.

hum wow.... Well we used patches, pill, and 2 injectables. I went in every 2/4 days to be monitored. I have very good results with producing 18 eggs. But I was hyper-stimulated. I have to go in before a fresh transfer to drain some fluid .

IVF 16,000... PGD 5,000 FROZEN TRANSFER 3500

She is willing to do what you really want.

She is kind and compassionate but straight forward. She has high expectations of the staff. She is meticulous but caring. She is very thoughtful about your plan. She is a clear communicator. You can tell she thrives off of excellence and patient experience.

Be honest with her and ask her anything you want.

I ended up using donor eggs, per her recommendation. So far, I've been on BC pills for 21 days. On day 17 I started Lupron injections 20u daily. Next week I add estrogen patches as we build up to the transfer. And then start progesterone.

They worked with my insurance and I have paid about $5500 out of pocket so far.

She is open to hearing the patients thoughts but keeps patient safety in mind first and foremost.

Sissy was very informative and positive. We didn’t always agree on course of action, but in the end I’m so happy I trusted her judgment. She gave a true perspective of all expectations and courses of treatment. Any questions or concerns we had she made sure to answer in a very professional and timely manor.

It’s a very long road, but trust your doctor. She knows best.

I don’t remember. It all seemed like such a blur with many ups and downs.

They were quick and easy

We had to pay for sperm retrevial, egg retrieval, three transfers and medicine for all. A total of $30,000

She is very insistent on single embryo transfers which I appreciate now that I’m so informed on IVF.

I have no qualms with her! I’ve found that I have to ask for numbers and data from my cycles. I’m a data lover though and want to know everything (not just that things are looking good and processing right). She’s makes it easy to have those conversations though! She’s very warm when you’re having conversations!

If you like to know more information, definitely ask!

I loved how she described the process what it looks like for us and the next steps in going forward.

flat fee