Stephen Greenhouse

Dr. Greenhouse was always so gracious to me. After a significant number of days on stims, my follicle count was very low and we risked not getting any eggs at all. Dr Greenhouse sat down with me to let me know what my options were - and told me he'd support me with either option I decided. He was compassionate and I appreciated that very much. I have met other Doctors who were "to the point" and not as "warm" - I am so glad that I was treated by Dr. Greenhouse and not someone else with poor bedside manner.

If you're seeing Dr. Greenhouse, you are in good hands. He's a great doctor and very skilled. Ask all the questions you need - he was very patient and throurough with my list of questions.

At any fertility clinic, its easy to feel like a number. Because there were so many people in and out for bloodwork and ultrasound, its easy to think you're rushed but you're not. You have the opportunity to ask as many questions as needed and interject however many times you want. I never felt as that other many other patients around me affected my experience. If anything, it comforted me to know that others are going through a similar journey.

I have .3 AMH and endometriosis. We started off with 150 Menopur with 450 Gonal F. After a few days, we increased the Menopur to 225 and then added Cetrotide in the mix. Trigger shot was Novarel. They saw 3 follicles, a 19.5, 17.1 and 11.8 but unfortunately, I think the big one got to big and the small one was undetectable. I came out with only 1 egg retrieved. But that one egg was mature. Thank God.

Anne Miller was great. She always responded timely to my needs. Jennifer Butler-Symonds was also incredible amazing. She gave me all the information I needed, even when I was confused or felt like a basketcase and was worried about everything. She also met with me when I came into the office, to give me extra needles because I ran out. I loved my interactions with Jennifer. It helped tremendously during such a stressful time as this.

I think the clinic could do better with the front desk staff being more attentive, with looking you in the eye and addressing you as soon as you reach the counter. There was one woman who was very kind when greeting patients, but some of the others were not as friendly as they ought to be. Same with the women who draw blood. I absolutely loved India but the other tech wasn't as warm. The clinic's strength is their proven reputation and their ability to be the leader in fertility treatments. I think with scaling such a business, SGF just needs to keep maintaining the quality of interaction between patient and provider.

I paid $9,000 for the retrieval, monitoring, egg storage for 5 years and fees. I then also paid around $7,000 for medications for a total of $16,000.

I was only treated for egg freezing so those options were not needed.

Dr. Greenhouse is very personable. He takes the time to check on his patients, even when it may be inconvenient to him. He is a bit technical when it comes to explaining cycles and treatments. I have no complaints about the treatment I've received with him as my primary doctor.

Make an appointment early.

Dr. Greenhouse is a fantastic doctor. He is the only doctor I've seen, in recent memory, to have made personal calls to me on the weekend to check and see how I was doing - twice! - in my earlier cycles with an ovarian cyst, and in my most recent cycles with a miscarriage. I don't get that kind of personalized care from any of my other physicians. Also, the staff at Shady Grove are generally warm and friendly when I go to any of the offices. I've had some billing issues, and have had to wait what seemed like a long time for an appointment (only once, though), but when there are issues, the staff are very understanding and have worked hard to resolve the situation to my satisfaction.

My first three IUI cycles were unmedicated, using a trigger HCG shot (ovidrel). Fourth cycle was with clomid and ovidrel, fifth, successful, cycle was using injectable meds (gonal-f) and ovidrel. The strategy was to go from cycles requiring the least assistance, to those requiring just a bit more assistance, since I was relatively young (37) My latest round of donor egg/donor sperm cycles have included the use of Lupron (for two fresh cycles), birth control pills, and delestrogen and progesterone in oil IM shots. My donor egg cycles have included more meds, because I'm older, and the chances of obtaining normal pregnancy with OE is much, much slimmer. I didn't want to risk an abnormal pregnancy, so we went right to donor eggs, and the protocols that go along with fresh transfer and FET cycles.

Shady Grove is a large enough practice to offer all types of options. Some think it's too large, and everyone is treated like a number, but I have never received treatment like that. I appreciate that such a huge practice is available to me, basically in my backyard.

I was self pay for treatments for my IUI cycles, so there were generally no problems. My insurance at the time paid for most of my meds. My total out of pocket for treatment in 2007/2008 was $13,000. For my recent DE/DS cycles, I'm using Shady Grove's shared risk program - out of pocket was $30,500, plus various co-pays through insurance for meds. Lupron was $400, delestrogen was either $12 or $50, depending on generic, PIO was $12, and then minor amounts (less than $10) for needles and syringes.

We agreed on eSET. There was never really a discussion about transferring multiple embryos. I was adamant about only wanting a singleton pregnancy, and the risks of eSET resulting in multiples were the highest I would tolerate.

Dr. Greenhouse was always pleasant and informative in person. Dr. Greenhouse took time to explain everything to us and allow us to make the best decision for our situation. He was also prompt to answer emails and address any questions or concerns we had throughout our infertility journey.

Dr. Greenhouse is direct and informative if you are looking for a doctor who is more emotionally supportive he might not be for you.

The doctors and nurses at shady grove were amazing and it was actually bittersweet when we "graduated".

Maureen was helpful and organized in coordinating my care. At times she was difficult to communicate with and hard to reach.

Shady Grove has excellent and friendly staff at the front desk who take the time to know you. Scheduling is easy and accommodating. The ultrasound techs are amazing.

Monitoring hours were from 7-9am during the week at he Fair Oaks office. For weekend monitoring you did have to go to Annandale or Rockville which was inconvenient. The staff did the best they could to get you in and out of the office in a timely manner.

Costs seem comparable to other infertility doctors in the area.

I wish he had been more straightforward on my need to loose weight. He put it gently which led to me not being clear on the need to lower my BMI, which was what lead to my cancelled cycle. But once I was clear we were able to proceed the next minth

To go see him!

Dr Greenhouse always took the time that talk to my husband and me. Our nurse Ing staff was always welcoming and gentle

Each cycle and med leD to further development of our plan - so by the time we did our first fresh cycle it worked. It helped knowing how each response worked into developing the next cycle. It was always explained. Responses to Jed's were explained, alterations were explained.

The entire nursing staff was great. When they filled in, they explained who they were and were very caring.

Caring, compassionate, SUCCESSFUL. As large as their patient base is, they do make time for each patient, and you really get a feel No of confidence working with them.

Well oiled machine. Daily hours at lots of locations. In and out, always efficient.

$1500 for all cycles. (Thank you insurance)

He wanted us to do eSET, but having been through so many cycles my husband and I wanted to do two...which he was ok with. I am glad he was too because we got our family"

He was very thorough and reassuring making even my husband comfortable with the process that he was unsure of completing. His explanations were very understandable and informative without being overly optimistic or negative.

SInce we'd already done clomid a few times with my regular OB-GYN he ran tests on myself and my husband and determined IVF would give us our best results. We conceived identical twins on our first round of IVF.

They were great at creating a schedule that was predictable and most of the time easy to work into staying at work as much as possible. They were very responsive to all questions and concerns. Everyone kept us well informed as we went through the process.

We used the middle "package" where it included up to 2 egg retrevals and several frozen transfers. Medications were not included. We spent about $25,000 total. Insurance didn't cover anything but the initial tests.