How was your experience with Tanmoy Mukherjee at RMA of New York?
I'll repeat what I had said before: Dr. Mukherjee at RMA was recommended by a friend, who hasn't had a successful fertility experience, but I trusted her recommendation. He was always kind and took time to email respond, sometimes quickly, sometimes after some days. When I did see him for consultation or ultrasounds though, I found that sometimes I didn't ask all my questions because he seemed very busy and rushed. He did call me personally though, when to tell me about my one frozen embryo not making it past Day 3 or Day 4, even after the nurse had called me after the bad news. I did an egg freezing cycle with him in July of 2019 (out of 4 follicles, only 1 egg was viable and was frozen) and then I tried an embryo freezing cycle again in February 2020, and this time, there were 5 follicles but again, only 1 egg was viable and was successfully fertilized by my partner's sperm, but didn't make it to Day 5. It was heartbreaking to then end up with nothing after spending $17,000 or so when all was said and done. At our last consultation, Dr. Mukherjee said our best chance was to try naturally as I had a low reserve and rather than spend tens of thousands of dollars, that was our best bet, but my partner and I decided to change to a different doctor at Weill-Cornell who has been very kind and thorough and spent over an hour with us at our first consultation, patiently. He was recommended by a different friend who had a successful IVF cycle with him.
So in summary, Dr. Mukherjee was pretty much kind, but we just felt rushed each time we saw him and then at our last consultation to discuss the failed embryo, he seemed to be pessimistic about future fertility treatments and didn't really seem to hear us that we were thinking of a second child. Also, the only thing that changed about our protocol between the first egg freezing and the 2nd time which was embryo freezing, was that he added Clomid and Ganirelix to my protocol. I took all the Clomid prescribed (5 days) and 1 day of Ganirelix, but the result of 1 egg harvested was the same.
What's one piece of advice would you give a prospective patient of Tanmoy Mukherjee at RMA of New York?
Be sure to ask all your questions and not let him make you feel rushed and shy -- also, bring your partner when possible as I found that my partner was more assertive and not shy when asking questions, whereas I was. It was good also to have my partner there to make sure I didn't forget to ask anything. Have your questions written out in advance on your phone or wherever so you don't forget anything. I do remember once when I needed a signature from a doctor about getting physical therapy for my shoulders continued that he was happy to help me, and I do appreciate that. Also, he helped expedite my getting all my medical records, especially after my failed embryo freezing cycle.
During treatment, were you treated like a number or a human with Tanmoy Mukherjee at RMA of New York?
Dr. Mukherjee at RMA was recommended by a friend, who hasn't had a successful fertility experience, but I trusted her recommendation. He was always kind and took time to email respond, sometimes quickly, sometimes after some days. When I did see him for consultation or ultrasounds though, I found that sometimes I didn't ask all my questions because he seemed very busy and rushed. He did call me personally though, when to tell me about my one frozen embryo not making it past Day 3 or Day 4, even after the nurse had called me to convey the bad news. I did an egg freezing cycle with him in July of 2019 (out of 4 follicles, only 1 egg was viable and was frozen) and then I tried an embryo freezing cycle again in February 2020, and this time, there were 5 follicles but again, only 1 egg was viable and was successfully fertilized by my partner's sperm, but didn't make it to Day 5. It was heartbreaking to then end up with nothing after spending $17,000 or so when all was said and done. At our last consultation, Dr. Mukherjee said our best chance was to try naturally as I had a low reserve and rather than spend tens of thousands of dollars, that was our best bet, but my partner and I decided to change to a different doctor at Weill-Cornell recommended by a different friend, who had a successful IVF cycle with him.
So in summary, Dr. Mukherjee was pretty much kind, but we just felt rushed each time we saw him and then at our last consultation to discuss the failed embryo, he seemed to be pessimistic about future fertility treatments and didn't really seem to hear us that we were thinking of a second child. Also, the only thing that changed about our protocol between the first egg freezing and the 2nd time which was embryo freezing, was that he added Clomid and Ganirelix to my protocol. I took all the Clomid prescribed (5 days) and 1 day of Ganirelix, but the result of 1 egg harvested was the same.
Describe the protocols Tanmoy Mukherjee used in your cycles at RMA of New York and their degree of success.
I did an egg freezing cycle with him in July of 2019 (out of 4 follicles, only 1 egg was viable and was frozen). The protocol included Gonal-F and Menopur and the trigger shot. I actually started taking the injections fully on Day 4 because my Day 2 was a Sunday, and they told me to come in on Monday. After some confusion with Freedom Pharmacy and also the quite unclear videos from RMA on the injection methods (because I didn't have my medications or syringes with me to get a real life demo from the nurse), I ended up not injecting Gonal F or Menopur fully on Day 3. I'm not sure if my lateness in finally getting the injections correct meant that I had less stimulation, but anyway, I did manage to get 1 egg harvested and frozen. I was hoping for 2, but they said that one of the eggs was already degenerated when they harvested them.
I then tried an embryo freezing cycle in February 2020, and this time, he added Clomid and Ganirelix to my protocol. I took all the Clomid prescribed (5 days) and 1 day of Ganirelix, but the result of 1 egg harvested was the same. There were 5 follicles, and Dr. Mukherjee was hopefully that we could get 4 or 5 eggs harvested. But while the one egg that was harvested was successfully fertilized by my partner's sperm, it didn't make it to Day 5. It was heartbreaking to then end up with nothing after spending $17,000 or so when all was said and done. At that time, United Healthcare helped cover some medications, but I mainly used my 75% discount Compassionate Care card. My insurance did not cover the cycle. At our last consultation, Dr. Mukherjee said our best chance was to try naturally as I had a low ovarian reserve and rather than spend tens of thousands of dollars, that was our best bet, but my partner and I decided to change to a different doctor at Weill-Cornell who has been very kind and thorough and spent over an hour with us at our first consultation, patiently. He was recommended by a different friend who had a successful IVF cycle with him.
Describe your experience with your nurse at RMA of New York. (Assigned nurse: In July 2019, it was Antionette Wearing; in February 2020, it was Abigail Epstein because Antionette apparently had left RMA. I will review Abigail Epstein since she is still there at RMA. But I would have rated Antionette poorly as she was very bad a communicating; perhaps that's why she's not there anymore.)
The first nurse Antionette Wearing was ok, but I can't even remember meeting her in person. She didn't really explain things clearly to me, and this would have been essential as it was my first cycle and I had never done injections before. I don't think she was there on my first nurse visit, so I spoke with another nurse. I remember being particularly frustrated when it seemed that Freedom Pharmacy and RMA were making me determine things about the medications that were totally unclear to me (regarding dosages, units, etc.) and I just broke down crying at some point while on the phone with a different nurse at RMA because Antionette wasn't available. The stress of the egg freezing cycle was already overpowering, and the fact that they each seemed to expect me to already know everything despite the videos not being totally clear was unfair, I felt.
My other nurse Abigail Epstein when I did the February 2020 cycle was much nicer and attentive and I saw and met with her often. I think she was in training when I was doing my last cycle, actually, and she remembered my partner also. Anyway, of course I knew much better what I was doing, but unfortunately, the cycle wasn't successful as an embryo freezing cycle, and that makes me a little doubtful as well of the 1 egg I have frozen still at RMA. Other than that, whenever I spoke to a nurse if I had questions at my monitoring sessions, they were always helpful and kind and did in fact call back (almost always) if I left a message.
Describe your experience with RMA of New York.
RMA was recommended to me many times, via Facebook, via friends, etc. so I went with them. They seemed professional, but definitely it felt like a factory there, and a little disorganized. The waiting room was a bit depressing; I think for your first cycle, things are overwhelming always and for subsequent cycles, you get used to things more. I thought the nurses who gave the bloodtests were super pro; the doctors giving the ultrasounds for monitoring always seemed in a rush though they were professional, but I remember the first time I went for monitoring, they didn't even instruct me on what I should do next or even if I could wipe myself off with what materials and what to do with the gown...they just left me there. Luckily my partner was there. It didn't feel like a particularly nurturing environment. But I talked to a friend who had had success with IVF and that did help because she warned me about the factory feeling.
Describe your experience with your monitoring appointments at RMA of New York.
It was convenient to have this monitoring hours range, but I found that the earlier I went, the faster I was seen. If I came in closer to the end of the period, I had to wait much longer.
Describe the costs associated with your care under Tanmoy Mukherjee at RMA of New York.
For my most recent cycle, I paid about $2550 in medications, $750 for anaesthesia, $13,115 for the embryo freezing cycle, so total was around $16,415. I believe the egg freezing was about $9,000 for the cycle and other costs were similar.
Describe Tanmoy Mukherjee's approach to eSET (elective single embryo transfer) vs. multiple embryo transfer at RMA of New York.
We never got to that point - we didn't yet intend for IVF, only embryo freezing.
What specific things went wrong at RMA of New York?
- Failed to call in prescriptions to pharmacy
- Provided conflicting information
- Failed to convey critical information
Describe the specific things that went wrong at RMA of New York.
Mainly it was concerning miscommunication with Freedom Pharmacy. I don't remember all the details, but I remember being confused with the dosage and also because Freedom was mail-in only, I ended up using Kings Pharmacy because they were local and I could go there in person. I remember the big failure with Freedom Pharmacy was that it was a Sunday that I called them, and they couldn't ship out on Sundays. The other error on their part was that just before they closed, they left me a message that they needed my verification before charging my credit card because it was a large purchase, but they did not tell me ahead of time that they would need my verification, so I missed their call and thus my medications were shipped late. RMA did at least give me Gonal and Menopur to take for the first day at least -- but as I mentioned before, I didn't inject the Gonal correctly (it wasn't clear on the video that one had to press the pen all the way in -- and then for the Menopur, the video only showed the injecting of the saline solution into one of the vials - it wasn't clear to me that 1 amp was 2 vials. All these were not clear and for the first time ever dealing with needles, I thought that the nurses could have taken way more time in showing me in person how to inject. She just said "watch the videos, it shows everything" and it indeed did not. Anyway, the first cycle was very stressful in dealing with the pharmacies and RMA in general. I found it exhausting to have to explain everything to a different nurse every time.