Thomas Vaughn

I trust Dr Vaughn completely. He has been at this for so long and I fully trust his expertise. He can be blunt but also warm. He has talked me off the ledge more than one and told me to be kind in the way I speak about my body.

Don’t be afraid to ask a lot of questions. And yes he has an insanely firm handshake! But it doesn’t bother me!

I saw him for IVF and so far 2 eSETs. In 2016 I had my egg retrieval and he was helpful in monitoring my progress and we got 21 eggs which turned into 9 embryos. In 2016 he transferred a frozen embryo using Crinone. That failed and he suggested (but didn’t push) an ERA biopsy to check my receptivity. The first one came back pre-receptive. He gave me the option of transferring right away with that information or of undergoing a second ERA to double check that 1 more day of crinone would work. I opted for the latter, and I came back POST-receptive which is crazy. Then, he told me we could do just half a dose of crinone even tho he had never seen that result before. I ended up getting pregnant “naturally” with my daughter right after the second ERA. Now I’m in a sibling cycle. His protocol changed and I did an eSET with a trigger shot and femara, no crinone. That didn’t work and so I asked for another biopsy.

He strongly prefers eSET at least for my age group

I was treated like a human with him he always showed compassion and took the time to answer any questions I may have . I never felt uncomfortable with him once I always felt at ease and that he knew exactly what to do. I trusted everything he said and wanted to do and he got me pregnant with my miracle baby boy and I’m forever grateful for him!

Trust him! He knows what he’s doing !

He had told us to go right to ivf but said if we wanted to try IUI we can but he wouldn’t do more than 3 because of my diagnosis . He said it was silly to waste time . We decided to do 2 IUIs before moving on to ivf . Our first IUI was with 5 mg of femara for 5 days . I produced 1 follicle . 2nd IUI was with follistim injectables my dose kept going up every visit . I also produced one follicle . Both iuis were unsuccessful . We moved onto ivf and I was on 450iu follistim and 150iu menopur daily and added in cetrotide at the end. He knew I needed high doses because of my IUI with injectable . I stimmed for 13 days today and retrieved 8 eggs , 6 were mature and we ended up with 2 five day embryos to freeze .

Under our insurance we are covered 100 percent for IVF . I paid some copays for our visits with TFC . We had to pay out of pocket for ovation which is the lab because they aren’t in network with most insurances . So we had to pay the majority out of pocket due to this.

I think putting in 1 embryo was a good choice . I didn’t think to put in 2 or more honestly as I know it can be scary with multiples and I had been pregnant before . I was totally fine with that choice

Dr. Vaughn always is upfront about risk, what to expect and chances. He is calm but direct and changes his approach if you are not understanding terminology. I never felt rushed or like I couldn't ask more questions.

Dont wait. If you are having trouble go early and often. No question is off limits, make sure you understand and have all questions answered.

Clomid and iui was used for several years, because inwas not ready to admit i needed to go to the next step. Dr. Vaughn was patient and allowed me to go at my own speed based on comfortability. We added gonal f injections with iui and progesterone and had 1 miscarraige and 1 live birth. After that we went to ivf with gonal f, progesterone and one other drug that I cant think of. I had 1 negative, 1 tubal pregnancy and 1 live birth (one other live birth but we are not 100% sure if it was from tubal or natural)

10k per ivf cycle, 3k frozen transfer

My doctor recommended 1 or 2 embryo transfers not any more. My age and history was part of his decision.

Dr. Thomas Vaughn is punctual and I appreciate that he respects his patience’s time. He’s a great listener and I feel he has my health and safety in mind when suggesting different protocols. After each failed IUI and FET’s he’s called me every single time to check in and to answer any questions I might have had.

If you don’t understand all the abbreviations, ask. Ask lots of questions, write them down prior to your appointment

4 cycles of Timed intercourse clomid/Ovidrel first iui was Clomid/Ovidrel 2nd - 4th IUI Femara/Ovidrel 1st FET estradiol, Crinone & PVS 2nd FET Estradiol, Crinone & PVS Upcoming 3rd FET Femara, estradiol, Ovidrel & PVS (potentially scheduled for 3/20/18)

So far since October 2017 - current we have spent $31,000 NOT including all the other cycles like IUI and timed intercourse. Between Texas fertility, Ovation Fertility, CPL and the Austin Surgery Center. MY insurance doesn’t cover anything regarding fertility.

The first two FET Dr. Vaughn would only transfer a single embryo. Now that we are on our 3rd he is open to transferring two embryos

Dr. Vaughn is amazing! I truly can't think of any weaknesses at this time. He has been a calming influence through this stressful time and I leave my appointments feeling encouraged. He's 100% on time all the time so I've never had to wait more than 2 minutes to be seen which was great for my work schedule. He always wrote down for me how many follicles I had maturing and what he hoped to see next visit.

Don't be afraid to ask questions. Dr. Vaughn will answer them all.

My protocol was set by my initial doctor who went out of town shortly after beginning treatments and Dr. Vaughn didn't want to change the protocol. He did extend my treatment by a few days as I was not responding very well to the stimulation meds. While disappointing to spend money on an extra 3 days of injections, it was well worth it as the egg retrieval was very successful.

Unsure

He's obviously incredibly experienced and has an amazing reputation in Austin. He's older gentleman, and I was initially a little nervous about being judged for pursuing a modern, slightly nontraditional family, but never felt that way. I did get the impression my case was a little...boring for him? My fertility issues were minimal, and in the decision to be more aggressive (with the health risks that involves) vs play the waiting game (with the financial & emotional stress that involves) he definitely leaned toward the latter.

My first cycle was completely unmedicated, and my period arrived nearly a week earlier than planned. Dr. Vaughn thought either I hadn't ovulated despite a positive OPK, or I had a short leutal phase. I explained that this period was very out of the norm for me, but for the next cycle he recommended I take Femara to ensure I ovulate, and 200mg of progesterone 4 days after the IUI. The side effects of the progesterone were extremely unpleasant and for the next cycle he recommended I cut them in half to 100mg. After my third failed cycle I expressed desire for a laparoscopy to confirm my self-diagnosed endometriosis (I had discussed my pelvic pain with Dr. Vaughn, but symptoms were mild-ish and nothing showed up on the ultrasound, and he seemed ambivalent about progressing to lap until my third failed IUI). I had a laparoscopy and hysteroscopy done by my regular OB/Gyn so insurance would cover the procedures and she found and ablated one small lesion and removed an adhesion. Fourth IUI back at the fertility clinic, preformed by a different doctor due to timing- I got my first positive.

Pretty much $200 for everything--ultrasounds and IUI. Fertility evaluation was covered by insurance.

Dr. Vaughn is incredibly thorough and direct, while also positive and compassionate at the same time. He always is kind and keeps things light, without trivializing what we're going through. He truly seems invested in producing a successful pregnancy in his patients. He has also been sensitive and thoughtful to the fact that we are price-sensitive, since we have extremely limited coverage through our insurance.

He's quiet and thoughtful, but don't perceive that as non-caring.

We began our treatment with clomid + IUI, along with some standard blood tests. We did 4 IUIs and none of them produced a pregnancy. From there, he looked back at previous x-rays from my normal ob/gyn and noticed that I had a uterine septum, so he recommended surgery to repair that. During the surgery, he also found some uterine fibroids and corrected those. Now, we are moving into IVF.

Our IUIs, plus the surrounding appointments, usually cost us around $600-800 a month. Our IVF is going to come in around $16K.

Dr. Vaughn prefers eSET. He says they have the highest success rate with that type of transfer. He only considers transferring multiples if the woman is closer to 40 or if there are underlying medical reasons that indicate this is a good idea.

Dr. Vaughn was overall great to work with. He seemed to truly care about helping us start our family. I was disappointed that he seemed unwilling to try something else when our own-egg IVF cycle failed. He jumped straight to donor eggs instead of being open to trying a different protocol. While donor eggs are what we ultimately proceeded with, I didn't feel listened to, and it felt like he was giving up very quickly on my 29-year-old eggs. I was also disappointed that he wasn't more disappointed or perplexed by the fact that nothing grew past fertilization. Our IVF cycle was a overall very frustrating to us, but it didn't seem that way to him. But as far as his bedside manner and his walking us through treatments during our IUIs and everything leading up to egg retrieval in our IVF, he was wonderful.

Be proactive and advocate for yourself.

I had no trouble producing follicles and eggs, so we started with letrazole and IUIs. Three cycles of that before moving on to a single IUI cycle using an injectable medication. We did this cycle only to test my body's response to the injectable medication in preparation for IVF. At that point, Dr. Vaughn was pretty sure IUI wasn't going to work for us. For IVF, we did a fairly high dose of injectable medications to get as many eggs as possible, but by the time egg retrieval came around, we were risking too many larger follicles trying to get the smaller ones to catch up, so we called it and got fewer than we'd hoped for. After our IVF, Dr. Vaughn said he wouldn't change the protocol if we tried own-egg IVF again, despite the outcome.

Insurance didn't cover much. Ultrasound monitoring was about $200 per ultrasound. The IUIs were something like $500 each, I believe. The total cost of our IVF cycle was around $15,000, but we received a refund since we didn't make it to transfer. That part was a bit confusing, but they made it as smooth as they possibly could given the circumstances.

Our first meeting with Dr Vaughn was interesting. He was not particularly warm and friendly. But he was honest and provided good information. We decided to move forward. As we actually got to know him over those next several months, he became friendlier and we could tell he truly cared. He is very good at what he does. The first time I became pregnant he was very honest and made us aware that the "numbers" from the blood work did not look promising but he also made sure we saw it as a positive that I COULD ACTUALLY GET PREGNANT. Ultimately, we did miscarry early on in the pregnancy which we were not surprised from Dr Vaughn's counseling. Our next session of IUI, he let us know we had twins and seemed truly excited for us. We took the boys up to visit him and the nurses when they were about 1 yr old and he was very kind.

Do not judge him on the first couple meetings with him. He warms up through the process. If you're looking for a hand holder, just know it will take a little time.

I truly don't remember all the drugs. The details I do remember are this: There is lots of blood work! Dr Vaughn did an exploratory surgery on me to try to diagnose my infertility. I had a previous myomyectomy (fibroid removal) with by normal ob gyn before I began treatment with Dr V. Dr V found some endrometriosis and the fibroid growing back so took care of what he could during that laproscopic surgery. We used fertility injections. I was seen very regularly for bllod work and ultrasounds while taking the injections to monitor the follicles for size. My first round I ovulated early so we did not get to do the IUI. My second round of injections they added another shot to keep me from ovulating. Once my follicles were of the proper size to release, I had another shot to actually stimulate the ovulation. The next day my husband would provide a sperm sample that they washed and the IUI was done that afternoon. I think it took a couple times for the meds to be correct and they learn your cycles. I do remember one cycle my ovaries were overstimulated because of the fertility drugs and I had to rest for a month which at the time was very frustrating. My first pregnancy resulted in miscarriage. But the second (which was just the cycle after) I found out we were pregnancy with twins and the numbers looked great. Dr V followed me for the first 12 weeks.

I was lucky and my insurance paid for a lot of my visits. They covered the testing and surgery to diagnosis my infertility. I remember having to pay for the fertility injections, of course and my husbands labs and sperm washing.

He’s very knowledgeable and communicates well. He performed surgery on my fibroids and tried his best to help my husband and I achieve a pregnancy. We lived outside of Austin so it made appointments with Dr Vaughn in person difficult and I had to deal with nurses more than I would like.

Find out what it will really cost. It’s very expensive. Much more than the estimates. Because meds aren’t included. Find a cheaper way to get your meds. Their pharmacy is expensive.

I did outside monitoring

The first cycle with my eggs, we only had one embryo. The second cycle with donor eggs we had 2 embryos. They recommended eset. Since it was negative I guess I am glad we didn’t use both but I think we had a better chance of one taking if we had used multiple embryos.

His bedside manner is spectacular. Always remembers who you are, your case, and is optimistic. He has definitely seen a lot of cases and his expertise is something I trust. He retested my tubes after a doctor said my tubes were blocked, but they were just swollen from a procedure. When you have to see someone as frequently has once a week, you want them to remember you and he truly seems to care about all his patients.

If you are impatient, he may not be the doctor for you. He’s very calm and humble. Come with questions, he will take the time to answer all of them.

For my IVF cycle he used a lower dose to see how I’d react.

So far I’ve spent 27k

We did single embryo transfers each time due to my age.

I sought out his help because of a referral that he was one of the best fertility doctors in Austin. I appreciate his honesty and I felt like he explained in detail to us what our options were. I have trust in him.

Come prepared with questions.

I just started my stim drugs, but it seems as if I am on an aggressive protocol, probably due to my age and DOR.

In the 20k range for IVF with PGS. 5k for the meds.

It seems as if the clinic only does eSET. I went to an IVF orientation where this was discussed.

I love that he has been in this field for a long time. He is funny and kind and took the time to answer all of our questions. He was ready to proceed as fast or slow as we wanted. He did not seem to be in a rush or interested in his next patient, which is something our last doctor did. He is also very gentle during exams.

He’s an old man so it’s kind of like talking to your dad so just be prepared for that aspect.

Exam, genetic testing, looking at egg reserve. Recommended either laparoscopy or IVF but leaving that up to us. We are now deciding which to do.

Dr Vaughn was always the one to call with any questions or test results. Dr Vaughn did all of my procedures and the only time I wasnt able to see Dr Vaughn is when we had Sunday appointments and he wasnt on call. There was never a time that I left his office unclear of what was next.

the whole process is very overwhelming , but Dr Vaughn will guide you through it all

I did the Lupron protocol. My treatment was pretty simple since our IVF was due to male fertility issues.

I feel like they may be a little higher than some clinics and everything has to be paid upfront

Dr Vaughn was very pro single embryo transfer unless you were very addement on it or if he felt like it was best for you.

Thomas Vaughn is one of the kindest, most compassionate doctor and person that I have ever known. He makes you feel so comfortable when you are in his office. He is very calm and explains every thing in detail and finds the positive in everything. He always gave me hope!

Embrace every chance you get to spend with him because he truly is one of the best!

I took Clomid and did IUI's. I always produced a lot of eggs so he felt like this was the best treatment over doing injections. They worked! I have three children because of him!

We liked him so much, we didn't want to leave his office after 12 weeks and transfer to our regular obgyn. He was so compassionate and caring. He was smart and paid attention.

Do exactly what he says! He knows what he is doing.

Dr. Vaughn is very serious and reserved. To some he may appear cold at first, but he's a true professional.

Don't jump to judge Dr. Vaughn, if he seems reserved. Go through a full cycle with him before forming an opinion.

I don't recall other than a lot of injections and pills.

30,000

Dr. Vaughn is extremely dedicated to his work. He is at the clinic almost every day of the year and is available via the nurses. If you have a procedure on a Friday, he will call you personally on Saturday to check on you.

Listen to all your options and then do tour research. Be tour own advocate. Ask lots of questions and make a plan with your doctor.

Dr. Vaughn likes to do things as naturally as possible.

IVF Cycle approximately $20,000.

They prefer single transfers.