Verified
This patient has provided documentation of treatment at this clinic.
2019, Unsuccessful
[Dr. Balthazar] has a specific protocol she uses for many of her patients-one she developed and has had success with. It's a lower dosage of medications with estrogen priming before, and including letrozole and HGH. We were open to trying this protocol with my diminished ovarian reserve, and had decent success retrieval wise...We only saw her at one or two monitoring appointments and for transfer. It would have meant more as a patient to be able to see your assigned physician with each appointment a doctor is involved, not the other doctors in the practice.
As a whole the staff here [at Aspire Fertility] are very friendly and welcoming. We did not care for the entire team of doctors approach to cycles where doctors are assigned days for retrievals, transfers, monitoring, etc. We would prefer being able to see our assigned doctor with each visit requiring a doctor...They had packages for IVF cycles depending on what all you wanted (PGS testing or not, frozen transfer, etc)
How was your experience with Ursula Balthazar at Aspire Fertility (formerly RMA of Texas)?
Dr. B is very energetic and has such a positive energy with her patients. That positive energy was appreciated at our consultation and getting started with our IVF cycle. We only saw her at one or two monitoring appointments and for transfer. It would have meant more as a patient to be able to see your assigned physician with each appointment a doctor is involved, not the other doctors in the practice. She has a protocol that has worked for many patients, and we had decent success with it retrieval wise with my diminished ovarian reserve, however have had no success in transfer of either of the 2 embryos from that retrieval cycle. She feels strongly about fresh transfers and recommended that, rather than perform an ERA biopsy prior to doing a frozen transfer. We have later found that an ERA showed a shift window of receptivity and additional progesterone needed with a new RE. Overall, Dr. B is a wonderful person and doctor with a great attitude. I would hope she would be more open to including her patient's requests in their treatment especially those who have already had unsuccessful treatment elsewhere. To someone who is just starting out, Dr. B is a wonderful place to begin treatment. For any cases that need further personalization, I would recommend seeking treatment elsewhere.
What's one piece of advice would you give a prospective patient of Ursula Balthazar at Aspire Fertility (formerly RMA of Texas)?
Be prepared to see multiple physicians during the course of your treatment. We loved getting to see Dr. B, but only saw her a few times during our IVF cycle. You end up meeting all of the physicians at the practice through this process, however, I feel this makes the experience less individualized and less personal with your doctor. Something that is key in my opinion during infertility treatment. Dr. B has a warm energetic personality-she was encouraging and always positive.
During treatment, were you treated like a number or a human with Ursula Balthazar at Aspire Fertility (formerly RMA of Texas)?
Staff at the clinic were warm and friendly. The front desk staff were always helpful with questions and scheduling appointments.
Describe the protocols Ursula Balthazar used in your cycles at Aspire Fertility (formerly RMA of Texas) and their degree of success.
Dr. B has a specific protocol she uses for many of her patients-one she developed and has had success with. It's a lower dosage of medications with estrogen priming before, and including letrozole and HGH. We were open to trying this protocol with my diminished ovarian reserve, and had decent success retrieval wise with 2 blasts out of 5 mature eggs retrieved and 3 fertilized. We did not PGS test, and unfortunately both embryos resulted in a failed transfer (2 separate transfers)
Describe your experience with your nurse at Aspire Fertility (formerly RMA of Texas). (Assigned nurse: Amy)
Amy was very responsive via email, friendly, and very organized. Even when needing to call for medications not going through to pharmacies she was patient and flexible. She made the process smooth and less stressful.
Describe your experience with Aspire Fertility (formerly RMA of Texas).
As a whole the staff here are very friendly and welcoming. We did not care for the entire team of doctors approach to cycles where doctors are assigned days for retrievals, transfers, monitoring, etc. We would prefer being able to see our assigned doctor with each visit requiring a doctor. Our retrieval was performed by another doctor at the practice and many monitoring appointments as well. This made the experience less personable and makes you feel a bit more like a number. Everyone was always friendly, that's just my personal opinion after already going through 2 previous IVF cycles at another clinic.
Also, your spouse or partner will not be allowed back with you during transfer. This was a big dissatisfier for my husband and I, as this moment is something very special in the IVF process. Most clinics make this possible, providing the required PPE for them to wear while in the transfer area.
Overall, I feel this clinic is a higher rated clinic than others, and would continue to be sought out by incorporating some of these changes. We had a an overall pleasant experience, all things considered, and even though our cycle was not successful.
Describe the costs associated with your care under Ursula Balthazar at Aspire Fertility (formerly RMA of Texas).
They had packages for IVF cycles depending on what all you wanted (PGS testing or not, frozen transfer, etc)
Describe Ursula Balthazar's approach to eSET (elective single embryo transfer) vs. multiple embryo transfer at Aspire Fertility (formerly RMA of Texas).
The lab here has very high standards for transferring embryos and freezing them. We had an early blast on day 5 that they would not allow us to transfer, and did not continue growing on day 6, so was discarded. This clinic is pretty adamant on elective single embryo transfers.
What specific things went wrong at Aspire Fertility (formerly RMA of Texas)?
- Lost or damaged samples
Describe the specific things that went wrong at Aspire Fertility (formerly RMA of Texas).
There was a mixup when transferring embryos to another clinic. One embryo was "lost" briefly and not shipped with the other, due to being stored in a separate location. This was recognized quickly by the embryologist staff once I contacted them and inquired. There were no further issues and they were very receptive and helpful when the problem arose.