Valerie Shavell

Dr. Shavell is very nice. She's a little too soft spoken at times; meaning her demeanor is almost too sympathetic. I want answers, I want to take comfort knowing you (the person I am trusting) has a plan of action specifically designed for me and that we aren't just going through the motions. There were times where I felt she was more focused on me thinking she cared than her actually trying to fix any issues. I also feel she is not very available when needed.

Ask her to give it to you straight. Also, request a full description of treatments with all the why's explained.

I don't think, in the beginning, the treatment was custom to my issues. I think they take standard protocol and go through the motions. I had to start fighting for what I wanted. They also are not exactly forthcoming on information. I had to ask a lot of questions I learned through podcasts and others who have gone through it all before.

After my HSG, I had to have a polyp removed. Then we started on 50 mg clomid because that's the starting point, which I responded well to but nothing came of it. We did four cycles on this with the HCG (Ovidrel) shot. Then we moved onto letrozole and Gonal-F. I can't remember the specific dose of letrozole but the injections were 300. I did not respond as well to the letrozole as we had hoped. I am currently going to do one timed cylce of 100 mg of clomid (back to clomid after under-performance of letrozole) while we wait for insurance pre-authorization. If that is approved (different insurance company than the last round) I will have one last IUI cycle of 100 mg Clomid and Gonal-F 450 injections. IF this does not work, we will immediately be moving on to IVF.

They are all very friendly! I cannot stress that enough. I love them personality wise, especially the front desk and the ultrasound technician. They are amazing. However, there were times when I called (almost always have to leave a message and a call was returned) where I felt hurried on the phone. I also felt like the communication between the team wasn't all that great, where one would tell me one thing about my treatment but the next person I talk with didn't have that same information. That was a little frustrating. I also had to make sure I had all my questions ready to ask, otherwise I wasn't informed of any "extra" information. Honestly, I love the staff, I just worry a little about their efficiency/organization.

My number one strength is location. It's perfectly located not too far out of town but far enough where they have they're own parking, which can be key for comfort! It is also a very clean facility with, what seems like, new equipment. Weaknesses, wait times can be excessive; in the waiting room or in the patient rooms. Also, when my husband goes to drop off his specimen, I wish it was a little quicker for him. He has a very time structured job and gets frustrated that he has to sit there for 15 minutes before the lab calls him back. I think that should be explained better, the whole home to lab process. I would tell a new patient to ask all the questions, nothing is too much when it comes to treatment. Do not expect them to go over every detail with you. If you Type A like me, you'll leave frustrated and feeling like nothing was accomplished.

Each IUI is $500 (sperm wash and procedure) plus the ultrasound and office visit. Each visit was a co-pay amount. Hybrid cycle had an extra ultrasound (echogram) which was more than the ultrasound. Medications were all based on what insurance would cover; most of it out of pocket.

I enjoyed having Valerie as my doctor. There was one negative experience when the dosage listed on my prescription was different than what was on their plan. She handled the situation ok by calling me to reassure me the dosage would not affect the results but didn't take the ownership of her (or the nurses) mistake.

Ask lots of questions because she will answer it thoroughly but doesn't necessarily go over everything if not asked. Be proactive of your care because she will be willing to take the next steps if you want.

Valerie would call me personally if I asked which I was pleasantly pleased with. She let me be the deciding factor on all the decisions. She never pushed her opinions on me or forced me into a decision. She was always completely unbiased. (Unlike Dr. Young who I saw once for an ultrasound who was very judgemental).

I don't remember all of it but for the IVF procedure I was put on Lupron to start, then took estrace pills, after the transfer I began IM progesterone.

Overall the nursing staff was very competent. They are dealing with a lot of patients so sometimes they had to clarify some things in order to get an accurate response.

Scheduling is a pain! Sometimes it is easy to get in and other times it is difficult. Since I was working at the time I had to take time off for appointments frequently since they had limited appointments. For IVF you had to schedule 2 or 3 months in advance so be aware of that.

Embryo retrieval/1 fresh transfer was $10,000. Frozen embryo transfer $2500 IUI was $400

She left this decision up to use. The first time we chose for 2, which she recommended. The second time we chose 1 which she supported. We were given the information that with a transfer of 2 embryos it was a 45-50% chance of pregnancy but they didn't have any statistics for an embryo transfer of 1.

Time with Dr. Shavell is great. I only wish there were more appointments with her(that you were not charged extra for) and not support staff so it would be easier to ask questions directly to her. She definitely listens and addresses all concerns when you are with her. And she is also good at explaining anything you don't understand.

Come prepared with your questions because direct one on one time with her is valuable time.

Dr. Shavell is very kind and sweet manored so she makes you feel as though you really matter and she wants to help figure out what's best for you.

After failed clomid cycles with obgyn, dr. Shavell ran testing that included HSG, blood tests, ultrasound and SA for my spouse. Determined that IUI was the best next step. IUI #1 was 2.5mg Femara on CD 3-7, ovidrel trigger on CD17 with 2 mature follicles and IUI on CD19, cycle ended on 12dpIUI. IUI #2 was 5mg Femara on CD 3-7, ovidrel trigger on CD17 with 1 mature follicle and IUI on CD19, cycle ended on 12dpIUI. Our next plan of action is a more agressive IUI with either metformin, Femara and ovidrel or injectable meds like menopur, gonal f or follistim and then ovidrel and IUI; since the femara and ovidrel are working but not good enough. My spouse is also on clomid for his male infertility issues.

Nursing staff has been great and I have no complaints.

Beautiful facilities (Mason and Grand Rapids locations). All very minimal wait times.

We have approximately 50% fertility related coverage however 0% of IUI and IVF are covered. So those additionally out of pocket costs were reasonable. $500 for IUI with SA/Wash.

Open and honest in communication. Very informative about treatment plans and adjusting them. Nothing but positive interactions even when the outcome was not what we wanted. Very calming demeanor and bedside manner. Always makes sure to explain every detail in length.

Don't be afraid to ask questions. Dr Shavell is always willing to listen and do what's best for you as her patient.

Very empathetic with failed transfer. Eager to help us try again. Open and honest about treatment plans

For our two IUIs we only needed 50mg of clomid taken days 3-7. IVF procedure was BCP, then menopur and certotide. Added IM progesterone and retrace. Egg retrieval and ICSI done. 2 embryos transferred on day 3 and two frozen. FET utilized Lupron to suppress and then added Estrace and IM Progesterone. Transferred two embryos. Plan for flare protocol due to now having DOR along with MFI.

The nurses were all very well-informed and knowledgeable about the processes. They answered the IVF line every single time. I never had to leave a message. Caring and extremely compassionate. Took the time out to explain everything and answer every question no matter how small.

Strengths-provider and staff experience. Caring and compassionate. Dedicated to their patients. Weaknesses-only thing I wish is that they took more payment options like Care Credit etc.

IUI was covered by insurance up to 2k. No IVF procedures or drugs were covered under insurance. The total cost for IVF was close to 15k. The FET was under a different insurance and medications were covered. We only paid $60. The FET itself cost around $2500 which was not covered by insurance.

Due to age, 2 embryos were advised to be transferred. The decision was left up to us with all risks explained.

Really great. She did some of my IUIs, and my transfer, and I was grateful to have her do so. She explained things well and I had a list of about 100 questions, I kid you not, every time we met with her, and she let me go through every single question.

She's soft spoken at first, but don't let that fool you. She knows her stuff and is very compassionate.

Dr. Shavell is soft-spoken, but has a really wonderful bedside manner. She knows what she's talking about and will tell you in a way that makes you feel confident, but also comfortable. They believe I have poor egg quality, and when we had 28 eggs collected and 15 fertilize, by day 2 on transfer day, only 2 had survived. She told me when I was in the transfer room, right before and was so sweet when I started crying. Handed me tissues and let me have time. She also called twice, once a week after the egg collection and during the TWW to check on us.

IUIs we did Femara with a trigger shot. IVF I did 75iu of Menopur, 75iu of Gonal F, Cetrotide and a Lupron/HCG trigger. Prepped with birth control. They were worried about overstimming as it's easy for PCOS patients to do so, but they kept a very good eye on it and managed it well. Didn't end up with it.

I spoke with Michelle a lot at the Eagle Park office. She's so sweet. Remembers you when you call on the phone and lets you call to ask absolutely any question. You know she also genuinely feels for you when something goes wrong.

Eagle Park has early office hours for ultrasounds starting at 7 and earlier for sperm samples, which is great if you work an 8-5 job. The longest I have waited is 30 minutes, but usually I'm in and out. At some point you end up seeing all the doctors which I view as a strength. It's nice to get all the opinions.

Great! I was always able to get in by 7. They do them from 7-10 and the early appointments are great.

IUIs were 395 I believe. IVF cycle is just under 10 grand, without medicine.

Dr. Shavell was soft-spoken and kind, which was not what I expected of someone with her level of training and expertise. She earned my trust right away because she was sensitive to our unusual situation, but also spoke with confidence about a course of treatment.

Dr. Shavell may be young and soft-spoken, but she is definitely competent.

Everyone in the office, including nurses and office staff, were kind to me. I did sometimes get the impression that they do this so often that they don't give as many details as they could have, but overall I was impressed with Dr. Shavell and the rest of the staff.

My first cycle was an antagonist cycle with very low doses of stimulating hormones. They expected me to respond very well to stimulating hormones and I did. I ended up with 26 eggs during that first cycle, but only 3 of those eggs became viable embryos. They ended up transferring all 3 of those embryos and I became pregnant, but ended up with a chemical pregnancy at 5 weeks. The second cycle was a long Lupron cycle. They expected this cycle to produce less eggs, but were hoping they would be higher quality. Once again, they used low doses of stimulating hormones. I ended up producing 29 eggs, but I ended up with 6 viable embryos this time. They transferred 2 of those embryos and I ended up pregnant with a singleton and had a live birth in 2015. I have 4 embryos that are still frozen and in storage.

I was overall impressed with the team of nurses. All of them displayed compassion and understanding. I would have given them an excellent in all areas, but I did have an issue getting information on when to take the trigger shot during one of my cycles so they weren't quite as organized as they could have been.

Overall, I was impressed with the quality of the Fertility Center. I felt like the staff actually cared about me and that the doctors and nurses were aware of the latest and greatest medical advancements. In fact, they changed protocol from one cycle to the next (with only a couple months between cycles) because they had found studies that indicate a different approach would produce better results. I do think that the one area that was a bit lacking was communication. I would have loved to have the option to email the nurses and have online access to some of my medical records. I also thought it would have been helpful if their website included more detailed information about what to expect during an IVF cycle or even individual stories of patients.

I think it was approximately $10,000 per cycle for all the medications, monitoring appointments, egg retrievals, and embryo transfers. My insurance partially covered monitoring appointments and medications, but the rest was out of pocket. I did get a small discount during my second cycle because of the failure of the first cycle.

I was encouraged to transfer multiple embryos during both cycles. In fact, during my first cycle I actually transferred 3 embryos because they didn't think the 3rd embryo would survive the freezing process.

She is a little soft spoken but not in a bad way. I think she fully knows how emotional the whole the process is and that is why she like that. She does explain realistic odds and expectations and will listen to all your questions. I felt like she guided our care but still made us feel like we had a say in it all.

She will answer every question you ask but may not give every single detail unless you ask.

She was very compassionate when we miscarried. Answered all our questions every time we saw her. Never felt rushed.

I used gonal f. They adjusted my dose part way through stims to develop eggs a bit more. They retrieved about as many as they predicted by ultrasound. We did a fresh transfer that resulted in miscarriage. And two frozen transfers that each resulted in a baby.

They were all phenomenal. Super compassionate. Shared in our sadness and joy.

Wait times were good. Billing office is good. Expect a couple month wait to get on the ivf list. Our whole experience there was great. They really lead you through the process. Even the dr Shavell was our dr, we did see each dr at some point. One of them did our retrieval, another did one transfer, Shavell did a transfer. But I always felt like they were in the loop and Shavell was available when I needed her to be.

Roughly $600 per iui including meds Roughly 11,000$ per ivf fresh cycle and transfer including meds. Roughly $5000 per frozen transfer including meds.

She explained the odds of multiples and the risks that could come with multiples. She seemed to lean toward two and we weren’t opposed to twins, so we transferred two each time.

Dr. Shavell seems very nice and soft spoken. Although I have only seen her a few short times. She gave us as much information as we'd like on all of the different types of procedures that might be right for us.

Do not have super high expectations for treatment working on the first try.

She is very soft spoken and looks you right In the eye when talking to you.

I did 3 months of clomid 50 mgdays 3-7 and ovidrel injection before iui with donor sperm. My first 2 iui's didn't work. My 3rd month was cancelled due to not good enough follicles. Now I am on my 4th month with clomid 100mg with ovidrel and iui with donor sperm again.

I see the nurses often, mainly for everything. They do my ultrasounds and iui's. I have seen Erica a lot and I love her. She is so sweet, down to earth, and so compassionate.

The clinic is super nice and I hardly ever have to wait. I've maybe waited 15 min before.

The cost is expensive but all healthcare is. So far since january we have probably spent $4000 and have not gotten pregnant yet.

Overall, I feel Dr Shavell is very knowledgeable and compassionate toward her patients. She was very empathetic when I was experiencing my miscarriage. However, some appointments with her felt rushed at times. She did ask though if I had any questions at the end of appointments.

Come prepared with any potential questions you may have.

Treatment strategies I used with Dr. Shavell include Femara and some cycles with Ovidrel added also. I originally began Femara at the 5 mg dosage and based on the number of follicles I was producing, she asked if I would like to increase my dosage up to 7.5mg. I did that and it did increase the number of follicles I produced.

Some nurses were very sympathetic when I was going through my miscarriage. However, there were others that weren't as compassionate about the situation. Overall, it can be tough to get ahold of the nursing staff and receive a call back from them in a timely manner.

Appointments seem to usually be running on time and they usually have appointment opening on the day I call or the next day. Their offices are nice and clean but the locations aren't the most convenient.

N/A

Dr. Shavell was great at explaining everything and she was very kind. She only did one of my ultrasounds before IUI and that is the time I got pregnant. It makes me wonder if that was a factor in me getting pregnant vs. the nurse doing the ultrasound and determining the course of action. I wish that Dr. Shavell did it each time.

It is a hard road, but don't be afraid to ask questions.

She was very kind and explained everything in as much detail as I wanted. She made sure I was aware of all of the options I had and was respectful of the options I did not want to try.

I used Femara because Clomid wasn't working for me. My husband also used Fertilaid. I also had to inject Ovidril when they told me to. Lastly, she had us do IUI. We were not comfortable with IVF, so this was the best course of action for us.

They were all very kind and helpful. The only negative I can think of is that they had a really hard time with my ultrasounds each time and it was pretty painful.

Never had to wait for very long. I think the longest I waited in the waiting room was 10 minutes, which is unheard of for a doctor's office. It was easy to schedule and billing was easy.

We ended up spending around $10,000.

She is compassionate. She states the facts. She listens to your concerns. She is soft spoken. She is knowledgeable. She will reach out to you and check on you. She is optimistic. She takes the time to answer your questions.

Don’t be afraid to ask her any questions you have.

She called me to check on me when I was concerned.

I have DOR so we used an estrogen primed MDLF protocol. We did this to try to maximize the number of eggs collected. We retrieved 7 eggs, 2 became embryos, 1 is almost 3 months old and currently sleeping in my arms.

They were friendly, patient, kind, and helpful.

All of the doctors work for your care. They all are concerned for you. They are on time and efficient. Sometimes checking out took longer than I would have preferred. Other than that I can’t think of any weaknesses.

For IVF it was 12000 (that includes the medicine we ordered from other places).

They have a guide to how many eggs they transfer, but will discuss everything with you in case you have different preferences.

The only issue we had was that she did not perform out IUI. A nurse practitioner did and I was not a fan of that. Now that we are starting the IVF process, we have seen her at each appointment and are feeling a lot better about the process.

She is very soft spoken and down to business at first, but as she gets to know you and your significant other, she warms up and is more personable.

She as very honest and open with us at the beginning of our journey with her. She gave us options and let us help her choose our next steps.

The nursing staff has been nothing but amazing.

Office visits, procedures, ultra sounds, medications, embryo storage

Difficult as she did not provide treatment to me, but the nurse or doctor that worked at the time I was ovulating. Hard to work with so many different professionals but understand why it had to be that way.

Request to have a consult after every failed attempt.

Spoke to me in caring manner

I do not recall

Seemed to communicate well with each other so everyone was on the same page about my treatment.

Hadn’t worked with many singles at the time I worked with them. May have changed now. Not open on Sundays which is a significant issue; if you’re ready then, they’re closed. Now connected with Spectrum which is helpful for me.

Don’t recall

Didn’t have this