Wendy Vitek

Dr. Vitek was excellent from the moment I met her in October 2017. She was incredibly kind, knowledgeable and compassionate. When I lost my son at 21 weeks pregnant to incompetent cervix Dr. Vitek called me and met with me in person to talk through everything and put me in touch with a counselor to make sure I was mentally and emotionally coping.

Ask questions, it doesn't matter if you ask a nurse or Dr. Vitek any of the staff will do their best to answer your questions.

I started my first cycle with Dr. Vitek in October 2017. She diagnosed me with PCOS and we decided to use letrozole for treatment. I started on 5mg and when my follicles were not growing she upped the dosage to 7.5mg. We did Ovidrel trigger shot after some follicle growth in October with timed intercourse. In November we did 7.5mg of letrozole cycle days 3-7, the trigger shot after I had a mature follicle, and timed intercourse. In December we did 7.5mg of letrozole cycle days 3-7 again, then on Christmas Eve on cycle day 17 I was ovulating on my own so we did an IUI that day becuase it was a Saturday and when I got home we did the trigger shot just to give an extra boost. On January 8th I found out after my end of cycle blood pregnancy test that I was pregnant. I was due with my son September 14th, 2018. Unfortunately on May 8th I went into preterm labor due to an incompetent cervix at 21 weeks 3 days gestation and my son did not survive. My period returned and we started letrozole again, our cycle in June 2018 we started with 5mg of letrozole and after no follicle growth moved up to 7.5mg of letrozole. I had an 18mm follicle and we did an IUI with trigger shot. I had an extended cycle and our next round was in August. We did 7.5mg of letrozole cycle days 4-8 and with a mature follicle on the left did the trigger shot and IUI. Both IUI's post the loss of our son were unsuccessful.

Each follicle ultrasound cost $40, each IUI cost $200, and trigger shots were $100. I don't know the exact amount we spent but it was probably close to $3,000.

Dr. Vitek is very hard to get a hold of, and even in our last meeting, she said "I'm sorry that my availability impacted your care." She also said that my use of MyChart was driving the staff crazy and making it hard for them to be on my team, but no one was calling me back. She also blamed a lot of the issues we were having on my anxiety, which I never experienced with my other doctor. Overall, I feel like maybe she would be best behind the scenes, and not taking on direct patients, just doing research

She is too busy to take you on as a patient, but you won't be told that until after a failed cycle when you have barely been able to get a hold of her the whole time.

She suggested that I have a saline ultrasound which showed nothing (but I still 100% agree with this, as if there was something going on, we would have caught it), then she had me do a "natural cycle" that included 5ish days of gonal and then ovidrel and pio shots. I really wish that, after 2 failed transfers, that she would have said that I needed to have an ERA, she only mentioned it in passing in our discussion.

Insurance covers some and I still have not seen all of my bills, so I cannot accurately assess this.

I wish she had said we needed to do an ERA before transferring 2 more embryos after two failed singleton attempts.

Dr. Vitek is super knowledgeable. I'm someone who likes to know about the research and the purpose behind every medication and procedure, and she's always excited to explain things--even pulling up diagrams and pictures on the computer to illustrate different concepts. I've never felt rushed while talking to her, and she also always includes my husband in discussions and checks in with him about questions and concerns.

Like with any doctor, come prepared with questions and write down her answers. Sometimes we would talk through a few different possible options, so reviewing the plan at the end of any appointment was really helpful for me.

Because of my diminished ovarian reserve, we went right to combining clomid and injectables. Unfortunately, my first IUI was cancelled because my LH surged too early. Once we knew that I'd ovulate really easily, though, Dr. Vitek was vigilant in making sure my estrogen and LH were monitored closely and that I started an antagonist early. We used that same protocol for a few cycles, but switched to letrozole as my lining didn't develop very nicely and I ended up with a few cysts after one or two cycles. Then I asked to try injectables only, which we did with Follistim, and then I asked to try Gonal F, as I knew women in another clinic often used and thought it was worth trying. I had a much better response to Gonal, and after about 5 or 6 IUIs I was thinking of IVF and asked Dr. Vitek if I could try Menopur to see what my reaction would be. I had my best cycle with Gonal & Menopur (300/150) and got a record of 4 follicles. Unfortunately, we weren't financially ready for IVF, so we just did IUI and got a negative. Once we had done about 8-9 months of IUI, it was nearing the end of the year and we switched insurance in the new year that would give us IVF coverage. We started with pretty much the same protocol as my IUI but my ovaries didn't respond, which was a surprise. We took a much more aggressive approach, in the second try, and Dr. Vitek strongly suggested a duostim, which she said had been successful with other 'poor responders'. She shared some research articles that went over the protocol. I primed with birth control and testosterone gel, and then went into using stim meds along with a steroid, dexamethasone. My first retrieval we got 3 eggs and 2 fertilized, and at my second retrieval we got 2 eggs and 1 fertilized. I went right into another stim as I had recovered quickly from the first two retrievals, but we tried a 'mini stim' with letrozole and then Gonal, but even though I grew two follicles, one wasn't mature and the other didn't fertilize. I kept going on the duostim, but had a large lead follicle and some smaller ones that didn't have time to catch up, and the one retrieved wasn't mature. I took a few cycles off and tried a transfer cycle which got cancelled because I ovulated through the Estrace. Now we are trying a more natural transfer cycle but with stim meds and an antagonist. I should transfer within 10 days!

I'm very lucky to have good insurance. My main costs were copays ($40) and then medications (~75/cycle). I switched over to another insurance that covers all my fertility treatment costs (the Empire Plan--work for NYS!), and the medication was covered separately, so I still had that cost. From my understanding, the costs are similar to other fertility clinics, and they do publish them on their website, which is helpful.

Because I will be transferring 3 day embryos, my doctor recommended transfering 2. She said we could go either way but did say our success rate goes up with 2.

Wendy was not present often She did not perform procedures She did not get back to me with answers to questions I may have had. Nursing staff did a better job. Wendy did not seem to care whether I had a positive result or not She did not talk to me about anything or health plans or anything.

Seek out a different doctor

Clomid 50mg Day 5-9 One ovidrel injection Iui Negative 50mg clomid One ovidrel injection Iui Negative 100mg clomid One ovidrel injection No pregnancy No pregnancy. Never received diagnosis of PCOS until switching doctors office.

The office drained my hra account and I still paid out of pocket. They also refused the completion of my 4th cycle half way through (Because they said my insurance had no Coverage for me.. after 3 precious cycles- because I am in a same sex marriage) I was forced to stop and still charged for the monitoring. I also was diagnosed with infertility and recurrent pregnancy loss years before marrying my wife.

I honestly didn't find any weaknesses, but I also only met with her once. Though she did reassure me during that appointment that even if I didn't see her during visits, she was behind the scenes managing my care and making decisions. And so far that has been true. NPs that I have seen and asked questions of have relayed information from her regularly. I certainly feel comfortable that if I wanted to meet with her again, she would be fine with that. In fact, if I'm not pregnant after my current cycle, we will meet again and decide on next steps.

Make Dr. Vitek aware of your concerns or apprehensions about the process. If you need any accommodations made, let her know. In my experience, all of my concerns were addressed and if I needed assistance with anything, it was provided. She was happy to answer questions, even when I felt like they might be silly. She was more than willing to be very detailed in her answers, which I really appreciated.

I had bloodwork and an HSG done in the cycle right before my appointment with Dr. Vitek. Based on that information, which included a very low AMH and a higher than normal FSH, and my stated desire to use some kind of fertility drugs to help the process, she suggested using Gonal F with follicle monitoring via ultrasound. Then, when the ultrasound showed one or more good follicles were nearly developed, I triggered ovulation with Ovidrel. She discussed all the possible side effects, including the possibility of multiples. After the IUI was performed, I used Crinone progesterone gel to assist with the possible pregnancy. Though I didn't get pregnant that time, I felt great about the process and had three follicles develop. I'm in the midst of the second round doing the same protocol - I just did the second medicated IUI today. Since it will be my 4th IUI overall, we will meet and reevaluate to see if we are doing the best protocol for me if I do not get pregnant.

My insurance covers IUIs and any associated procedures like ultrasound and medications, like the Gonal F and Ovidrel. Consequently, I was only required to pay my specialist copay ($25) for appointments and $175 copay for all of the medications. Since I was using donor sperm, I also paid about $850/IUI as that is NOT covered. That cost was not paid to Dr. Vitek's office as I used an outside donor sperm bank.

She had a good beside manner and was very knowledgable but I never interacted enough to really get the feel like she cared about me as her patient. I felt like just another number and don't feel that she really spent much time on my case.

Go somewhere else

We started with a non-medicated IUI - negative. Then we went to clomid for the next IUI - negative. Then we did higher doses of clomid for three more cycles - negative. My body was responding well to the drugs but I just was not getting pregnant. Then we tried letrozol and got a positive but I had a miscarriage of twins at 8 weeks. We tried Letrozol again and got a negative. Then Clomid again and got a negative and then I moved on to a new clinic and got pregnant off my first IVF.

I paid for sperm out of pocket. I paid for the monitoring, IUIs and medications through my insurance so I only paid copays.

Dr. Vitek is very knowledgeable and compassionate although I feel she could have been more direct. For example I didn’t realize how low my AMH was and how it could impact getting pregnant. I saw in Dr. Vitek’s notes later on that she recommended being aggressive given my low AMH but she never expressed this concern with me directly. However I would still recommend Dr. Vitek.

Ask blunt questions

We did two rounds of clomid then because my AMH was low Dr. Vitek rexommened jumping into IVF which I agreed with.

I had insurance that covered some of the costs of clomid and IVF fresh transfer but I ended up paying 10k out of pocket

Dr. Vitek made me feel comfortable, safe and secure during the procedure. She modified my treatment plan as I was visiting from out of state for the summer and was willing to work with me in any and all ways. She was gentle and kind throughout.

Ask questions and do your research as you should during this process with any RE.

I used Clomid 50mg to increase egg production and timed IUI. All of my tests are normal therefore the protocol was basic. I was not successful this cycle.

IUI was approximately 400 with sperm isolation. Consultation was approximatelly 100.

I did not use this method.

She listened, but didn’t explain much. I didn’t know how frequently I would be going in for tests or scans. She never suggested I might have endometriosis, which I did. A LOT of endometriosis. No e of the treatments i tried with her ever had a chance of working without endometriosis excision. I wasted 3 cycles and $3000 for treatment which never could have resulted in pregnancy due to endometriosis.

Ask who, what, where, when, why, and how for every single thing, and write everything down, including who you talked to, when, and what they said.

First and second d cycle: monitoring, no drugs, timed intercourse. Third cycle: monitoring, injectables, timed intercourse.