William Dodds (retired)

Dr. Dodd’s was very friendly and informative every step of the way. He was very compassionate when we had a miscarriage. He did adjust our meds protocol for our second retrieval which we had wonderful results with. However, I did always feel rushed during our consults.

Be prepared with all your questions for him. So you feel informed of the process you are about to endure.

We started with IUI and gonal f shots. All resulting in a negative pregnancy test. We moved onto IVF and the first retrieval gave us 4 embryos. We transferred two and I became pregnant with a singleton resulting in a miscarriage at 9weeks pregnant. We then transferred the last two 4 months laters, which resulted in a negative pregnancy test. A year later we started the retrieval process again and this time the started the drugs at a stronger dose to jump start my follicles and we received 9 embryos at a 3 day blast. We transferred 2 and one embryo split and I was pregnant with triplets. Unfortunately at 10 weeks I lost the faturnal Twins. However my 3rd baby grew strong and we now have a 6 week beautiful baby girl!

8,000 for the ART program. 5,000 medication 2,000 blood work /ultrasounds, etc.

He is clearly very knowledgeable, but lacks an ability to connect with his patients. He never took the time to learn my husbands name over the 5 years we worked with him. I never felt like he prepared ahead of time when meeting with us. He spent the first ten minutes reading through my chart getting familiar with my case. I know other couples who did feel a connection with him & have great things to say about him.

Make a connection with your nurses & advocate for yourself.

I did a traditional long stim protocol the first round because everything was completely normal with my blood work & ultrasounds. They transferred the only 2 embryos 2 days after my extraction. I had a negative result. For our second round they did a hyper stim flare protocol since I didn’t produce the amount of eggs they were expecting. We ended up with 2 embryos again despite the hopes of getting much more. We did a FET 2 months later & had a positive result. 2 weeks later we lost. We them moved forward with 5 mini iVF’s in the hopes of getting high quality eggs. 2 of the 5 extractions were cancelled due to a dominant follocule & a possible missed ovulation. We ended up with 3 frozen embryos after undergoing the mini IVF’s. We did a FET with an angry uterine protocol (intrauterine HCG injection)& transferred 2 & had a neGative result. We did another FET (also angry uterine/HCG injection)with our last embryo & received a positive. This pregnacy ended in an ectopic pregnancy which was treated with methotrexate. I completed an endometrial receptivity assay & the results indicated I needed a transfer 24 hours after the norm. We are beginning another round of the hyperstim flare protocol in May with the angry uterine protocol/HCG injection for the FET.

$50,000ish after 7 cycles

For my case, Dodd’s indicates that multiple embryo transfer is best bc the hormones supplied by the additional embryos may support the strongest embryo.

He seems like a very nice man. He had a sense of humor that was refreshing. He is the second doctor that I've seen for infertility, and I would definitely say that he was the better of the two. He explained everything that we were going to be doing. The blood work that he wanted me to get done. He put me on thyroid medication to try and correct my levels even though they were only slightly off. He laid out a plan for what we were going to do what days I needed to call the clinic, what days I would be taking my pills, what days I would be taking my shots. Everything was well planned out. Overall I would say that he's a great doctor.

I would say that he is not going to lie to you so don't go in there expecting to hear exactly what you want to hear,because he's going to tell you the truth

The doctor I saw before William. Put me on Clomid for four Cycles. So when he saw that he decided that he would put me on Fermara. And I took that for one cycle I believe it was days 3 through 7. I came in to have an ultrasound done and my follicles measured and I can't remember what day that was. The day after I had my ultrasound I was instructed to use a trigger shot to force ovulation and I was instructed to have intercourse once every 24 hours for the next three days. No pregnancy resulted from this round of femara, so I went to Grand Rapids to have dye injected into my uterus and x-rays done to see if my tubes are blocked which they were not. I had some blood work done but I can't remember what that was for. Our next step is going to be IUI next month.

They submit everything through my insurance even though my insurance doesn't cover infertility. So I have yet to receive the bill

We have not discussed this yet

He made me feel comfortable during the visit. After a dismal first retrieval result (only 2 poor quality embryos made it to day 4), he called personally then changed my plan to multi-cycle plan which is much more cost effective. I saw him just one more time after the initial visit, as his other colleagues did the procedures. After 2 retrievals, I had an FET which was successful

You may request him as your doctor or see him the first time, but most likely you’ll see different doctors the rest of the way

We discussed my first egg retrieval with another clinic which had to be terminated as only one follicle was developing during treatment, and his opinion was that my med dosages were too low. Stim meds were increased in dose and the results were better than the first but still not good (2 poor quality embryos produced). The next cycle I took estrogen supplements first to stimulate follicle production and my stim meds were increased further (maximum), and the results were better - 3 embryos but their qualities were better. I decided to do fet then instead of going through a third egg retrieval as we moved and it was too hard to go to appointments for egg retrieval. 2 embryos were transferred, and I had one baby born

They were very flexible, and the good thing was they have a lot of clinics so if the schedule would not work out in a clinic, you have other options

I thought they were reasonable. The multi-cycle plan was cost effective. There were no hidden costs

The clinic gave me a choice. I’m not sure if they transfer more than 2

He always took time to listen and was so very compassionate. He took the time to explain everything. He always worked to keep a positive attitude no matter what set backs arrived. I can not understate his kindness and how well treated we felt at the fertility center.

The most important thing I had to remember was to stay positive. Follow treatment instructions and if you have questions don’t hesitate to call.

We started out with clomid and timed intercourse. Unfortunately a previous OB has me on Clomid for some time so I did not do many cycles of this. We then moved to estrogen and fsh injections. We continued timed intercourse. We did get a positive but the pregnancy was chemical. We repeated the cycle and achieved pregnancy but had a blighted ovum. We tried one more cycle but could not get a good number of follicles. We took a year off due to back to back losses and a cancer diagnosis in the family. On our first cycle in 2018 we did estrogen, fsh, progesterone and IUI. With this we were successful in achieving pregnancy and had a beautiful baby girl.

The costs were fair and well described prior to my consenting for the treatment. They do work with you to try and reduce costs where needed.

He is honest and caring, good bedside manner and very intelligent. Although he can be a bit flighty at times with this thought processes, we wouldn't have wanted anyone else there. Sometimes he was too caring than informative and other times he was too informative without much care. Really depended on the day.

HSG, egg retrieval, embryo transfer and freezing

For egg retrieval with a surrogate, it costs around $15,000

Dr Dodd’s is very knowledgeable. He uses all medical history to make informed decisions and orders any extra tests as needed. He comes up with a plan based on your testing and results and is willing to be as aggressive as you want to be. I feel very supported by him and his team.

Be willing to do any extra testing required so he can get right to the root of the issue.

I am still in the beginnings of this process but so far he has given my husband and I a plan: I got an hsg and mid cycle ultrasound using femara. I did produce a mature follicle and triggered with ovidrel. We are waiting to see results from this first round.

Some costs are covered by insurance - since we are just getting started we have not yet incurred all costs. Sperm analysis was 185 with insurance, consultation with insurance was 177.

N/a

He is very caring, and speaks like he is talking to a friend or family member. Something about His voice is calming and comforting. He also explains things in a way that is easy to understand, and in a way that doesn’t leave us with questions.

Don’t be afraid to ask questions

We began with testing, and got this down right away, it was such a quick process which I appreciated. We started on meds and US monitoring right away. I was given a calendar to break things down. Each month was basically the same-meds, ultrasound and then IUI. Some times the meds didn’t work so then the dosage was changed for next month

Ultrasounds-$250 IUI-$700 Ovidrel-$100 Genetics testing-$500 We spent about $1400 in 7 months

We talked about it briefly but haven’t talked about it in detail quite yet

I think he is very good and effective at what he does. He is kind and has a very good outlook. He is very knowledgeable and seemed like he could treat whatever we had. He always seemed hopeful which helped us. When choosing our course of action he made sure that we wouldn’t waste our time.

Ask questions.

I don’t remember exactly. We did IU and was put on 50 mg of clomid. He wanted more than one egg for a better chance of fertilization. Then we would try IUI. If the sperm wash gave a decent number we would try again. If it didn’t we would be done.

He was kind and genuine. I only met with him once so I can’t say much about him but my husband and I both liked him. I hope to see him again in the future for further treatment. He is a pro-life Christian doctor that my doctor recommended seeing which I respect a lot. He explained everything matter of fact but was also kind and understanding.

Give it time. Doctors don’t know everything and do not have magical powers so be patient. Everyone is different.

I was previously diagnosed with pcos and was put on clomid to trigger ovulation and produce good eggs. I responded well to the medication but it didn’t end up working for three months. After that I needed a break, it was very stressful going through that.

Cost were quite minimal but we do have insurance that covered some of it

Dr. Dodds was the main doctor in charge of us. We had different doctors for the retrieval and transfer but all the doctors and staff were great to work with. It is not just a job ... it is their passion.

Be ready for a journey full of ups and downs. Stay connected with your spouse and know that you are in the best medical practice you can be in.

IVF shots (especially Gonal F) Retrieval Surgery Transfer

Cost for surgery, transfer, meds, dr appointments, ultrasounds, bloodwork

Dr. Dodds truly cares about his patients and wants to help people with infertility. You see his medical knowledge paired with his genuine concern for his patients. We completely trust him and his advice.

We would suggest to write up a timeline if their own infertility. It will help paint a picture for the doctor and more quickly develop a plan.

Initially, we did clomid with scheduled ultrasounds. Then we did that again with Ovidrel shot. Then after that we did both of those things and added in IUI. The next cycle we will be doing more injections.

We have very good health insurance. Typically, we paid our copay For Ovidrel shot it was about $65.00. Injection medications we will start soon with cost around $600.

This does not apply to us.

Caring and knowledgeable also understanding and good humor. He got me a juice box because I was disappointed that there wasn't a recovery time anymore I was disappointed not to get waited on and a juice I was hormonal. And he went out of his way to make me feel better and make a happy memorable experience when I conceived my son

Choice him he is great and he will help you have a family

We had really high chance of success because male infertility but he suggested urine scratch and that worked

4000

They want to do two but for next time I really want to try 3y remaining embryos

Dr Dodds is an excellent physician. He is relatable and has been so instrumental in helping us grow our family. He is kind and patient and takes the time necessary to make sure we understood what was happening. After each of our IVF/Frozen embryo cycles, he called us personally to go over the results (3 positives and one negative)

He is a smart man. His plan worked to grow our family and I hope it will work for you too.

I did three rounds of injections for timed intercourse. These were not successful as I either did not produce large enough follicles or I produced too many follicles. We then moved on to IVF. I produced many many eggs. I think between 25 and 40 eggs were retrieved. Per our request, only 6 we're fertilized through ICSI, 12 were frozen, and the rest we're not high quality enough to use. I had a fresh transfer of 2 embryos and the other 4 were frozen through cryopreservation. I because pregnant with twins through the fresh transfer, but lost them at 22 weeks gestation to an incompetent cervix. I got pregnant through frozen embryo transfer of 1 embryo with 2 year old son. Then I did not become pregnant with a second frozen embryo transfer of one embryo. Then I became pregnant with our third frozen embryo transfer of one embryo with my 5 month old daughter. In about a year, we plan to go back for our sixth and final embryo. We most likely will not need to use my frozen eggs as we've had so much success with our embryos.

I do not remember for sure, but I think my fresh IVF with meds, labs, etc cost about 8K and my frozen transfers with labs, meds, etc we're around 5K

Dr. Dodds said for my age and the health of my embryos he would be willing to transfer 1 or 2. We agreed with him and his logic.

Dr. Dodds is a fantastic human and doctor. He is caring and gentle, yet professional and determined. He always treated us with respect. We always felt comfortable and well taken care of. Dr. Dodds and my husband got along very well wehich put my husband at ease with every step of our journey. We both trust Dr. Dodds completely.

Get ready for take off! Once a plan is in place Dr. Dodds, makes things happen.

IUIs cost $500. IVF monitoring, retrieval, fertilization, and transfer cost approx 7k-10k total. Medication was additional but thankfully my insurance covered the cost of medication.

Due to my age (36), Dr. Dodds was comfortable transferring up to 2 embryos. We only retrieved 2 and both fertilized, so as a team, we decided to transfer both, which resulted in b/g twins! Dr. Dodds was very clear about the possibilities of twins+ in transferring 2 embryos. We're thankful we did!

Dr Dodd always answered all my questions that my husband or I may have had. He was good about making sure he would tell us in a way we would understand everything outside of medical terminology. He didn’t wait around and make me go through anymore IUIs or testing after I had seen over providers

He cares about his patients, he will listen to you.

I have tried a lot. I have done clomid with out observation and with ovulation observations/IUI. I have don’t 2 rounds of IVF only one egg retrieval. My meds where gonal f, Menopur, certotide, progesterone. I had 3 shots I did a day. When I had my retrieval I ended up getting 11 good eggs

Around $14,000 that’s was over 2 years. 2 IUIs, I egg retrieval and 2 IVF cycles

He talked us through the procedure and the process of picking a donor. He was open to us using a donor known to us but explained the difficulties of that route in plain terms. His advice helped us decide what route to take. He empathized with us when we had a setback, and he always made us feel comfortable

Trust him!

Femara and an injection prior to the IUI. It was recommended because it increased the chances of success, and it worked for us!

The costs were what we expected, and were explained to us in detail.

Dr. Dodds is extremely knowledgeable and experienced. Sometimes I feel he is spread thin but when you are meeting with him he is full of honest feedback, compassion, and makes you feel at ease about whatever choices you make.

Write down questions and don't be afraid to ask for more details if you want more. Don't be afraid to call and ask questions in between visits, or for clarification.

When we first started seeing Dr. Dodds, we had no idea why we weren't conceiving. It had been 4-5 years of unprotected and later timed sex. At my normal OB/GYN we checked my fallopian tubes with dye for any blockages, and my husband had his sperm specimen looked at. All looked good, so he referred us to Dr. Dodds. We started out with getting blood tests to look for causes and mine all came back normal. I started taking oral pills, femara, and timed coitus for two cycles. Third cycle I started injectables (Follistim 75, cycle days 5-11) and created 4 follicles. We had an IUI and used vaginal progesterone. That did not work for us either. During the IUI we elected to have Husband's sperm looked at again. Nearly a month after our failed IUI I called and asked what his results were. We found out his count was low and he had a 1% morphology. I wish they would have told us that sooner. We did 2 more rounds of injectables (follistim 75, and 100) with IUI. We used Ovidrel and progesterone during those two as well. Finally after 8 months of failed pregnancy test we saw Dr. Dodds again and went over our plan. Apparently with Husband's counts and morphology we only had a 3% chance of success doing the past treatments. I wish we would have known that, we probably wouldn't have continued doing IUI's. Dr. suggested we go see a urologist and consider IVF. Husband went to urologist and found out he has varicocele veins in one testicle. We elected to have surgery to help with that and he began taking Clomid to boost his testosterone level. 3-4 months after his surgery and taking Clomid his counts and morphology were up in normal ranges. We tried naturally for 6 months. IVF #1 began with birth control pills, vitamins and giving up coffee. Our insurance covered some of the medicines for IUI but not any for IVF. My stim cycle consisted of 75 Menopur and 75 Follistim. Once my follicles got to a certain size we used Ganirelix to prevent early ovulation. We used hCG and Lupron to trigger. I had 25 eggs retrieved, 19 were mature, we chose to do ICSI to three of them and froze the rest of the eggs. All three fertilized. 1 arrested after day 1, 2 made it to day 2 and were transferred. Progesterone shot up until pregnancy test. Negative Pregnancy test. We decided to try to thaw some of our eggs and fertilize them. We had 16 frozen and they were frozen in vials of 3. A frozen transfer involves Lupron (SQ), progesterone, and estrace. We wanted to thaw enough eggs to fertilize three. We got a call saying they had to thaw all 16 of our eggs, and 14 did not survive the freeze/thaw. Two were ICSI and only one fertilized. By day two they transferred that one, but it did not look great. :( Negative pregnancy test. That brings us to current times. Due to the shocking egg dilemma, Dr. Dodds discounted our next IVF if we chose to do it. There is no way we could afford to do it again at full price. Husband's morphology went from 1% to 6% after his surgery so we chose to do 6 months of Femara and timed coitus. 6 negative pregnancy tests. That brings us to now. We are on IVF #2 where Dr. Dodds decided to try to stimulate me less, creating less, but hopefully better quality eggs. He also encouraged that we fertilized all of them, because fertilized eggs have a better chance of surviving in the freezer than do eggs alone. We started with birth control to regulate me. Then we stimmed with 75 Menopur, 75 Follistim. I used cetrotide to prevent premature ovulation and triggered with Lupron and hCG. At egg retrieval they retrieved 11 eggs. 3 were immature, 1 had a broken zona, and 7 were mature. 7 ICSI, 4 fertilized. We are going to day 5 so will continue to get updates. Tomorrow is day 2. I obviously do not have very high quality eggs, but we hope all four of these lovely fertilized eggs make it to day 5 blastocysts.

IUI's were about 450$ (sperm isolation and prep, and IUI). Freezing sperm 400$. 8,000-14,000$ for IVF (medications, appointments, bloodwork, egg retrieval, lab work, ICSI, crypo...) 400$ anesthesia.

My doctor's goal is to give you one, healthy, chubby baby. With that said he was not overly pushy with either single or multiple. We discussed my options and came to a fair agreement based on my age, quality of embryos, and past treatments.

We were very happy. We understand that it's a busy clinic and he sees many patients so we weren't expecting to feel like we were the only ones there because, let's be honest, that's not realistic. What we did expect was for him to do his job as far as explaining our course of treatment, answering any questions we had, and helping us feel comfortable with our journey, and he accomplished all of that. He was very warm and had great bedside manner for both our egg retrieval and embryo transfer. Even my husband said, "I like him. He's a good doctor." Which my hubby is typically a go with the follow type guy so I was happy to hear that from him! Overall we have been very happy with our treatment from Dr. Dodds so far!

Have questions ready to ask, he is always willing to take the time to answer them and make you feel as comfortable as you can. Also, understand he is human, he is not perfect, but he absolutely cares about his patients.

Our process went fairly smooth, but I appreciated that they carefully monitored my Estradiol and Progesterone levels as we were doing our follicle stimulating hormone injections. At one point my dosage was lowered and that made me feel confident that it was being carefully monitored. I am sure that this is a protocol for most clinics, but it was just one more thing that gave me added security going through it!

Including our initial appt to discuss treatment options, my husbands sperm extraction, my preliminary testing, hysteroscopy surgery, multiple ultrasounds, injections/medications, retrieval, transfer, and embryo storage fees we have probably spent close to $20,000 at this point.

I appreciate that Dr. Dodds allowed us to make most of our decisions. I never felt like we were being questioned or steered in a different direction than what we wanted. He allowed us to make the decision to transfer 2 embryos.

Dr. Dodds is amazing. At first he can seem a bit cold/impersonal, but if you enjoy someone who is blunt but compassionate, he's the doctor for you. And if you fall into the category of "long time" patients, he will become your best ally and an amazing support system.

Give him time. He's amazing once you get to know him.

PCOS patient- used both an estrogen priming protocol (poor egg quality) and an agonist protocol. Once we moved on to FETs exclusively, we added in the resistant uterine protocol, and eventually some stronger immune treatments (IV lipids, high dose steroids, injectable blood thinners) since we couldn't pinpoint a cause for our recurrent losses.

Their costs are listed on their website. Over the course of 5 years, we spent close to $40,000 between IUI cycles, 2 IVF retrievals, 4 frozen transfers, and 2 donor embryo IVF cycles.

Dr. Dodds strongly advocated for eSET since it does not impact live birth rate, but decreases your risk of multiples.

Dr. Dodds is amazing. He has a great personality. Fertility is serious but Dr. Dodds is able to lighten the mood and make you feel at ease. He genuinely cares about your success. I had a great experience with Dr. Dodds - not only did we have a great egg retrieval, embryo transfer, and successful pregnancy with Dr. Dodds but I felt great about it the entire time. I knew that he was doing the best he could for use to ensure success. I like being able to joke around with someone and feel like a friend rather than having a stuffy doctor!

I know that fertility is very serious and for some people it's not a joking matter. For us, we had been trying to conceiver for 2 years before we saw Dr. Dodds for IVF. We had been through the ringer with lots of failures and it was just our life at the time and we wanted to be able to talk and joke with someone and make it not so serious. IVF is HARD - might as well try and make it somewhat enjoyable!

IVF at the clinic cost about $8000 not including medication.

He took the time to deeply explain things in ways that we could here. I appreciated that he didn’t speak in absolutes like other doctors who told us we would never get pregnant on our own—which we did we just miscarried. He instead explained our odds and what he recommended based on our aged and his knowledge and our factors.

Bring all your questions to your appointment as you won’t have many with him.

Yikes I don’t remember the protocol except I was in a ton of Gonal F.

They were laid out and totaled with meds around $15,000 for IVF

They don’t really push or recommend PGS testing and suggest three or four embryos to transfer given my age over 40. We transferred 3 and had a singleton and have 4 embryos remaining.

Dr. Dodds is always friendly and compassionate. He will not sugar-coat anything and will make sure you understand what will happen. It is clear that he wants you to succeed. He sometimes talks very fast and about clinical/medical things that are over your head, but he is very passionate about what he does.

Don't be afraid to ask questions and tell him to slow down if you don't understand something.

After 5 failed IUIs (using Clomid or Femara), we chose to go ahead with IVF to increase our chances. Thebfresh transfer failed. The FET resulted in a blighted ovum. There are no known fertility issues.

Over $30,000 so far

They recommend transferring two two-day embryos. They have a high result of twins because of this. We know several couples personally who have twins from this practice who have no known fertility issues (lesbian couples) and are not advanced maternal age. The clinic doesn't normally grown embryos to day five, with the theory that the embryos do better the sooner you transfer them back. These strategies seem to help with cost saving more than actual outcomes.

I personally wouldn't see myself going anywhere else. It takes a special kind of person to be so caring, when they don't have to be. Even though we couldn't afford to go through with IVF, Dr.Dodds even explained the financial side and how to apply for grants. He didn't leave us in the dark at any time.

Tell your doctor everything. There are all types of reasons why conceiving could not happen right away. It may be something minute.

My husband and I both had our fertility tested. I had to go to Grand Rapids and see Dr.Shavell (equally as compassionate and amazing) to have the dye test done. She explained to me what to expect, and helped coach my breathing through the process. She also explained everything that was going to happen right before it did.

Because I was being tested for fertility, my insurance covered everything. I also had to have reproductive surgery (burned tubes) that was also covered by insurance, my out of pocket was covered. Dr.Dodds explained how to apply for grants to do ivf, both for the Fertility Center and outside of.

Limited amount of time was spent face to face. If we wanted to schedule a consult there was an extra fee. Majority of communication was with nurses. Only saw Dodds briefly on the day of retrieval. He did not know the plan to freeze all embryos until he read my chart in the room before the retrieval.

Ask all the questions you can when you have the chance.

Birth control for 3 weeks Gonal f and menopur for stims Lupron and Hcg for trigger Fresh cycle was cancelled due to high progesterone, switched to a frozen cycle. We are waiting to hear how many eggs fertilized.

$14,000

He waffled between one and two at our first meeting. Then our nurse said he recommended two, never heard the rational behind his decision.