2019 - 2020, Successful
10
10
I appreciated that throughout my treatment Dr. Levine always talked about it in the context of helping my husband and me achieve our goal of having 2 kids...We did 3 rounds of egg retrievals. The first cycle, we got 7 eggs...The second round [he] put me on a higher dose of the medications. We got 9 eggs...[he] asked us if we wanted to transfer a single embryo or multiples. We said we preferred a single and he was fine with that.
I think this [Fertility Instiutue of NJ] clinic's biggest strength is that the people who work there really care about helping their patients. I also got the impression that some of the staff - both on the admin and medical side - have experienced infertility themselves, which I think is what makes them so good at communicating with patients...morning monitoring is only 3 days a week, and they always got me in and out in under an hour
How was your experience with Zalman Levine at Fertility Institute of New Jersey?
Overall I had a wonderful experience with Dr. Levine. IVF is a difficult journey - it's physically demanding, the uncertainty makes it emotionally challenging, and of course it's expensive. I appreciated that throughout my treatment Dr. Levine always talked about it in the context of helping my husband and me achieve our goal of having 2 kids. When we started treatment Dr. Levine said that our chances of being able to have two kids were excellent (close to 100%), that it wouldn't be easy, but that in the end we would have success - and that's exactly what happened.
We did 3 rounds of egg retrievals. The first cycle, we got 7 eggs. Three of them survived to be day 5 embryos, and of those only one was chromosomally normal. The second round Dr. Levine put me on a higher dose of the medications. We got 9 eggs, 4 of them developed into day 5 embryos, but none of them were chromosomally normal. That was definitely a low point for us, but Dr. Levine recommended trying again. The third round, we got only 6 eggs, and only two become day-5 embryos. When I got this news I was ready to give up on my own eggs and look for a donor. But then we got great news that one of them was chromosomally normal! So this meant we had TWO normal, day-5 embryos, which meant we had a pretty good chance of being able to have two kids.
We transferred the one embryo we got from the first cycle and I'm currently 12 weeks pregnant!
Throughout my care I always felt like I was in great hands with Dr. Levine. He doesn't give more information than you need, but always answered my questions with compassion and in a way I understood.
What's one piece of advice would you give a prospective patient of Zalman Levine at Fertility Institute of New Jersey?
Make a mental note of any questions you have before your monitoring sessions. You will only have a few minutes with Dr. Levine and he is very efficient and moves quickly to see patients. There were days when I would leave the office and realize I had a question and I'd missed my chance to ask.
During treatment, were you treated like a number or a human with Zalman Levine at Fertility Institute of New Jersey?
I always felt like Dr. Levine genuinely cared about me and was invested in helping me become a parent. I think he gets a lot of personal satisfaction from helping couples bring new lives into the world - it's evident from the interactions I had with him throughout my treatment. He always asked how I was feeling and about my husband (who wasn't allowed to come into the office b/c of covid). When he had good news for me I could always tell it made him happy to deliver it, and when he had bad news he delivered it compassionately.
Describe your experience with the nursing staff at Fertility Institute of New Jersey.
I loved the nursing staff at FINJNY.
I relied on Adrienne, Gwen, and Melissa so much throughout my treatment. I was always calling the office to leave messages with questions or requests and they were extremely helpful. They were extremely professional and caring at every step of the way.
Describe your experience with Fertility Institute of New Jersey.
I think this clinic's biggest strength is that the people who work there really care about helping their patients. I also got the impression that some of the staff - both on the admin and medical side - have experienced infertility themselves, which I think is what makes them so good at communicating with patients. I did a consultation at a different fertility clinic and had a different experience.
I also really liked that this is all they do there. They're not part of a big hospital - they have their own lab, and this is all they do.
I also appreciated that morning monitoring is only 3 days a week, and they always got me in and out in under an hour. I typically waited for about 15 minutes to see the doctor for an ultrasound and about 10 minutes for blood work, and then I was out and on my way back home.
This was a big contrast to another clinic I did a consult at where they said patients would start showing up at 6am to get in line to wait, and that the wait could be an hour or longer. FINJNY really does everything they can to make this as easy as possible for patients.
The only downside is that they are in demand, so they need to be really efficient seeing patients. Hence why you should always write down any questions you have in advance so you don't forget.
Describe the costs associated with your care under Zalman Levine at Fertility Institute of New Jersey.
I had insurance that covered 90% of the first two egg retrieval cycles. I think my out of pocket cost for those was about $1,200 each. For the third cycle we paid out of pocket. (If I had gone with a US-based pharmacy, it would have been about $10,000 for medications.) We ordered medications from an overseas pharmacy and it was about $5,000. The cost of the IVF cycle was about $17,000, plus $250 per embryo for genetic testing.
Describe Zalman Levine's approach to eSET (elective single embryo transfer) vs. multiple embryo transfer at Fertility Institute of New Jersey.
Dr. Levine asked us if we wanted to transfer a single embryo or multiples. We said we preferred a single and he was fine with that.