How was your experience with Zev Rosenwaks at Weill Cornell Medical College?
I don’t even know where to start... we’ve done two cycles with him, just finished the egg second egg retrieval. He is nothing short of brilliant, thoughtful, and compassionate. I broke down and started crying when I spoke with him over the phone when he mentioned the possibility of a second cycle... he was kind and referred me to his main administrative assistant who ended up finding significant financial assistance for us. He was also in constant contact with my husband and me after I experienced a rare reaction to progesterone injections. All this in the setting of living 3-4 hours away from the clinic. The only downside is he is not a great communicator... does not always tell you what he’s thinking or why, had some issues with calls back regarding a plan moving forward.
What's one piece of advice would you give a prospective patient of Zev Rosenwaks at Weill Cornell Medical College?
While he is not very delicate in his approach to care, know he cares, is always working for the good of his patients, and is at the top of his practice with respect to his approach to treatment.
During treatment, were you treated like a number or a human with Zev Rosenwaks at Weill Cornell Medical College?
While Dr. Rosenwaks is quite blunt and not very delicate, you can tell how much passion he has for his work and you as a patient. The first day we met him (initial consultation) he spent more than hour with my husband and me, discussing our history, personally doing a physical exam, and even took a photo of my husband and me (presumably to put faces to the names). We were very impressed with all of this.
Describe the protocols Zev Rosenwaks used in your cycles at Weill Cornell Medical College and their degree of success.
First cycle - Follistim, Menopur, Ganirelix added in towards the end as the antagonist. Hcg trigger shot was 10,000 units. 14 eggs retrieved, 10 mature, 9 fertilized with ICSI. 1 early blastocyst transferred day 5, negative pregnancy test. Others were multinucleated and did not even approach the blastocyst stage. Trigger shot was done a little early based previous failed cycles with a different clinic, which produced no blastocysts between 2 cycles.
Second cycle - clomid for five days total, after three days started follistim and menopur. Added cetrotide in after a few days. Hcg was 10000 units again. Had egg retrieval today, sounds like 10 eggs but won’t know until tomorrow how many, maturity, fertilization results. Not sure why the clomid first, other than I was using all donated medications and this is very inexpensive.
Describe your experience with your nurse at Weill Cornell Medical College. (Assigned nurse: Devon Klauck for first cycle, Katia for second)
The second nurse, Katia, as well as her other colleagues were extremely compassionate and kind. Devon (who I believe does not work there anymore) was quite cold, it appeared, and lacked the compassion shown by others.
Describe your experience with Weill Cornell Medical College.
Strengths - physicians are making decisions as a team, excellent team based approach between the doctors and the nurses. Compassion and going above and beyond by all members of the care team, especially Shannon C. and Waleska P.
Weaknesses - there were a few times when we felt like they dropped the ball during our first cycle. For instance, when I met with the nurse to review the IVF instructions, she mentioned consent forms and a packet/folder... we never got those though were supposed to have gotten them when checking in for the first daily monitoring appointment. Communication after cycle failure with our doctor was not great, he would say he’d need to ask the embryologists to review everything and he would really need to think about it, but did not call back with any updates. Two weeks later I finally emailed asking for an update, which was met with apologies for the late responses.
Things a new patient would want to know - it may be busy/crowded (which was how I felt when I walked into the clinic for monitoring the first time), but they are generally a well-run clinic. Dr. Rosenwaks might not be cheery or delicate, but he is kind, compassionate, and great at what he does.
Describe your experience with your monitoring appointments at Weill Cornell Medical College.
Some days were very busy and four of us would be called at a time and placed into rooms one by one. Other times, it was not that busy and one 1 or 2 would be called at a time. Sometimes you do bloodwork first, sometimes ultrasound first. There is a window from 6:30-8:30 am to get the monitoring done, so you show up and check in with the front desk sometime between those hours.
Describe the costs associated with your care under Zev Rosenwaks at Weill Cornell Medical College.
Since our insurance did not cover ANYTHING related to ART, we estimated the whole thing (IVF cycle, retrieval and hospital fees, parking, medications etc.) put us close to $25,000. We also live 3-4 hours away so would sometimes stay overnight, which also added to that cost.
Describe Zev Rosenwaks's approach to eSET (elective single embryo transfer) vs. multiple embryo transfer at Weill Cornell Medical College.
Generally I think he prefers single embryo transfers, at least in younger patients. Other than that, we never had more than one so that wasn’t really applicable or discussed.
What specific things went wrong at Weill Cornell Medical College?
- Failed to convey critical information
Describe the specific things that went wrong at Weill Cornell Medical College.
Did not receive the folder of information which included all the consent forms that needed to be signed prior to starting the cycle. We received various forms when someone would ask about that specific one. When I received the folder for the second cycle 6 months later, it had very helpful information about research studies, a support group, etc. which I wished I would have known about the first time.