Aurora Fertility Services

Dr. Shanti is a poor communicator, she's cold, insensitive, doesn't make much eye contact, impatient, and lacks empathy. I was just diagnosed with cancer at the age of 35 and have never had a baby before. We tried IVF to freeze embryos before my chemotherapy and were rushed into things from the very start of the consultation. She gave zero explanations for anything, did not talk over expectations or even other options available.

If you want to know what you're getting into, what expectations to have and the possible outcomes, don't see this Doctor.

I was not informed of any of the costs of meds or procedures at the beginning. When I finally questioned it I was just told it would be covered but I paid hundreds of dollars for meds.

I appreciate Dr. Shanti's approach to my infertility treatment. Her blunt delivery of either a diagnosis or the odds of treatment leaves me confident in our plan-of-action, and I don't have to question if she's sugar-coating what's likely to happen just to keep us happy.

Go in with questions. Dr. Shanti knows her stuff and has no problem explaining it to you. If you need it explained in even further layman's terms, just ask!

With Male Factor Infertility, we began with three IUI cycles which ended in failure. Following the close of our third cycle, I fell pregnant naturally, which terminated as a ruptured ectopic and left me with debris in the affected tube. Because we added Female Factor Infertility to our resume, we began our first IVF cycle early 2020, and our FET has been cancelled because of the COVID-19 pandemic. I look forward to resuming.

$13,000 out of pocket expenses for one IVF egg retrieval and the first FET. This does not include medications.

Dr. Shanti's approach is eSET and I agree with this decision.

Doctor Shanti is blunt and to the point. She will ask you multiple times if you have any other questions which can sometimes make you feel as though she is rushing you, but she will stay and explain in detail the answers to your questions.

She is abrupt, blunt and to the point, but it is not in a rude manner. She will take the time to sit and explain things to you if you ask the questions.

I have only had surgery under doctor shanti’s care, but she explained fully what the surgery would be like and what we would do after the results were obtained.

I have great insurance so my OOP cost was almost non-existent.

I like how she explained everything with the initial consultation and next steps. She is straight forward and doesn’t sugar coat things but she is positive thinking & she does soften when she notices you are having a hard time. I wish I worked with her a little more than always seeing her staff but the staff is pleasant too. I definitely trust she knows what she is doing but she isn’t very personable.

Think about finding a Therapist who specializes in fertility so that can talk to someone who is familiar with your ups and downs of the infertility journey.

Baseline Ultrasound. Letrozole 2 tablets each day for 5 days starting on the Day 3 of cycle. Ultrasound around Day 10 with HCG trigger shot usually that evening. IUI around Day 12. Suppositories starting 6 days after HCG shot. Blood pregnancy test 16 days after HCG.

Initial out of pocket consult of about $545. Insurance covered the majority of everything else.

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At the start of seeking care from Dr. Shanti I felt like more of a number because all of this new information was thrown at me and it didn't feel like she was willing to take the time to really go through it all with me. Over time she has got way better and I can tell now that she really cares for me and is doing everything in her power to result in a baby. She can be blunt at times which is something I've had to get use to, but she isn't going to suggest doing a procedure unless she thinks it is going to work. One strength about her is that she is dedicated to the patients she sees. One weakness is that she may not always communicate information well because she thinks you already know it.

Don't be put off by her bluntness and make sure you ask a lot of questions if you don't know something.

For IUIs: Was monitored after I got my period to watch how thick my lining was. Took Letrozole. Used a HCG trigger shot. All negative pregnancy tests. For 1st Frozen embryo transfer: Monitored when I ovulated with over the counter predictor kits as I cannot be on regular birth control pills. Once I ovulated I was on 2 weeks of Lupron until I got a period. Then I started Estradial Valerate injections 2x a week. My lining thickness was monitored over 3 weeks. 1 week before FET started progesterone in oil at first just 1x a day then 2x two days before transfer. Resulted in chemical pregnancy. For 2nd FET: On progesterone only birth control until starting Lupron. Taking a low dose aspirin daily. On Lupron for a total of 28 days (some of which occurred while taking other medication. Estradial Valerate injections 2x a week. My lining thickness was monitored over 3 weeks. 1 week before FET progesterone in oil injections were started 2x a day. Results unknown at this time.

For FET monitoring appointments they like to have them done before 11am because there is also blood work that gets drawn at the same time. This allows them to make sure all the results are finished by 4pm.

My cycles have been covered by insurance so far.

She highly recommended doing genetic testing of the embryos and thus has a strong preference for single embryo transfer. She feels the results are better.

She is very knowledgeable. She is a fact based doctor. At times she is blunt in her delivery of facts, which I appreciate. She is great at explaining procedures and why they are being done. If anything in my protocol was changed she explained why.

Ask questions. Sometimes Dr Shanti would explain things and it would go over my head as I am not a medical professional. Whenever I asked questions she was more than willing to go back and answer them.

For my egg retrieval, Dr Shanti put me on Lupron, Gonal-F, and Menopur. I was started on a low dose, but my medication had to be increased since I was not responding to the lower dose. I used a HCG trigger shot before the retrieval. We were successful in retrieving 15 eggs. For my FET, I was on Lupron, injectable estrogen, and progesterone in oil. Right before the transfer I was also prescribed an antibiotic, a steroid, and vaginal progesterone. This transfer was successful, however it ended in a chemical pregnancy at 5 weeks.

Monitoring appointments were very easy to get. I needed to schedule them as early as possible due to my job. Most of the time I was able to get the first or second appointment of the day. I barely had to miss any work for my monitoring appointments.

IVF package $13,500 PGS testing $2000 Medication for egg retrieval $8,000 Medication for FET $1,000

Dr Shanti recommended transferring one embryo. We agreed on this decision and were not interested in transferring multiple embryos.

Dr. Shanti is very talented and she knows what she is doing, I feel confident with my care in her hands. Her personality is very direct and to the point, knowing that going into her office, don't expect any warm fuzzy feelings. She is confident in her skills and makes you feel like she will do anything to help you.

Go in with your questions written down. Go in knowing she is very direct.

After using medications like clomid and Femara without success with ovulation she knew we needed to use injectable medications, she adjusted my medication as the cycle went on for a planned IUI. Unfortunately with those medications it was challenging for my follicles to reapond appropriately and my cycle got cancelled. She has explained in detail, extensively on what my body was doing and she had a plan for future cycles.

For a consultation it was in the 300-400$ range. For my cancelled IUI cycle it cost about 2500.

She’s very direct and to the point, which I appreciate. But there’s a real warmth and sense of caring about her too! I always thought that I was in good hands and knew what to expect (as much as possible at least).

My treatment was all out of pocket but I was able to set up payment plans and even receive a discount through the hospital system because we didn’t go through insurance. I don’t remember exactly how much everything cost, but I know IVF with medication (egg retrieval and transfer cycles plus storage of frozen embryos) was about $20k

We were encouraged to transfer one embryo because we did a frozen transfer with generic testing and all of that gave us a higher chance for success. We probably could have pushed for two if we wanted to do that, but we felt like one was enough and that way we could keep our other (lower graded) embryos for later transfers

Ellen Hayes was very descriptive about what she wanted to do and achieve. But she also made it sound like certain things worked for other patients so it should work for me. I felt to compared to everyone else. She did however confirm my suspicions that my egg quality was not the greatest.

Make sure that you are taking the right dose of medications for your cycle. Make sure she understands your worries.

I don't remember the exact protocol but i was on 450iu of Gonal-g and 150 of Menopur. I was also on Omnitrope and triggered with HCG. The results were still poor egg quality even though on Omnitrope. The embryos that did make it to day 5 were not graded the best so they would not transfer them even though i wanted to.

The costs were pretty standard. The one thing i liked was that they offered a payment plan for those who were paying out of pocket .

I did not transfer any but she aimed more towards a single transfer to help with the risk of multiples.

Overall, I liked my experience with Dr. Shanti. She provided a lot of detail to us about our case along the way. She made adjustments to the treatment as things arose. She heard our needs and concerns and sat down to address them. She was blunt in her communication, which was a double edged sword as we needed to be realistic about our chances and progress, but when we displayed or expressed emotion, we sometimes felt invalidated as she appeared uncomfortable with our emotions. She provided us with a lot of hope when other doctors had not. Her hope appeared to be founded in reality and we trusted her. We did get pregnant, but lost it right away. Although the loss was devastating, we did get pregnant under her care and this silver lining supported the hope she instilled within us. Additionally, she encouraged our seeking support of alternative care to supplement our treatment with her (i.e., acupuncture, abdominal massage, etc.), while other doctors seemed either indifferent or didn't support this.

Ask lots of questions. Don't feel like you are burdening the doctors, even if they make you feel that way. It is your right to know everything you can about your case, treatment protocol, results, and what to expect.

We did an IVF cycle before we met with Dr. Shanti. That first cycle with the other doctor failed. However, I responded fairly well to my stimulation, so Dr. Shanti made a few tweaks to optimize those results, but kept most of it the same (I do not remember the details). Our case is male factor infertility, and so she decided to have my husband do a testicular biopsy to get testicular sperm in addition to fresh samples on the morning of egg retrieval (which our previous IVF doctor cancelled his surgery due to finding sperm in his sample on the morning of). She wanted us to get both ejaculated sperm and testicular sperm and do ICSI with both sperm sources on my eggs. However, the biopsy was not successful (no sperm found) and we did not have enough fresh sperm to fertilize my eggs. She decided to freeze the remaining 9 eggs and place my husband on a different protocol with supplements for 4 months before attempting a second round of fertilization. We had good results the second time we fertilized and ended with a strong 5 day blastocyst. She found fluid in my uterus and decided to freeze the embryo and do a FET a few months later after the fluid cleared up. I got pregnant, but lost it within a week. We did not do genetic testing, but she suspects that there may have been a chromosomal issue with the embryo. She highly recommended we do PGS testing the next time we do IVF. She explained her rationale along the way and we trusted all her decisions. In the end, her decisions and tweaks along the way did get me pregnant, which provided me even more hope that I can get pregnant (and hopefully have a baby) in the future. She was very cautious and vigilant with our case and we felt she truly cared about our results. We did not feel like just a number.

IVF was about 10,500, ICSI was an additional 1,500-2,000. Our FET was about 4,600 (in addition to the IVF cost).

She did have strong opinions about the number of embryos transferred. Had we had more than one healthy embryo, she strongly suggested we only transfer one at a time as our case was male-factor infertility and I was young (26 at the time). She felt the risks of multiple pregnancy were too high. However, we only had one healthy embryo to transfer and so we did not have to challenge her protocol. Had we had multiple embryos, we would have wanted to transfer more than one, and would have pushed on this issue with her. However, we did not have multiple embryos and cannot speak to how that communication would have evolved.

Dr. Shanti definitely knew what she was talking about, but she didn't do a great job explaining test results or answering my questions. I stopped seeing her due to communication issues and thought I could find another specialist who could explain things better. We did lots of testing with her but never got any answers.

Make sure you are clear about what information you need and speak up if you don't understand.

We did fertility testing with her which took a pretty long time. She said my husbands numbers were low but didn't explain what was wrong. Besides blood testing, she ordered a pelvic ultrasound and an HSSG, both of which were normal. We didn't get any answers from testing, but she recommended starting IUI right away. We were only in our first year of dealing with infertility and weren't ready for that yet. We ended up going to someone else and didn't pursue any treatment with her.

I don't remember

We never dealt with this.

Dr. Shanti is very blunt and doesn't sugarcoat things. This was difficult in the beginning, but it ended up being exactly what I needed. When she told me good news, I knew these things were true and she wasn't being generous or overly optimistic. She answered my questions and made sure I understood what was going to be happening.

Get past the bluntness. It made me a hard pill to swallow but she means well and really is the best.

We did frozen cycles and all embryos were PGS tested. My first egg retrieval was cancelled mid-cycle because I was not reacting to the hormones the way I should so my protocol was changed for the next cycle. I did a long lupron protocol and then did the rest of the antagonist protocol. On my Second egg retrieval one embryo made it to freeze and tested normal. On my third egg retrieval one embryo made it to freeze and tested normal. My first transfer resulted in the live brith of my son. My second transfer resulted in pregnancy, and I am currently 26 weeks pregnant.

my insurance covered a lot

I was happy with the approach.

Dr Shanti is very honest and very blunt. I think it is good in the situation. It is better to know the specifics and truth. She communicates fast but always asks if you have questions. When I was crying, she did show compassion and it gave me a hug. We are still early on in the process but hoping that I it is better to know the specifics and truth. She communicates fast but always asks if you have questions. When I was crying, she did show compassion and it gave me a hug. We are still early on in the process but hoping that IVF Works I lower your success story. She said we have a 65% chance of it working. Also I like that I have a timeline and know what to expect in the next couple months. It is a long process.

Dr Shanti is very blunt.

We are still here earlier and they IVF process. We start injections on Saturday.

We are actually just getting started on the process I’m not sure… Need to look at paperwork

Although sometimes she can be abrupt, you can tell she cares. She truly goes the extra mile for you. I feel welcomed with her during treatments. She takes the time to explain things, and really wants to make sure that you get it.

She's a little rough around the edges, but so worth it.

I had an agonist protocol with a lupron down reg. 125 gonal F, 75 menopur, hCG trigger. 11 oocytes, 10 mature, 9 fertilized with ICSI, 3 blasts. 1 euploid embro- female. Transferred with an estradiol valerate/IM progesterone protocol- ectopic

IVF: 13,500, PGS: 2800, Meds: 4000

we did PGS, so we were only able to transfer 1. We ended up only having 1 embryo anyway

Dr. Shanti is knowledgeable, clear and clearly provides information as needed. She provides worse case scenarios to prepare you for what is happening if things don’t go as planned with your body. I appreciate her honesty!

She is honest and some people can’t handle that, I feel she is processional and doesn’t skirt around issues.

I used both injections and suppositories, I also took a steroid and baby aspirin to ensure inflammation wasn’t in my uterus due to fluid in an initial meeting. All of these regimens worked as I am now 5 months pregnant!

I paid for the IVF and then the medication. I also incurred a bill for uterine fibroids but that was because I chose to go out of network and have the doctor do it.

I like that she suggested PGS testing and a single embryo. It’s a lot of work to do IVF and I wouldn’t want to take any unnecessary risks or losses that can be prevented.

Dr. Shanti constantly adjusted my protocol. We had two canceled transfers due to poor uterine preparation. She then planned a hysteroscopy as a day surgery procedure to better understand why I wasn't responding as expected. She showed great empathy toward my husband and I with each set back. She was realistic about the setbacks and I feel she prepared us in general for what was next.

Ask questions. Don't be afraid to ask about what is next or what to expect. I was under prepared for setbacks. I was prepared to not get pregnant but all the various struggles in between came as a surprise,

Birth control, menstrual cycle, ultrasound on day 5 of menses, lupron, vaginal estrogen, IM estrogen and progesterone with ultrasounds. FET. IM and vaginal protesterone through week 11 of pregnancy

I remember our FET was $3500 We had two cycles canceled prior to the FET and we were charged 1/2.

Pros: Friendly, always explained the next step, personally called with test results. Cons: Did not explain a very complicated diagnosis thoroughly, also did not give me a referral to see a genetic counselor when I asked for one. Dr. Shanti said our only option was to do IVF which is simply not true, many people with a balanced translocation do choose IVF with PGS testing but many people have children naturally as well.

Be sure to have her explain all of your options, and ask as many questions as you need to.

Initial repeat loss panel was approximately $5000

I was warned in advance by a friend that Dr. Shanti was very blunt and that I might not like her, but from our very first consultation I appreciated everything about her. She is knowledgeable and won’t waste your time. When you get to the point of needing fertility treatment, you don’t want to wait another minute for a baby, so when we hit the ground running it was comforting. She was very thorough and told us everything she was doing and why.

Get ready because things are going to happen quickly and she’ll help you achieve your dreams of starting a family!

I personally liked Shanti’s blunt nature but know other patients were very turned off by her bedside manner. She seems very rushed and the clinic seems understaffed. As a result, I always felt like a number that they were trying to move along in the process in order to get to the next patient. While the staff is nice, they seem to lack experience and knowledge.

Fight for yourself and ask a lot of questions...no one else is going to do it for you.

I was told the clinic wouldn’t do multiple transfers because it could result in a high risk pregnancy.

Dr. Hayes has been very kind, straightforward, and understanding. She is knowledgeable and makes sure that all questions are answered.

Be pro-active. If something doesn't seem or feel right, speak up.

About $1,300 for an IUI. Includes ultrasounds and washing the semen. Does not include the price for medication. Fermara- $13.00 and Trigger Shot and Progesterone: $130.00

She is not overly talkative but is kind and gives all details necessary. She has a way of explaining in detail what you need to know, but not over doing it.

Come to every appointment with your list of questions and they will get answered.

Seemed too busy to help. Didn't explain that she found endometriosis.

Ask for copies of your files. She at forget to tell you something important

50 chlomid for cycle 1 100 of chlomid with iui cycle 2 75iu follistim with trigger and iui cycle 3 Same cycle 4,5.

I've not heard of more expensive than this $5000 for iui

Since I've been going to the clinic for 5 months now, I probably saw her 4 times the most. I wish I could talk to a doctor instead of nurses. She a very up front person and get to the point. Sometimes I would like a doctor to be more warming and understanding by giving me more option then to just do it.

Be present at my appointments.

The protocols was to take 7mg of leterzole on the cycle 3-7. Then trigger on cycle day 14. And insemination on day 16.

The iui were $1381 not including the medication. With medication, that's another $200-300.They let me pay the procedure in half, so when I go for the first ultrasound, I pay the first half and the second ultrasound to measure the follicle then I pay the rest.

We never felt rushed or unable to ask questions. Dr Shanti took the time to listen to our journey, and concerns. She was open and honest when discussing medications and treatment. She even reached out personally to a naturopath to discuss existing treatments to ensure we were all on the same page. While she can be blunt, we appreciated this. She definitely warmed up as we went through our journey together, and our second time around picked up the relationship where we left off. Extremely happy to have had Dr Shanti as our ally on this journey.

She is your ally, while initially she can be blunt, she really cares and listens.

Firmly in the eSET camp.

From the initial meeting, Dr. Strawn was extremely informative and took great precautions before making his decisions on my IUI procedure (s). For example, my OBGYN performed an HSG in which it showed no blockage in either of my tubes. In the process they discovered I had a uterine fibroid. The fibroid was removed witb surgery. However, even after healing for months he still did not begin the IUI process. He ordered another HSG. This time it was discovered that there was blockage in my left tube. Dr. Strawn explained that when my body healed from the fibroid removal surgery, scar tissue formed. As a result, this information showed him that when it was time to inseminate, I wouls need to be ovulating on the right side for the best result or possibility of getting pregnant. He made sure that he communicated new information, results, and changes immediately even if it couldn't be him personally. Overall, I am happy with the experience that I Dr. Strawn and his team provided me and my partner.

Be ready for the real statistics and realism. He does not provide any optimism.

He would do follicular ultrasounds to see how fast and big my follicles were growing. After realizing they were not growing as quick and as big as he needed, he prescribed clomid. The clomid did not provide the results he wanted, so he prescribed Letrozole (3 pills for 5 days starting on my 5th day of my menstrual). Finally, my follices began to grow; however, they needed to grow on the right side. When they did get a big enough follicle on the right side, I was prescribed the HCG Trigger shot to take 48 hours before my IUI. Out of 4 cycles, the 2nd cycle I found out I was pregnant while having a miscarriage. He did not use any other combinations besides the follicular ultrasounds with the Letrozole combined with the HCG shot.

While under Dr. Estil Strawn's care, I had insurance, so there was a total of $3,000-$5,000 in costs out of our pocket ( not including donor sperm).

Not applicable