CCRM Minneapolis

Dr. Batcheller saved my life. I was referred to Dr. Batcheller by a colleague. I originally started seeing her to freeze my eggs. I was 34 and newly single and wanted to give myself the option of biological children in the future. She explained the entire process very thoroughly and answered every single one of my questions. She was very optimistic and always had an upbeat and positive attitude. After my egg retrieval, she told me she suspected I had endometriosis. Apparently, my anatomy made it very difficult for her to reach my ovaries. Now, I know I was there to preserve my fertility, but little did she know, I had suffered with deliberately painful periods for the past 20 years! I sought help from countless doctors and tried every single type of birth control available to try to control my symptoms. Every test was normal. Every symptom was brushed off or explained away. I was sent to multiple specialists and was always told "it's normal". After awhile, I simply stopped complaining about my symptoms because no one seemed to care and I didn't want to be viewed as the "crazy" or drug-seeking patient. After Dr. Batcheller referred me to an endometriosis specialist, I wad able to have expert excision surgery and was diagnosed with stage 3 endometriosis. My uterus was adhered to my colon and my bladder. My ovaries were completely encased in scar tissue. Which explains why I never got pregnant when I tried with my partner years previous! After my excision surgery, my period pain improved by about 95%! I was basically bedridden during my periods before I met Dr. Batcheller. It was absolutely horrendous and I would often miss work and activities with friends and family because of it. Because of Dr. Batcheller, I have my life back. My periods are so much easier now. I don't have to plan things around my period because I know I won't be able to do anything but lay in bed. I am almost completely pain free 2 years out from surgery. I will never have the words to express how grateful I am to work with Dr. Batcheller! After all of that, my first IUI, with donor sperm, at age 38, was successful! I was pregnant on the first try after having tried to get pregnant for over a year before that. Unfortunately, that ended in a miscarriage but I am still working with Dr. Batcheller and will be doing IUI #2 I'm a few weeks. Even if I never end up with a baby or not, she saved my life.

Schedule! She is amazing. You will not regret it.

For my egg retrieval to preserve fertility, I was on Menopur, Gonal-F, prednisone, ganirelix, and did an hcg and lupron trigger. I don't remember the dosages. I primed with estrogen. Retrieval was done 36 hrs after trigger. I got 16 eggs, 10 were mature and frozen. For my IUI, I took clomid x 5 days and triggered with hcg. IUI was done 36 hrs after trigger. I was also on vaginal estrogen 2 mg twice daily and progesterone suppositories 200 mg twice daily. This resulted in a positive pregnant. First four betas were 35, 68, 181, and 1032. Unfortunately, there was no heartbeat seen at my 6 or 7 week ultrasound.

Unfortunately, my insurance covered $0 for my egg retrieval. I paid approximately $15,000 between labs, ultrasounds, office visits, procedure, and medications. My IUI was covered under my insurance amd cost me $35 out of pocket. I purchased two vials of donor sperm at approximately $850 per vial.

Dr. Salem is a compassionate, knowledgeable and highly trained professional who provides excellent patient care. Under his care my health was utmost importance. Before moving on with any treatment Dr. Salem ordered multiple tests to ensure nothing was abnormal. He took note of my blood pressure each time I was in the office and noticed how consistently high it remained. He eventually diagnosed me with high blood pressure and prescribed a medication safe for pregnant women and women trying to conceive.

The one advice I would give a prospective patient of ask Dr. Salem would be to have access of knowledge of all your previous medical records as well as your partner/spouse. Dr. Salem is very thorough and this will aid in your future treatment under his care.

The protocol Dr. Salem chose for me was specific for me. I followed FET protocol, but prior to the transfer (2-3 months before) I took an injection of Lupron to help reduce the symptoms of endometriosis. Once I started the protocol I used multiple hormones, vaginal pills, transdermal patches and injections. I became pregnant after each cycle, but miscarried in the first trimester.

The costs were explained thoroughly by the billing staff. If we had any questions we just called to verify any amounts due.

Dr. Salem strongly recommends only transferring a single embryo base off scientific data, which I completely agree with. Transferring more than one embryo may result in multiple embryo’s competing for space which may result in an unsuccessful pregnancy.

Dr. Salem has a breadth of knowledge about all things fertility and assisted reproductive technology, from more traditional approaches and opinions, to new research that's coming out. CCRM has a list of vitamins they recommend for female patients, and after giving that to me, Dr. Salem told me about a study that's being conducted at CCRM in Colorado where they've found improved success rates in IVF cycles for patients who took acai berry. He said their proprietary blend wasn't for sale, but that if I could get my hands on some acai berry to give it a try. I really appreciated the personalized recommendation. Dr. Salem has also customized our IVF protocol based on my issues (low AMH) and he's been good about explaining why he recommends this or that. With my former RE, I was always second-guessing things and feeling like I needed to do my own research. With Dr. Salem, it feels so good knowing we can trust him and that we are in good hands.

Ask all the questions! He's so good giving his opinion and backing it up with scientific evidence, but he will explain everything in a way you can understand. I honestly would recommend Dr. Salem to anyone, 10/10.

Because I have low AMH, we are doing estrogen priming instead of birth control. I am taking 2mg of Estrace (oral), twice a day for about 2 weeks. With my next cycle day 3, we will do baseline ultrasound and blood work, and everything looks good we will start stims. I will be doing 2 vials of Menopur (injection) in the morning, and at night I will do 300 units of Follistim (injection), plus 100 mg of Clomid (oral), and Dexamethasone (oral). Again, since I don't have a lot of eggs, we are pretty much doing max stims to try to recruit as many as possible. At some point I will start Cetrocide/Ganirelix (injection) - not sure what dose, I think this is to prevent me from ovulating before the retrieval. Because we hope to have 2-3 children, we are doing CCRM's family building program, which was recommended to us by Dr. Salem. This means we will do 3 freeze-all retrievals and after the last retrieval all of the embryos will get genetic testing (this saves $ because you're only paying for genetic testing once rather than 3 times). Then we will do a single FET, and any remaining healthy embies will stay on ice for future use.

Costs are comparable with our former clinic. Because we are doing the family building program which is discounted, plus we get a military discount, the cost of 3 retrievals and 1 FET will be about $40k I think.

Dr. Salem definitely seems to lean towards eSET, at least in our case. He said he would only recommend transferring 2 embryos if I had two miscarriages with a singleton (though I think he probablyyyy would be open to transferring 2 after only one miscarriage).

Dr. Batcheller has a record of success, and we are hopeful this round will be successful. She is always friendly and appears knowledgeable. Our last RE indicated, after one failed round of IVF, that our chances of a successful round of IVF would be low. April reviewed our records from that round and made significant adjustments to our protocol.

Be persistent. We had to persist to convince Dr. Batcheller to test us for infertility issues. She recommended we try for a year, though after persisting, testing showed severe male factor infertility that requires IVF.

We are coming to April's clinic with a history of one failed round of IVF. She's recommended a number of changes, and we're happy with her ability to adjust course from our last failed round. Priming: Estrogen and progesterone Stimming: Menopur, steroid, human growth hormone; cetrotide; lupron and novarel We'll be doing a frozen transfer after all embryos are genetically tested.

We haven't completed the process yet. We are 100% out-of-pocket for clinic services.

April recommends one embryo transfers due to my age and the high risk of multiples.

The patient has to be comfortable dealing mostly with staff at this clinic. For me that wasn't a problem, and Dr. Batcheller was clearly monitoring my progress behind the scenes, as she is clearly very busy. I felt my care was well handled and had a very good cycle to begin with seeing as I have low ovarian reserve. The protocol seemed very fitting for a first round based on my situation, and I will only be requesting small adjustments for round two.

If you want a very personalized plan this is the place to go, but you should be prepared to have somewhat limited interactions with the doctor herself.

I did a high dosage protocol for my low ovarian reserve. I was on both Clomid and Dexamethasone, alongside 300 units Follistim, two vials of Menopur, and about halfway through I started one prefilled syringe of Ganirelix. I triggered with both HCG and Lupron. Toward the end of my cycle my estrogen was very high, so there was some concern for overstimming. They had me trigger according to our original plan, even though I was hoping to let a few more follicles catch up. They focused on my body and safety when I didn't, which I think is very important. They put me on Cabergoline to help this as well. I am currently one day past retrieval and have had no weight gain, no trouble urinating, and otherwise no signs of ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome. Being below age 35 and having been on such high doses of hormones this was definitely a concern, and I'm glad that my doctor took this into account.

Initial Consultation: $200 One Day Workup (Hormone Testing, Hysteroscopy, Sperm Analysis, Disease Testing, Other Blood Tests): ~$2,100 in house, ~$2,000 to Quest Diagnostics (disease testing) Round One (Monitoring, Surgery): ~9,400 Anesthesia: $475 (Check Only)

Because I am doing PGS testing and am under age 30 I believe that when we get to the transfer I will only be allowed to do one. The risk of multiples is too high, and the success rate should be around 70%. For me this is a non-issue as I would like to avoid multiples if possible, as the risk to myself and the babies increases significantly in this case.

ZERO bedside manner! He told me I was old, and that I shouldn't even consider alternative options and should just go straight to IVF. This was prior to me even having been diagnosed with PCOS - which is why my OBGYN referred me to CCRM in the first place. He was extremely cold, without compassion, didn't explain anything or tell me what my options were, and treated me like I was an idiot. I have heard this same complain from multiple other women as well. DO NOT see him. It sounds like he picks and chooses who he wants to treat. His license to practice should be taken away.

Unless you want to feel like an old, inadequate, degenerate of a woman, RUN! See Dr. Batcheller or anyone at RMIA!

Very compassionate and thoughtful. After both failed embryo transfers we talked openly about the possibilities for next steps, additional transfer or additional retrieval and she gave me a large amount of information and data, but allowed me and my partner make the decision on how to proceed. She never dictated treatment but was very candid about the positives and negatives of each option.

Don’t be afraid to ask any question even if it seems stupid or unimportant. She never makes you feel like you are taking up too much of her time and is very open to explaining as much or as little of the process as you need.

Retrieval (Protocol 3, FOLLISTIM, ganirelix, estradiol) Transfer 1 (FET Basic Medicated, OCP LUPRON PIO QD) Transfer 2, added an Antihistamine protocol to reduce possible inflammation (LUTEQL LUPRON PROM PIO QD ANTIHISTAMINE) Transfer 3 - this will be my next cycle starting next month, adding depot Lupron shots in anticipation of possible hidden endo issues (FET DEPOT LUPRON OCP OVERLAP PROM PIO QD ANTIHISTAMINE)

I have 20% coinsurance payments through my insurance. Lifetime $30k max. So far (1 retrieval, 2 transfers) I have had about $3615 in coinsurance payments plus a $600 anesthesia fee for retrieval and $1950 for CSC genetic testing. I am at about $20k out of my $30k lifetime fertility benefit max for insurance. I have paid about $8k in medication

Strong preference for single based on age and quality of embryos. We also very much did not want multiples and were happy to follow her recommendation

Dr. Bacheller is incredibly knowledgeable. I have no doubt that we are in the care of one of the best fertility specialists. She is very straightforward, and does not waiver on her diagnosis, which is very appreciated when we have been searching for answers for 3 years. She does however know when she needs to adjust her plan, and does a good job of explaining the best she can why changes need to be made, the benefits and the risks. When we first met Dr. Bacheller, we were both a little hesitant--her visits felt rushed, and we felt we were at times driving the appointment, when we didn't know what we should or shouldn't be asking. However, I think Dr. Bacheller's specialty is IVF and this is where she excels in her field. We have felt her support and care during our first egg retrieval, which was more complicated than we were expecting and did not yield the results we were hoping for. She took extra time to meet with us, and explain what she thinks went well and what went wrong. While we are still on our journey, I do feel like we are in the best care with Dr. Bacheller.

Come to your appointment with good questions. Don't be afraid to advocate for yourself or ask a "dumb" question. The appointments will go fast because she is busy--and there were times where we felt like we could have talked to her for hours to pick her brain. Again, being that she is so knowledgeable, you want to use the time you have with her to get all your questions answered, so do your research ahead of time, and come prepared with good, concrete questions for her.

For our IUI's, we used Letrozole. In previous IUI's through our other Doctor we used Clomid. Dr. Bacheller felt with my PCO diagnosis, Letrozole may be more effective. For our egg retrieval, we stimmed for 8 days--Menopur, Follistim and dexamethasone with used. We decreased Follistim towards the end of stimulation and started Ganirelix for the last 3 days. Lupron was used to trigger. I produced 38 eggs, 16 mature, 8 fertilized, 1 embryo. (prior to CCS testing, still waiting for results).

IUI costs--$3200 per medicated cycle IVF-meds and retrieval--$20,000 (give or take) not including embryo transfer

We have not undergone an embryo transfer yet.

Dr Kohlmeier is fantastic, I wish I could talk to her more but you can always send a portal message and the nurses will help you get a response. She is a genuinely kind person and has adjusted my medications for my second retrieval. We have focused on what we can do differently to get our desired result. IVF is a complicated process but she explains everything and is patient and gives reasonable expectations.

Ask your questions, she can’t read your mind or know what you don’t know. It’s important to ask timelines too. IVF takes awhile and it’s not something I realized at first.

We are currently in process for starting our second egg retrieval in which we have added growth hormone to hopefully produce higher quality embryos. The first round went well and we ended with 3 genetically tested normal embryos. Unfortunately the first we transferred ended in miscarriage (this happens). We have 2 left but want 2 kids so are doing another egg retrieval to hopefully “bank” embryos. We will then be doing a transfer of one of our test embryos 5 days post egg retrieval if my uterus looks optimal.

I have very good insurance so I’ve only paid my out of pocket max of $5500

eSET. I’m high risk so can’t risk more than one embryo anyway but she stated she prefers only one tested embryo in general.

Our experience as patients has allowed us to ask all of the questions that we needed and be lined up for all of the treatments that were necessary. Dr. Hanson and CCRM does lean on their large network to enable them to see a large amount of patients. This can seem a little impersonal at times, but it also allows the clinic to serve a greater number of individuals.

Be sure to expect most of the communication to come from nurses and be very good at checking all the information on the on line portal.

My wife was diagnosed with PCOS, which made the medications that were required for IVF retrieval extremely expensive.

$18,597 for 1 egg retrieval and implantation. This did not include the $3,500+ in medications.

The approach was Single Embryo Transfer.

Amanda was very good at describing her part in everything and what they would do during the whole process. The only weakness I saw was that there was an implication of the semen collected for analysis was also going to be used for fertilization. This is not the case. No big deal, but worth mentioning.

Make sure intended parents fulling understand what their next steps are so there isn't any confusion.

We're going with an egg donor since we are a same sex male couple, so we don't need to do any treatments.

Yes, this is the shocking and sad part. Our total package for everything is over $46,000.

Amanda has a very strong preference of eSET because they do extensive testing of the embryos. If the quality of embryos is good, she'd only do eSET. If they were lower quality embryos, she mentioned she'd be open to potentially doing DET (if surrogate was willing).

She is a very nice person, caring and seems to connect with you as a patient. You only really see Dr. B when you do your initial consult, and for specific procedures the rest of the time your communication is with your nurse. This felt a bit off-putting but again, we know she is busy. If I asked questions to my nurse she would get back to you with details from Dr. B. I felt like Dr. B is the best provider in the office, but with that she is very busy and very sought after. What i learned was to have questions ready and rapid fire ask when I saw her. She seemed distracted during re-groups and they felt rushed. Throughout the process i didn't always feel confident in her ability to help our family grow. She is smart, personable, and made eye-contact.

Be prepared. If you have questions be ready with them, don't be afraid to push back, you really have to be your own advocate throughout the process. Double-Check everything because Dr. B rarely takes the time to get down to the nitty gritty details.

I feel like they used and re-used the same calendars based on initial screenings. I did not feel like my FET was personal or personalized to me, they would adjust things based on labs, but nothing seemed like it was just for me... After completing an ERA my FET was adjusted slightly but again it was a calendar for "pre-receptive" ERA results, nothing geared toward me or my specifics.

I was adamant about transferring 2 embryos. This resulted in a positive pregnancy test.

I went to see Dr. Batcheller right after I was diagnosed with cancer. She and everyone at the clinic, got me in urgently, helped me understand my options, moved quickly and treated me with compassion. I tried to get two retrievals in, but my cancer grew too quickly so I had to cancel the second one. Dr. Batcheller gives all of the pertinent information and allows the patient to make the decisions that are best for them. I could not recommend her and her clinic more highly. While she was on maternity leave, I also saw Dr. Salem at the same clinic, and he was amazing too! I highly highly recommend this clinic and these doctors!

Choose Dr. Batcheller and CCRM for your fertility needs.

It cost about $15,000 for the egg retrieval, fertilization process, and genetic testing. That also included all appointments, ultrasounds, blood draws, and the actual retrieval procedure. That did not include medication.

I was sufficiently educated about about the number of embryos that should be transferred. Since I have a limited number, transferring them one at a time will give me a better chance of success.

Dr. Batcheller has slowly gotten much busier over the last 3 years. It is definitely more challenging now to get in touch with her directly than it was back in 2016. She still performs all of her own procedures but often the diagnostic testing is now done by nurses or the other physician on staff. I also often wonder why the nursing staff has as much control over patient calendars. The nursing staff says that they review all calendars with Dr. Batcheller on a weekly basis but if that is true I question some of the decisions that have been made on some of my calendars and would expect Dr. Batcheller to know based on previous cycles what works and what does not work for me.

Be very clear what type of communication you expect from her so that she can meet your expectations or so that you know what you can expect from her.

1 IVF cycle with 4 successful embryos and a fresh transfer leading to a successful birth (September 2016) 1 frozen transfer cycle with a negative pregnancy test (January 2019) 1 frozen transfer cycle canceled due to illness (September 2019) 1 frozen transfer cycle pending (October 2019) All frozen transfers included lupron with two weeks of estrogen

Frozen transfer cost approximately $5,000 plus medications, IVF cycle with fresh transfer cost $12,000 plus medications

No concerns, we wanted to transfer only one embryo

We have only completed our initial work up and are starting down the path of IVF with the genetic testing, after finding out we are both carriers of CF. This came as a shock to both my husband and I, but Dr Salem discussed the risks and options we had and let us choose which path we wanted to take. He was sympathetic and kind during this stage, especially as I found this out on the anniversary of a dear friend passing of CF. He reassured us that we can work around this risk factor but also explained the challenges.

Trust him. I am so thankful we found Dr Salem and CCRM

We are just starting with creating the probe for our genetic mutation so we have not begun our IVF cycle yet. We have to wait until the probe is ready.

We have not reached this stage of our plan yet

Dr. Batcheller always made us feel like we were making progress, even when things didn’t go our way. She was always up on the latest research and was very forthcoming with us when things she recommended were experimental vs. proven. She is compassionate, yet still candid, which I appreciate.

Be your own advocate and ask for tests you want right away vs. waiting until you have a failed transfer.

I don’t have the details.

$14k for Stim/Retrieval (~$10k for meds) $4k for Transfer ($5k for meds)

She had a strong recommendation for a SET given our “unexplained” diagnosis and the risks that come along with a multiple pregnancy.

Dr. Batcheller, when I saw her which was not often, was kind and patient. She fully explained the procedure and risks and answered all of my questions. My interactions with her have always been pleasant.

More time with each patient and more availability for patients. I was not able to talk to Dr. Batcheller directly at all over the phone and when I asked for an email address to send her an email, I was given a non-functioning email address. When I tried, via the portal, to obtain a working email, I received no response.

$3500 for transfer plus the cost of medications

Dr. Batcheller prefers a single embryo transfer for good candidates due to the likelihood of twins.

Dr. Salem has been very compassionate and great at communicating. He is the only doctor on staff right now while the other is out on maternity leave but he still took the time to call with updates and give us next steps. Everyone at the clinic has been wonderful and caring and patient with all the questions we’ve had throughout the process.

Ask as many questions as you want. He’s extreme patient and kind and really makes you feel like he wants to help, you’re not just a number.

Due to my husbands abnormal sperm sample and the fact that we had tried other approaches prior to going to CCRM, Dr. Salem thought our most efficient and best option would be IVF since my tests showed normal results. We are currently in the transfer prepping phase of the cycle.

So far the costs have been surprisingly minimal through our insurance. I do wish we could have gotten a better estimate up front on what the cost of the entire cycle was going to be including medications.

My doctor does the single embryo approach. When I asked about doing multiples to possibly have a better shot, he explained the benefits for the mother and child if only one is transferred and that made me feel better about the approach and care for myself after getting pregnant.

Dr. Batcheller was always pleasant when I met with her. She explained step by step what was going to happen when she was doing procedures or if we needed to change treatment course (which happened multiple times). I do wish I would have had more face time with her vs. the nurses but if I ever needed to get a hold of her for questions - she was available. I loved her and will continue to go back to her for all my fertility treatments!

Ask lots of questions and tell her how you would like to communicate. I preferred a more direct approach and she respected that.

Egg Retrieval: Normal protocol using Gonal-F, Menopur, Cetrotride. We STIM'd for 10 days and retrieved 24 eggs on the 11th day. Embryo Transfer: We attempted 3 times for a transfer but due to having a thin lining we had to cancel 2 times (was successful on the 3rd). After the first transfer attempted was cancelled, I was worried and unsure about the future and if we would be able to transfer. She calmed my worries and looked at my medicine and changed course accordingly, always trying to find the right mix of medication. I was so discouraged when we cancelled but she was always positive and assured me that sometimes when bodies have a hard time getting a thicker lining they just have to change the medicine protocol. I have been on Estrogren (oral and patches), Vaginal Viagra, Progesterone, Baby Aspirin, Endometrin, etc.

Medicine (Egg Retrieval + 3 Transfers attempts + 1 successful Transfer) = $15,000+ Care: Unsure - at least $7,500. My insurance coveres a specific amount (which has now been used up). Our costs will be different when we do this another time.

I trusted Dr. Batcheller's approach to transferring just the 1 embryo.We only had 2 good embryo's and we did discuss transferring both but she wanted to make sure that we had the best chances for success - which meant transferring only the 1, which was successful.

Dr Salem takes the time to be prepared for our appointments and spent time to understand our goals before we developed a treatment plan. While we have not had a complete cycle due to setbacks, he has adjusted our plan to ensure that we are setting ourselves up for the best results.

Bring all of the questions that you can to understand the process, He was able to break down our plan using our results. It was helpful for me to have my questions written down so that I was sure I got all of the answers that I needed to feel good moving forward with our plan.

I have PCOS and my husband has a normal sperm count/motility so we are good candidates for IUI. With the success rate of IUI (about 20%) the plan is to do 3 rounds of IUI and if not successful moving on to IVF. We were ready to start an IUI procedure using letrozole to trigger ovulation, sadly the lab found that one of my ovaries had an active cyst which would interfere with the treatment plan. So we did a 3 week cycle of birth control pills to quiet it down. We are currently waiting to see if that did the trick to move to doing a full cycle.

$383 was the cost for a sperm analysis and cryopreservation $253 is about what a monitoring appointment costs (day 2/3 appointment)

The first time I met Dr. Salem, he provided us with clear timelines and what things would look like. He was very thorough and has a personality that helps to make people feel comfortable. I have twins that were done previously through IVF at a clinic that is no longer open and he was diligent in getting all of that information to help inform him on my care.

Don't be afraid to ask questions. He is very open and honest about what to expect and outcomes.

The first thing that I did at CCRM was to get a full workup. They took blood and did ultrasounds to be sure that I was in good health. It was at this time that he prescribed me with thyroid medication to be sure that I had optimal levels. Then I went on birth control for 3 weeks before beginning my stimulation meds. I am on the last day of my stimulation meds now. I take 2 vials of menopur in the morning with my thyroid medication. At night I take Follistim and Dex. On day 5 I also began taking Gonirelix in the morning with the Menopur. I have had daily ultra sounds and blood work for the last 5 days. I will likely trigger tonight.

Cost of medication was about $7,000 Cost of everything else was about $20,000 We did IVF with CCS testing. They also had sperm thaw.

Dr. Salem prefers single embryo transfer as he believes that with added testing the results are likely going to be positive.

As a patient I feel like Dr. Batcheller did really took the time and effort to review my history and go over our treatment plan. Dr. Batcheller also very details in her explanations. Love her energetic approach and how knowledgeable she is.

Don't loose HOPE until you see Dr. Batcheller.

Too early. We just finished our consultation, done labs and ultrasound. Still need a hysteroscopy and regroup before we can start IVF treatments

Consultation $205 Labs $1083 Ultrasound $397 Hysteroscopy $970 Regroup $224 IVF Pack $15104 Anesthesia $475 Annual Storage $408 PICSI $408 FET package $4208

No comments. Didn't get that far yet.

The doctor is great. She's kind, understanding, and works with you on a plan. Her availability isn't great, but that's the only downside, she's very very busy, and it takes 3 weeks to get seen even if you're already a patient.

Start early!

My IUIs were simple, honestly. 100mg of Clomid for 5 days, testing on day 10, after which it was decided how to proceed. Low dose of Ovidrel trigger, IUI 36 hours later. Still going through IVF, though, so can't say, but she put me on an antagonist protocol bc of suspected PCOS.

I had insurance, so they were modest, but I did not like the mandatory "donor therapy" that couldn't use any insurances, snd cost me $800 out of freaking pocket. All so the therapist could scare my donor and I on shit we already discussed.

My doctor is convinced I will have a highly successful egg retrieval based on my previous responses to lighter medication. Based on my lining, she suggested no more than 1 embryo transferred at a time unless I specifically wanted twins. Furthermore, the clinic seems against transferring mosaic aneuploid embryos.

Dr Batcheller made is feel comfortable and confident throughout the process. She was blunt when we had to be and gentle when we needed it. We recruited our own egg donor which is something I don't think they'd gone through very often which made our journey a little bumpy. We asked a lot of questions I don't think she was used to answering and could tell that she wished we had been less complicated. But it ultimately worked out and we trusted her. She did not offer embryo testing at the time of creation and I wish that she had.

Ask as many questions as you have. She'll answer them all. But doesn't necessarily bring things up if you don't ask. She brings up the things that are medically important. But maybe not extra things that might be important to crazy infertiles lIke us!

My AMH was .05 and AFC around 4 when I first saw Dr B. She suggested we start with a medicated IUI. I did triple Menopur for 14 days and had 1-2 follicles. It was not successful. Given my poor response and low AMH/AFC she suggested we either do multiple rounds of IVF with high doses of stims and CCS testing bto hopefully get 1-2 normal embryos if we wanted to it my own eggs or move on to donor eggs. We opted for donor eggs. Knowing we wanted more than one child. The cost of using my own eggs would be too high.

Our Dr strongly encouraged eSET and we agreed.

Dr. Salem primary did phone consists with me as we were far from the clinic. He always explained things in a way I could understand and made me feel confident our cycle would be successful. He explained his experience and how it compared with our expected treatment plan and I never doubted his expertise. He was caring during painful procedures and his knowledge of infertility blew me away. When answering questions I had, he did so in a way that didn’t belittle my lack of knowledge and explained everything so wonderfully.

If you’re unable to get the answers you need from his nursing staff, ask to speak directly with him. He’s more than happy to set aside time to speak with you.

For our Egg Retreival process, I was on 150units of Gonal F for 10 days starting day 16 of my cycle. I also did 1 vial of menopur for those 10 days and 5 days of cetrotide starting day 21 of my cycle. For my trigger prior to retreival I did leuprolide and novarel. I was also placed on a medication to lower my estrogen levels 2 days prior to retreival.

Ivf Egg retreival with Genetic testing and 1 frozen transfer is approximately $25000

Dr. Salem stated he prefers single embryo transfers