Oregon Health Sciences University

As a gay couple, we found Dr. Amato to be welcoming, helpful, knowledgeable and professional. We were very happy with her both in terms of outcome and patient experience. Given that we lived out of state, she was especially accommodating in setting time to consult before we chose OHSU, to meet during treatment, and to arrange for skype/phone communication whenever possible. When our first attempt at egg retrieval didn't yield enough follicles, she adjusted course and the result the second time was great.

The advice I'd give about Dr. Amato is similar to the advice I'd give about any doctor -- namely, you'll likely be talking to the nurse more than the doctor on in-between appointments...so make sure to take advantage of her when you're face to face or on the phone. She's very willing to answer questions and return calls...i just had'nt realized going in that the IPs see the actual doctor for a relatively few number of appointments.

Not sure I can recount these very well. We had the donor on a cocktail of hormones/meds to help her prepare for retrieval, and those had to be adjusted after the first round didn't yield enough. GC was on progesterone and estrace before and after transfer. We only transferred one embryo.

$33,000

My recollection is that we were told we could do either -- but through our research, and talking w/ the doctor and GC, we determined that a single embryo transfer was less risky and therefore the right approach.

She is very warm. Great bedside manner. But, they don't treat the male and he is 50% of the issue! They also don't use alternative medications and stick to protocols that may not be enough for people. I did recommend her to a friend so I like her enough but I'm not going back to her. Instead I'm using a clinic in NY

Do your own research and be your own advocate. Look up alternative or complimentary medications and procedures and ask about them.

I had mild pcos. They don't educate you on the meds and what they're for. We used lupron, follistim, menopur, ovidrel and progesterone. We got 17 eggs, 5 5 day blasts. 1 live birth. 1 20w miscarrige. For FET we did estrace and had to increase it for lining thickness. Unsuccessful.

Around $16-18 not including meds. FET $2500

We did a fresh transfer of 2 because they were going to discard one. Both took but lost 1 at 20 weeks. She let me transfer what I wanted

Diana is great at explains everything clearly and treating you like a human being. She is in your team the whole way through. She really makes you feel like she cares. Unfortunately in my case she misdiagnosed Atypical POCs and therefore I will not be returning to her for further treatment. I do feel like this was missed simply due to lack of knowledge.

Dr. Wu is very kind and great at explaining the treatment. I would encourage you to ask her why she is choosing the treatment that she is. Making sure that she is looking at the whole picture.

IUI with Letrizole x2. Negative pregnancy on both. IUI with Letrizole and follicle stimulation. Positive pregnancy ending in misscarrage at 11w ultrasound. D&C. The fetus was tested and came back with Turner Syndrome.

Each IUI cost around $2,000. Not including medications.

My doctor was aggressive and I liked that. Unfortunately I found out later that her aggressive treatment was actually not the correct approach. She miss that I had Poly cystic ovaries and therefore her treatment plan was ultimately unsafe. She and all the doctors and nurses at OHSU were very nice to work with. They were kind and supportive but in the end they weren’t actually doing what was. Eat for me in my situation.

Dr. Amato is a very practical doctor. She is clearly very smart and analytical, and that worked really well for me. She did a great job responding to questions. I also always felt like I knew that plan and that she was taking my concerns into account. She was realistic in her expectations, but also encouraging and hopefully with us for the end result. Her approach is friendly, but not as warm as other doctors. In addition, while she was great at responding to lots of questions, she didn't volunteer information as generously as other doctors might. This worked out ok for us since I always came in well-informed with lots of questions, but if you need your doctor to be more of a impetus for that, Dr. Amato might not be as good of a fit.

It's important to know that fertility doctors have a lot of patients and their main role is to develop a plan to get you pregnant. Dr. Amato will be attentive and will absolutely provide information when requested, but she will not be a hand holder. Luckily, her nurse Rachel does a great job doing some of the more logistical helping and answering the inevitable endless questions that come up during the process. Rachel works very closely with Dr. Amato.

- Meeting with the doctor for a consult was $250. - Pre-Cycle diagnostic expenses cost about $2,000 in total. - IUI cost about $500, then another $325 if we did an ultrasound first. - My IVF stimulation medications were about $3,500 from the OHSU pharmacy. - OHSU has IVF package options. We chose a non-refund package for two IVF cycles at $21,000. - PGS testing was $3,800. Of this $1,800 was paid to OHSU for biopsy and the rest was paid to the testing lab for up to 8 embryos.

Dr. Amato had a strong preference for me to transfer only one embryo since we were doing PGS testing and I was 33 at the time. That was fine with me, so we didn't have any further discussions on the topic.

Dr. Hedges is compassionate, an active listener, and is willing to be pro-active in your treatment plan and care. We have chosen to seek care through a urologist who specializes in fertility due to our desire to find the underlying cause of the "male factor" diagnosis - we had found previously that other Dr's (urologists who were said to be specializing in fertility) really had no interest in helping us. We have always felt like Dr. Hedges is the exact opposite - very much willing to listen to us and try to help us in a way that is comfortable for us.

Ask many questions - I feel our care has been better because we have been active in researching and bringing thoughts and questions to the table, and he is the kind of Dr. that will talk through those things with you and give you honest feedback.

Clomid and eventually HcG (for male factor use) to help boost Tesosterone and improve sperm count and other values Eventually he was able to diagnose a prostatic cyst through further testing & MRI, which resulted in surgery to remove prostate tissue from the Ejaculatory ducts.

Our costs have varied - as some visits have been covered with a 50% co-insurance, but once diagnosed with prostatic mass/cyst, more was covered. Our previous IUI's (not administered by Dr. Hedges or at his office) were only covered at 50% as well.

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I felt like Dr. Wu was one of the most compassionate doctor she I’ve ever received care from. She was eager to do all of our procedures. She was also on the phone late into many evenings with us to talk about all of our concerns and to help us understand how to set reasonable expectations for how things would pan out. I never felt like she was in a rush to get off of the phone though. She was very thorough and could cite so much recent research regarding most of my questions. I had such a good experience there that I have actually missed the team. I’m looking forward to going back soon and showing them the beautiful boy I have thanks to her. She is a truly special person and I felt that way before I had my son. This success story does not bias my opinion of her in this case.

Prepare to spend a lot of (important) time talking about being in the right mindset throughout each procedure.

We did a frozen day 5 embryo transfer because of our need to perform PGD and PGD. A few months before the transfer I had a hysteroscopy done by Dr. Wu to remove polyps, and for a biopsy. This also offered the therapeutic effects of an endometrial scratch which was a big difference between my chemical pregnancy and the successful transfer. This was a medicated transfer that included a several week protocol including lupron, bcp’s, estrogen pills, and PIO. The egg retrieval included ganirelix, menopur, gonal f, and ovidrel.

$18k

I was allowed to transfer two embryos after much consulting due to the nature of our genetic disease. I was counseled about the likelihood of a high risk pregnancy but was ultimately allowed to decide. She preferred that i transfer two embryos of the same grade. I did transfer two and it led to a devastating chemical pregnancy.

Dr. Wu is personable, warm, and very detailed. When discussing results of testing and our treatment plan, she “shows her work,” sites research, and gives clear recommendations. She is also open to our questions and spends as much time as we need to thoroughly understand our decisions and next steps. She is very kind and compassionate.

You will be well respected and no questions will go unanswered, so don’t feel afraid to ask.

She has reviewed with us that it is important to do everything we can to promote a singleton pregnancy. We were adamant that we would only start with one single PGS embryo transfer at a time and she was supportive of this. I believe she would make her recommendation individualized to the specific patient and their diagnoses/history.

Dr. Wu immediately made us feel comfortable from the get-go at our first appointment. She allowed us to tell our story without interruption and then very thoroughly and compassionately explained to us what we were up against and offered several options to proceed with. After leaving our first appointment, I felt like we had hope. The road ahead seemed scary, but she has always been very re-assuring - yet very honest. When we didn't get pregnant with conservative treatment, she suggested we go ahead with surgery to remove my endometriosis and cyst. She reassured us that the whole team of doctors were going to consult on my case, as they do with every single patient there. Dr. Lee did my surgery, and I've seen him off an on throughout my IVF journey as well. Currently, I'm in the prep stage for my embryo transfer and I've had nothing but the best care throughout this entire process.

Trust the process and trust her judgment. She's exceptional and very, very thorough and particular - which is something I believe everyone wants when they're going through this sometimes scary process.

In the beginning, we just tried Ovidrel trigger shots to see if this would help me regularly ovulate, as my endometriosis was so severe that I had stopped ovulating regularly. This didn't yield any pregnancy, so then it was recommended I go through the robotic surgery to have my Stage 4 endometriosis removed, as well as a very large peritoneal cyst. We were allowed to try naturally for a few months after the surgery, but I still never got pregnant, so at the end of 2017 we decided to proceed with IVF. I began birth control in December, followed by starting my IVF injections on the 5th of January 2018. Follistim (125 units), Ganirelix (.5mL), and Menopur (75 units) are the drugs used. My Follistim dosage was only slightly decreased towards the end (around day 9 of my 10 stimulation days), but otherwise she felt the prescribed dosage was keeping me right on track. Total, I had 15 follicles retrieved, but only 8 were mature. 2 made it to the blastocyst stage and are currently frozen. As of now, I've been giving Lupron injections (20 mL and now 10mL) for the last few weeks and taking Estrace 1x/day, which will start to increase in dosage starting tomorrow. On March 16th, I will start getting Progesterone injections (50mg) and then will have my planned embryo transfer on March 22nd.

At the start, I believe the Ovidrel trigger shots were around $275. I did have to pay money for some of my consultations with Dr. Wu, as well as the ultrasounds. In total for just the IVF portion (including medications and other testing), we've spent close to $18,000.

Dr. Wu said she wasn't leaning in any particular direction in regards to this. She said at this point she feels that it's a 50/50 if we decide to transfer one vs. two. She did say she will think on it and discuss with her colleagues, and then we will talk about it again at my next follow up in a week and a half.

Dr.Wu continues to assist me in my infertility treatment and I have always appreciated her informative feedback with my treatment. I have felt that our treatment has taken a longer than expected time. The length of time seems to be because of unexpected changes in treatment. Although I know these bumps in the road were unforeseen, i wish that the potential for treatment to change or get cancelled was told to be before hand. I feel good knowing that Dr.Wu has her patient’s best interest and is always looking for ways to better improve their chances of conceiving.

Be prepared for treatment to change and to take longer than you would hope for. It’s hard to do but be patient with your body and treatment.

My first treatments include 2 rounds with femara and 1 with clomid with timed intercourse. We tried this to start to assess my ovulation and egg production. We did not conceive. Next, we did 1 round with clomid and iui and had another round of iui cancelled due to early ovulation. We tried to iui to see if there was inability for the sperm to meet to egg. We unfortunately did not conceive and the cancelled iui was hard to take but it lead us to the decision to proceed with IVF in September of 2017. During our first IVF, we had a poor response the medications due to I oversuppression. We produced 1 blastocyst from the 5 mature and fertilized eggs. We were planning on a fresh transfer but was cancelled due to fluid in the uterine cavity. We had a medicated-FET transfer planned for November but it was cancelled due to irregularities in the lining of my uterus. The next plan was a natural FET in December which resulted in a chemical pregnancy. We were happy to discover we were able to conceive with IVF and would feel comfortable moving forward with a second round of IVF. I had an endometrial scratch in January 2018. I have completed a 15 day course of 2 Menopur, 300 iu of Follistim and the addiction of human growth hormone. We have already seen improvements to the quantity of my pre-retrieval follicles; we have twice as many as our last round. We go in tomorrow for retrieval and have a potential fresh transfer next week (the day before my birthday).

All monitoring ultrasounds are performed in the morning or before 10:40am. The times fill up with egg retrievals so you may be have a huge flexibility in scheduling.

IVF cycle (not including meds) was $12,084. My meds ranged between $5,000 for my first cycle and $7000 for my current round. IUI was around $1500

Based on her patient assessment criteria, Dr.Wu informed us that we could transfer up to two embryos. Sadly, we only had one make it to transfer.

Again, Dr. Wu showed empathy which was nice to see in a doctor. Yes, she got to the point but she also took the time to really explain our results and options rather than just rushing on to the next patient.

Schedule your consult ASAP! I’m sad we waited a whole year to make the phone call from our initial referral from our primary care doctor..

Initially Dr. Wu wanted try less invasive procedures while we worked on the process of elimination for our unexplained fertility. After all the blood work came back perfect and my husbands semen analysis was normal, we did an HSG test to ensure that there were no tubes blocked. After that test came back normal we did a cycle of letrozole to make sure that I was creating follicles and ovulation. Upon the mid cycle scan to double check that it was found that I had two mature follicles. I was given the option to try with timed intercourse or try an IUI. We went the IUI route. We continued this for a few more cycles in hopes of getting pregnant. I created one to two mature follicles each cycle. After the third IUI didn’t work we again met with Dr. Wu to determine our next steps. At that point we decided we were ready to try IVF. She decided she wanted us to do an antagonist protocol so we started our IVF cycle. Due to my age and high number or follicles she started me on very low doses of the atom medication and had me scheduled for frequent (every other day) ultrasounds and blood work to ensure I didn’t get Ovarian Hyperstimulation. During my first ultrasound in day 4 of stims they saw I had about 40 follicles between my two ovaries. We did 13 days of stimulation. Between day 5 and 6 of stimulation, my estrogen level dropped so they increased my follistem by 25 IU’s in hopes of it increasing. It did go back up, but they think due to this drop it caused 5 if my follicles to take the lead and the others to stop growing. On day 13 of stimulation we finally had 2 follicles that were mature. Dr. Wu predicted they would retrieve 4-5 mature follicles and of those they hoped for two embryos. She gave us the option to either proceed with the retrieval or turn it into an IUI cycle. Die to the fact that I create so many follicles, my husband and I decided to do the IUI instead in hopes of not needing to date another cycle, but if we did we would be able to get more eggs.

Consultation appointment- $425 Mid-cycle scan/ ultrasound- $325 each IUI including sperm wash and Artificial Insemination- $463 each Genetics Consult- $107 The IVF package we chose included 1 retrieval and up to two transfer- $13,009. Medication for IVF cycle- $3,072.67

We did not make it to the transfer, but I know she mentioned only transferring one, possibly 2 embryos depending on how many we got.

Dr. Wu was extremely knowledgable and explained each process that we were going through thoroughly. As things came up and my body either accepted or rejected the treatments we were partaking in she made adjustments and made me comfortable with these adjustments. The other doctors on her staff were just as knowledgable and trustworthy. It is such an emotional process and I felt supported by all of them. I would absolutely recommend Dr. Wu to anyone who is going through fertility treatment, no matter what stage they are at!

Stay patient and trust in the process. There is not one definite answer for every patient. The doctors will have to adjust and change your treatments based on how your body reacts to certain things, but believe it or not they know what is best for you. Its very frustrating and emotional, but the Doctors are there to help and support you and your partner during the entire process.

My treatments constantly changed as we figured out how my body reacted with certain drugs etc. I started out on Letrazole and added in Levathoroxin. We later added in a trigger shot to encourage ovulation. We tried IUI a few times this way before adding in Gonal-F farther down the road as we realized we were not getting enough eggs to ovulate. This took two IUI attempts as the first one ended in a chemical pregnancy/miscarriage. However by increasing the Letrazole and the Gonal-F so that I resulted in 5 eggs that could be fertilized this finally ended in a positive pregnancy and singleton birth.

Dr. Krieg was easy to talk to and seemed helpful. I feel like she tried to give realistic (poor) odds of success with IUI. She pushed me away from doing IVF earlier on, which was unfortunate because then when I finally was able to get a meeting to talk to her about it, I was about to turn 38 and so no longer qualified for their refund programs.

You will frequently see other MDs for monitoring appointments. There is often a long wait for regular appointments. At least for IUI, the availability of monitoring appointments was limited. If you have questions, you will be speaking to her staff, not to her.

I met with Dr. Krieg for secondary infertility. She recommended 2-3 cycles of IUI with clomid. She recommended not going straight to IVF with my history. I responded well to clomid and had a miscarriage with the 3rd IUI cycle.

IUI was not covered by insurance. Cost for 1 round including monitoring ultrasound, sperm wash, ovidrel trigger, clomid, and procedure was about $1000. Each visit was paid in advance.

N/A

We had our IVF cycle and embryo transfer in one state and relocated. Dr. Wu was willing to manage my care in Oregon, which was so helpful. She is highly educated on new research in the fertility world, and often brought in that knowledge and expertise to my care. I felt like she was giving me the best possible chance at becoming pregnant and having a baby.

Dr. Wu first managed my care in the middle of a frozen transfer cycle with a doctor out-of-state. The first thing she did was check my vitamin D and thryoid, and immediately put me on supplements and a thyroid med for low thyroid. I believe this was the reason my 3rd embryo transfer was successful. She also doubled my progesterone dose at this time. Unfortunately, this transfer ultimately ended in miscarriage at 15 weeks. After I healed, she did another frozen transfer using the standard protocol - birth control for a certain amount of time, then estrogen pills, the progesterone IM injections, 10 mL daily. This transfer resulted in a negative test. Then I did a "natural cycle" transfer, whichI highly recommend if you meet the criteria. From everything Dr. Wu told me and what I read, a natural cycle has the same success as a medicated one, when certain criteria are met. The meds were cheaper, monitoring was less, and I felt like it was more natural. It ended in a negative test as well, but there were questions surrounding both transfers related to the quality of the embryos after thawing. They just didn't thaw well (they were frozen at another clinic).

A frozen transfer was around $2,000 including all monitoring.

Dr. Wu elected both times to have 2 embryos transferred. This was done after careful consideration of my health history. This was my 4th and 5th transfer, so that was the main reason for trying 2 each time. I was referred to a high-risk OB/GYN before the transfers though to make sure that there wouldn't be any unusual risks to me should both embryos take and I become pregnant with twins. I appreciated that she wanted an outside opinion to make sure this was a safe option before pursuing the 2-embryo transfer.

More clinical than personable, which was OK with me. Follow up was my biggest frustration-- She and the rest of the OHSU team never finalized protocols until I was mid cycle (i.e. had been on BC for a week or two) which meant I was in the dark and I was always scrambling to get medication in time. Conversations after failed pregnancies weren't very sympathetic, after the third chemical pregnancy she suggested I go to another doctor.

If you're fine with "going with the flow" than Dr. Amato is good for you. If you like to be in control and plan a lot of ahead of time I would have reservations.

Long lupron protocol, 1 menopur & 150 gonal f, stimmed for 11 days.

We only ever saw our doctor when we came in specifically to meet with her which was 3 times. She was very nice, but by the end of our 3rd cycle we felt like maybe we weren’t going in a good direction and she didn’t seem willing to change her direction or consider changing the treatment to fit me.

Be okay with only seeing her in her office and don’t be afraid to ask for what you want to happen. She is very nice, just seems like maybe she’s got more important patients with bigger issues than yours.

All 3 cycles were the same with jus5 an increase in potency of the pill medication to get my ovaries to respond. We used Femara (Letrozole) on cycle days 3-7 and then had a follicle scan on day 13. Based on the results of the scan determined when to induce ovulation using a trigger shot called Ovidrel. All 3 cycles were just timed intercourse. After the 2nd failed cycle we insisted on my husband being tested to make sure there wasn’t any issue with him. To our relief (kind of) there wasn’t. On cycle 2 and 3 we had to redose with femara a second time for an addition 5 days and do another follicle scan in order to see results in my ovaries. Cycle 1 was 5mg of femara for 5 days. I produced a 15mm egg and an 18mm egg. We triggered on day 14 and I got my period 14 days later. Cycle 2 was 5mg for 5 days and the redose at 7.5mg for 5 days. I then produced a 26mm follicle that we triggered and again got my period 14 days later. Cycle 3 was 7.5mg for 5 days and then redose again at 7.5mg also. I produced a 20mm egg which we triggered and for the 3rd time I got my period 14 days later.

Our insurance at the time helped. Each time we had a consultation it was $40. Each ultrasound (we had 5 in total) was $110. Our femara was about $5 each time at the pharmacy. My husbands semen analysis was $120. Our Ovidrel was $68 for each of our 3 cycles. I don’t know what any of the lab work cost. That was covered entirely by insurance. I never had any other procedures or treatments.

We did not do ivf.

Dr. Amato is passionate about her work, as evidenced by the fact that she is/was on the ethics committee for SART. I get the impression she lives and breathes her work and is very invested in the success of her patients.

Pick her even if you have to wait longer for the appointment. Hard as it may be, try to keep your emotions in check and listen objectively to the facts, otherwise feelings cloud your judgment and you forget to ask the important questions.

We did IUI twice, at our insistence, and both failed. We quickly moved to egg donor (fresh cycle). I used estradiol for a while (no memory of the dose or duration; tablets) followed by 12 long weeks of progesterone in oil shots (2 ml I think, but its a blur). I didn't really mind the estradiol like some people except it gave me headaches. The POI was awful for the first few weeks, but I got used to it.

I think the bottom line was about $25K. Nothing was covered by insurance

Dr. Wu is very flexible and adjusts her care to fit the needs of her patients. If I had a question about my plan of care, she would always explain her reasoning and would offer alternatives if they were available.

Feel free to ask her questions if you’re unsure about something.

After our first egg retrieval (using lupron) produced only 1 embryo, Dr. Wu adjusted my protocol and did less suppression in an effort to produce more eggs. This protocol produced 3 embryos. After 2 transfers resulted in negative pregnancy tests, Dr. Wu opted to do an endometrial biopsy. We finally had a successful transfer after that.

We were out of pocket, so IFV was expensive. It was all explained to us upfront and was more than worth it.

We had MFI and limited embryos, so we only transferred 1 embryo at a time.

Dr. Amato is a straight shooter. She tells you the facts but still shows compassion for your situation. She is very responsive to emails and replys in a timely manner. She returns calls promptly and is willing to work with you.

She may appear stern but she is very compassionate!

I started to see Dr. Wu when I was 18. She has always been compassionate and taken the time to answer every single question in great detail. The only bad thing is that Dr. Wu is running late most of the time, but it’s because she takes the time to make you feel heard.

Ask all the questions you want, seriously no question is a bad question.

When starting my cycle you are told it will be about 10 days of shots. However, Dr. Wu realized that my body was not reacting to the medication as it should. We kept a slow and steady pace, after 28 days we got three big and perfect eggs!

Because of our cycle taking about 28 days before procedure the medication cost was a lot. We paid about $8000.00 in total for everything.

I had a good experience. I unfortunately was going through my iUI experience while she was going out of town so I went back an forth between her and another doctor. I felt like she heard me and listened to what I had to say. I appreciated that I felt like a patient and not a number.

Speak up for yourself! She will listen to you.

She did Inital workup as usually with a doubled Clomid cycle to start with to see if I could produce more than 1 egg. I didn’t do I asked if we could do straight to an injectable cycle. We did and were successful in producing more eggs. I had a total of 12 eggs but only 5 on my good side. She reduced my dosage and I ended up with 1 egg in the end which was not ideal.

It was 100% covered under my insurance so I do not know the cost.

I do not have comments.

She was honest with us but a bit pessimistic about our chances. A bit more optimism would have been nice. She prescribed Menopur but cancelled egg retrieval during our first cycle of treatment. We spent a lot of money on the Menopur, so we were quite disappointed that this did not lead to any success.

Be aware that if you're not a very good candidate for using your own eggs in an in vitro fertilization attempt, she'll likely stop your cycle and try to push you towards donor egg IVT.

225 units of Menopur daily, starting on day 3 after start of period

Intrauterine insemination endocrine management $475 Follicular scans $1300 Blood draws $130 Intrauterine insemination $283 Sperm prep $180 Estradiol $320 Progesterone $85 HCG $60 Menopur $1226 Progesterone suppositories $136

Dr. Lee is personable and communicates in a friendly manner. He really cares about you and what you want to do next as well as what he suggests. He was never short in his answers in that we never felt like just another patient in his clinic. We were looking for this having left a previous doctor because we felt like we were just a number. He is amazing and if you want a great doctor, it's worth the wait!

Wait the extra few months to be his patient :) I mean in the scheme of infertility a few months really isn't much.

We did a package plan that was $16,000 for up to two egg retrievals and as many embryo transfers with those eggs until you have a live birth. Genetic testing was around $2,000. Medications ranged from 4,000-$6,000

We are so grateful that we found Dr. Wu along our fertility journey and cannot thank her and her team enough for helping us achieve our dream of having a baby. We found Dr. Wu to be one of the most caring physicians we have had, very knowledgeable and so compassionate. We really appreciated that she paid such close attention to all of the details of the IVF cycle. You can tell she loves what she does, genuinely cares for her patients and wants to help them get pregnant.

Trust in her care

2 Clomid and IUI cycles Donor egg IVF

We did a single embryo transfer and conceived on the 1st cycle, which resulted in our son. We have another 5 blastocysts frozen and plan to try for another baby next year.

We really liked Dr. Patton overall. He was pleasant, informative, and seemed to care about our success. However, while he was open to exploring the reasons for our continued lack of success, he did not offer us many options in terms of new or different protocols.

Ask about alternatives to the standard protocol (medicated cycle involving lupron).

For our egg retrieval, Dr. Patton used menopur, follistim, ganirelex, and micro-dose HCG. The rationale was that I did not have a history of infertility and was likely to be a good responder. The protocol worked well for me. 20 eggs were retrieved, which resulted in six blastocysts. Four of the six were genetically normal after PGS testing. For each of our transfers, I was on lupron for two weeks, lupron and estadiol for two weeks, and estadiol and progesterone in oil right before (and after) the transfer. The three transfers (all of genetically tested embryos) resulted in two negative pregnancy tests and one chemical pregnancy/early miscarriage.

Dr. Sarah Elizabeth Rubin was a great. Communicated well both in person and over messages. Seemed to really do her best to help keep things that were obviously difficult at least very clear and considerately planned out. I never felt like a number.

She will tell you the facts, but warn you before she drops them.

We chose an assisted natural transfer cycle because my issues were with my fallopian tubes and not my ovaries or uterus. Having a corpus luteum helped me avoid the dreaded oil butt shots and that was nice, but the data also showed that this choice was best for me even if most people go with fully medicated transfer cycles.

OHSU doesn't transfer 2 euploid embryos. If you do PGT you will be transferring one embryo.