Poma Fertility

I felt like a number and did not receive personalized care. Bedside manner was not good. I do feel he knows what he is doing however I mentioned concerns at our initial meeting which were not further looked into and later found out my concerns were true after having undergone multiple treatments. Discovery of this blockage sooner would have saved years, thousands, and miscarriage potentially.

Be warned of his bedside manner and delivery of words are very blunt. Not a great listener.

$30K total for IVF including “Poma care” and all expenses $2K for IUI

Very pro eSET and pushed us towards it initially. Until our results were not what he thought and he ended up transferring 2.

Dr. Opsahl is a doctor whom is sought after and often has a long list of patients waiting to see him. When we initially began at the clinic, his appointments were booked out about a month in advance. After meeting with him, we have never felt like he is too busy to meet with us and have been pleasantly surprised to have him remember names and specific information from prior appointments. As others have mentioned, he can be brief in some appointments but if asked specific questions or want to know more information he does open up. While we have not had the success that we went in hoping, we are now beginning the IVF process and will be working with Dr Opsahl on a more regular basis.

Don't give up! While it is an emotional process, Dr. Opsahl and his team are there to help and work with you. I have truly appreciated the small clinic feel and while I am spending thousands of dollars, I believe that Poma is working their hardest to help us achieve our dreams and not charging above and beyond.

I had started at a local ob/gyn after a referral from my family doctor. After several rounds of oral medications, she recommended I seek additional guidance from Dr. Opsahl. We scheduled our initial appointment, where Poma reviewed previous medical records and used these to make a plan. We opted to begin with an IUI cycle, as all tests returned normal and there was nothing obvious causing our infertility. Poma offers a package of 3 IUIs for a reduced rate, so we opted to give them a try. During these three rounds, I took Clomid. The first cycle I took 50 mg, but for the 2nd and 3rd we increased to 100 mg. We have now completed the IUIs and all negative results. Poma provided us the information and statistics for continuing with IUIs or moving to IVF and ultimately left the decision up to my husband and I.

There was an initial appointment meeting price of a couple hundred dollars to meet and discuss options with Dr. Then initial bloodwork and ultrasounds. IUIs had a package if you pre-purchased 3 together. This ended up being about $600 a piece (medications and trigger shot were additional and purchased outside of the clinic). IVF has a couple different options - an all-in one price for about $11,000 or an insured price through the clinic which offers a percentage pack. Unfortunately, my insurance does not cover anything associated to infertility. I have had to pay 100% out of pocket.

Pros: 1. Always available to perform my surgeries, procedures, etc. Made sure we were comfortable and had no questions and concerns m ocing forward. If we did, we were taken care of immediately. 2. Positive. He would always say "failure is not an option" Always have his fingers crossed for us. 3. Knowledgeable 4. Not wanting to overtreat. Example, for the egg retrieval he sis not want ohss to occur as that can cause pain and setbacks. It was all about the quality of my eggs vs.the quantity. 5. All testing had to be done prior to IVF round. Example, tested sperm to make sure we did not have to go through icsi. I hear of stories where couples do all of this after a failed round. He wants the best chances of getting it right once. Pro or Con depending: 1. He can be blunt. I liked knowing all options and what we were looking at and this may not be good for everyone. He gives you the true picture

They are a smaller clinic trying to accomdate more and more couples. Cycle times may be hard and they do a 5 week cycle system where as large places can be more flexible of if tou see different doctors. Example:I missed the frozen transfer cycle by a few days and had to wait a month until they were back in that transfer cycle vs retrieval cycle. He can be blunt; this may not work for everyone. We liked it. And example: talking about our options after our first fresh cycle transfer. We had success, embryo too but I miscarried for the second time. Talking about next steps were transfers and then he brought up surrogacy. That shocked both of us! But he was trying to give us a larger picture of if this continues to happen, we run all tests, make a changes and and carrying still happens. It was probably silly odbhin to bring up burbhe was trying to say there are options. We have a healthy growing baby now.

Egg retrivals were the Gonal F, trigger, estrogen, something else. Progesterone suppositories and estrogen pills after transfer and through 10 weeks if successful. FET was with low doses of lupron depot, nenopur, progesterone in oil, patches. I SWEAR BY THE PIO!

The best part is they offered essentially a la carte or poma care. They ran your health, age, etc. information into a system that gave you information on the likelyhood of success with a round of ivf and following transfers. You got a number. We had a 90% chance of bringing home a baby. This allowed us to decide if we wanted to so a la carte... pay for one round of IVF and a transfer then additional would be any added FETs, etc. This includes ultrasounds associated with procedures. Or poma care, pay more but if you don't have success with every one of your transfers (for how ever many embryos you have), you'd get whatever percentage of your money back based on the system they ran your numbers with. So we did poma care and if we didn't walk away with baby, we got 90% of our money back.

He did not let us do more than one embryo due to risks foe mom and baby. This was non negotiable and I asked all of the time! We knew we had healthy pgs tested embryos too.

Dr Opsahl is a very thorough doctor. He's great at looking at the big picture of every patient and adjusting treatment as necessary. He was usually very kind and patient, but sometimes he gets a little stressed during the months where many people are going through IVF cycles at once.

Don't waste your time going to other Fertility specialists if you need IVF!! I went to another local fertility clinic before Poma, and I had a terrible IVF cycle there. Poma's lab is phenomenal, and Dr Opsahl is an incredibly intelligent man. Dr Opsahl takes amazing care of his patients.

I used an estrogen priming protocol with both of my egg retrievals. I have low ovarian reserve and high FSH, and this protocol seemed to really help me! I also didn't use birth control before my cycles because my body doesn't handle suppression well. I used high doses of stimulation drugs, and I think it hurt the quality of my eggs. I had a lot of embryos between my two retrievals (around 25), but at 5 days I only had 5 were good quality. If I were to go through another egg retrieval with Dr Opsahl, I would ask to do lower doses of stims.

I believe our IVF cycles were $10k a piece. I also spent $6500 both times on medications. We spent another $3,000 on PGS testing. I think for two cycles it was around $35,000.

De Opsahl recommended I transfer two of my 'fair' embryos because they weren't going to make it to freeze. I was able to PGS test and freeze my 'good' embryos. I ended up pregnant with a singleton.

We have been told by all our doctors that IVF was not something we had to even consider, that our tests looked good and just needed to looked at by a fertility specialist. He was 20mins late to our appointment, and when we told him we were not interested in IVF, he immediately said that is what we needed to do. He was dismissive of our questions and made us feel completely blindsided. He also said that all my tests would likely show worse results because I was about a year older than when they were taken. Said we should start IVF right away and sent us to finance. Felt like we were buying a car. The nurses all remarked that there was no way we could get pregnant because "vasectomy reversals require IVF"...TOTALLY FALSE. It all felt very rehearsed and the doctor has clearly drank the koolaid and is in this for money. We left in tears, completely traumatized. I did go back to do bloodwork and ultrasound. Wouldn't you know, some of my tests IMPROVED ornstayed the same. The doctor and his office are absolutely awful, lack professionalism, and give out incorrect information. My naturopath and acupuncturist had other women around that same time go to Poma and report similar experiences and as a result, stopped referring women there. It was just a terrible experience all around and the lack of compassion was disgusting.

To go elsewhere or at least get a second opinion.

He said that due to the vasectomy reversal and sperm analysis, 9ur ONLY option was IVF. They do an extra test on sperm called the 'AR' test...which I later found out is unreliable and other clinics do not use it or have heard of it.

Most was covered by our insurance with the exception of the sperm analysis...which was more due to an added test that other clinics do not recognize as valid (AR test)

Dr. Opsahl was recommended by a friend-of-a-friend who conceived under his care with her own eggs and sperm as an older, first-time IVF patient (38). We had come from another clinic in the Seattle area and were hesitant about changing clinics. Our first meeting with Dr. Opsahl did not go well. He is not overly warm, very direct. As a teacher, I may need a little more "hand-holding" than he is capable of offering. He was very clear in his expectation that we would have almost less than a 7% chance to carry a child to term (age 42, own eggs). My husband felt that he did not want us as clients due to my age. Although Dr. Opsahl's information and delivery was off-putting, I thought about the reference we were given: that this doctor would handle each step of our treatment personally--each ultrasound he would complete, each mock transfer, and the transfer itself. This was a deciding factor in proceeding with Dr. Opsahl at POMA Fertility in Kirkland, Washington. A specific example of our experience after our frist of two egg retrievals for insemination: I was hopeful and we were discussing the embryo quality in his office after retrieval. I was told that we had, "...one quality embryo...and one poor quality embryo." With a quick smile I said, "So they are all rockstars, right!" And he repeated, "...one quality embryo...and one poor quality embryo." My heart sank. I realize now, especially since he was the second doctor we had worked with for treatment, that he did not want to raise our hopes beyond a realistic expecation. However, his delivery, although accurate I'm sure, felt void of feeling and I left worried and disappointed. Dr. Opsahl never mentioned donor eggs for our treatment. I never mentioned donor eggs, either. I find this surprising now, after being a part of so many support groups. It seems many women of my age are not offered treatment due to their age and doctors do not want to work with the eggs of a woman over 40. Positively, I never found that to be the case with Dr. Opsahl. He relayed clear expectations of our chances to conceive, even though they were bleak. I was not at a point to discuss donor eggs and I appreciate his willingness to work with us. He recommended two retrieval cycels, one frozen and one fresh. These combined cycles would be allowed to grow together for the best results and greates number of transfer since it was not expected that our embryos would make it to genetic screening. We followed his advice and had two retrievals that resulted in one transfer of 5 untested embryos. One resulted in a healthy, bright, bubbly baby boy who just turned 13 months old!

The advice I would give to a prospective patient of Dr. Opsahl's is: prepare to be "low-balled." I think he will work with the worst-case scenario so as not to raise expectations. This can be painful to hear. However, the personal care you will recieve will outweigh the discomfort of the moment. He will know your case, your body, your goals and work with you!

Second Treatment for fresh retrival (age 42): 10 days of injectable hormones Day 1: Menopur 150 iu in the am Gonal F 450 iu in the pm Day 3: estrogen and bloodwork Day 6: ultrasound and bloodwork Trigger shot: 10,000u (Pregnyl @ 5,000iu) Ganirelix.25mg, Crinone 8% gel, baseline ultrasound, and baby aspirin My fertility treatments began with a uterus hystogram (not sure if that is the right terminology). The mapping of my uterus and tubes for blockage. No blockage was found. Many find this procedure painful but I did not have any growths or blocked tubes and so I found it pretty akin to a regular pap smear. Secondly, I underwent an ultrasound for a baseline measure of uterine lining. I was then placed on injectable hormones for a period of 10 days. My injections were in my stomache and daily. I was able to self-inject all medications. I have heard of inter-muscular shots and they sound horrific and many needing help to complete their injections. These were never discussed or prescribed. Although my stomache became a little bruised and tender, it was well worth the discomfort. I used a trigger shot for my egg retrieval. I went to the clinic so that my last ultrasound and mock transfer could be completed. I was placed under anesthesia and my eggs were retrieved. Our first retrieval included sperm injection. My husband began taking supplements and sperm injections were not needed for our second retrieval. Five of six surviving embryos were transferred on Day 3 of lab growth. Our embryos were not pgs tested. Our last remaining embryo did not survive the night. We were successful in carrying one child to term with a low positive blood test of 38.

First retrieval, frozen transfer: $10,610 (cash discount from $10,875) Second retireval: $6,275 (cash discount from $6,430) $305 thaw of first retrieval embryos $5,000 per cycle (not paid to POMA Fertility) $2,290 PGS (refunded) $650 Anesthesia labs $350

Due to may age, 42, eSET was not an option. It was highly unlikely that any of my five transferred embryos would take and quite possible that we would need another transfer of any surviving embryos. We agreed to transfer the maximum of untested embryos for my age--five. This is the MAIN REASON we chose to change clinics and proceed at POMA Fertility--our other clinic would not transfer more than two embryos, regardless of the age of the patient or quality of the eggs/embryos.

Dr. Opsahl was wonderful, hands down. If money wasn’t an issue, I’d run back to him today! Even though our IVF failed, he allowed me to be pregnant, even for a short while. He showed compassion through the tough days, he listened to our concerns and gave exceptional care

Write down all your questions before your first consult

I don’t remember much... Fresh transfer we used crinone and Lupron. The other 3 transfers I opted out of crinone and use the progesterone shots. I had severe OHSS after our fresh transfer. I had to be drained every other day for 2 weeks. All transfers we used estrogen patches and 2 of them we used estrogen pills vaginally.

$16,500 plus meds. This was a guaranteed route. We had as many transfers as embryos and once we ran out and didn’t have a “take home baby”, we were refunded 90%

We did single transfers up until we failed twice. We decided to transfer two to double our chances but it failed too. Dr. Opsahl was always cautious about multiples because the pregnancy could be hard

Dr. Opsahl is a somewhat reserved Dr who you can tell internally processes quite a bit. I learned that the more questions I would ask about what he was doing, why, etc, the more he would open up. As with most Doctors, the longer I saw him, the more open and stronger the Dr.- Patient relationship became. At times though, because of his more reserved side and business, appointments would feel a little rushed, or I would have unanswered questions. There was always a nurse in the room with him who would stay behind though, which was helpful, as I was always able to follow up with them to ask any questions I had.

I feel that if this were my first time doing IVF, I may have felt a little overwhelmed with the whole process. Because he is the only Dr. in the clinic and they use a portal for communication, there were times that I thought to myself that if I hadn't already done IVF before, I would be anxious. I had even overheard a few different conversations in the waiting area at times with some patients asking questions that probably should have been discussed earlier. They also recommend patients watching the videos online for injection courses (although they do a run-through in the clinic too). My advice for Dr. Opsahl would be to not be afraid to ask questions. He will answer and give a great explanation if asked.

After being suppressed with BC for 2 weeks, I was put on a 150iu Menapur and 300 Follistim to start off my cycle. By the 6th day, I increased my Follistim to 375 because I am historically a slow responder and was responding about 2 days behind the ideal schedule. From there things really picked up. I stimmed until day 12 and then triggered. They did change my plan post retrieval though because my progesterone had gotten too high before the trigger, which impacts the lining. What threw me for a loop though was that since I wasn't planning on transferring this month and was planning on doing PGS testing, I didn't think it would be a problem. What I learned though is that Dr. Opsahl essentially wants a contingency plan in case something happened to the embryos (not enough to freeze, didn't grow well, etc). So he wants the patient to be available to do a transfer no matter what. Since I was not able to transfer, he recommend that I do a day 2 freeze all, and then prep for a transfer in January. Then in January, they will thaw all embryos, let them grow to day 5 and we can choose to PGS all day 5 embryos and refreeze all, or transfer one without PGS and then PGS and refreeze the rest. Because we are in a money-back program, if we do not choose the Dr's recommendation, then we forfeit our participation in the program and don't get our money back. It was a bit odd to me, but after taking out the emotional component of expecting everything to go as schedule, I appreciate the steps he takes to ensure the most success with our embryos. Right now, we have 9 embryos frozen on day 2 and will be prepping for a transfer in January.

$17,000 for IVF with PGS and includes all future transfers. We qualified for the bottom tier of their program, so if we do not get a baby after this first cycle, we can do another IVF with PGS for $3500 or get 50% of our money back. This option goes on for 3 total round of IVF. If at the end of all 3 rounds if we are still not pregnant, we get back 50% of everything we invested. Drugs are not included in the $17k, neither is $650 for anesthesia or $1900 for the Genetic Clinic's fee for PGS. The $17k did cover the option for ICSI if we chose it, but we didn't. It also covered the freezing and refreezing, so we weren't hit with additional fees, which I know we would have been at the other clinic.

He was very conpassionate. Explaining my diagnosis of Diminished Ovarian Reserve, it was very straightforward and well laid out. But he was conpassionate and hopeful at the same time. Gave several options for treatment at that appointment. After we decided to move forward with IVF and that cycle was cancelled, he suggested wr move forward with donor eggs as our best chance to conceive. We felt we could have done another cycle of IVF using a different protocol but he didn't seem to go that route.

Clinic is busy and if you are an IVF patient, they only do cycles every other month. Parking is free.

We did one medicated IUI with clomid and trigger shot, negative cycle. IVF was an estrogen primed antagonist protocol. Primed with estrace and cetrotide, stimmed with menopur and gonal F (max dose). Only resulted in 1 mature follicle and a handful of smaller ones- only about 5 smaller ones under 10mm if I can remember correctly. We were given the option to cancel or convert to IUI, so we opted for another IUI which was a negative cycle.

Upfront, $1500 for 3 IUIs that was refundable. We paid around $20,000 for IVF, but since our cycle was cancelled we got about $17000 refunded.

I didn't feel like the treatment was tailored to me in any way. It appeared from my experience as well as others I've spoken with that there is a system followed, and if it isn't successful, the next step is donor eggs. Even after a single cycle, there was not even a discussion to be had on other possible options or ways to approach the protocol. Terrible bedside manner in my case and lacked sensitivity in how conversations were handled. Also had several situations where we felt rushed through an appointment with little to no time to ask any follow up questions. Overall felt that I was rushed through a process. He also didn't seem open to any questions I asked regarding chinese medicine and acupuncture nor that it was helpful in the IVF process, which I found odd. And although I did disclose I had a thyroid issue, he didn't monitor it closely during the process, which was also a red flag to me. His nurses are amazing though - have to mention that. They were beyond helpful and very responsive anytime I had questions or needed help.

Ask questions on the process and protocol and if/how they are tailored to your specific situation/needs. In general, ask lots of questions and don't assume you are being told everything you need to know!

He is a very experienced doctor and we respect that. However, he didn't go into detail about the options we were curious about or needed and tended to be somewhat negative. He doesn't seem to remember the patient's condition or situation very well. We always had to go to the clinic with the mindset of starting over. The clinic also did not follow up on the patient's next steps, which was frustrating in many ways.

He always used the Agonist Protocol, and even if the cycle failed, he repeated the same cycle again without suggesting any other protocols or options. Ended up having a repeat failure.

Dr. Opsahl and his PA, Megan made us feel comfortable asking questions and advocating for our needs. Megan sat with us for 1.5 hours on the first meeting to explain all the options forward even with COVID-19.

We transferred from another clinic so when we explained that our medicated IUI cycles had only resulted in one follicle, they immediately upped my dosage. I had been having some weird things happen in my luteal phase so they gave me progesterone to support. They also encouraged me to try the trigger shot and had us do IUI. Because of COVID-19 we aren’t sure when we will begin IVF but they walked us through the entire process so we feel prepared.

The cost of IUI was $675 and a trigger shot was $150. The cost of IVF is $12,900 and there are options for refunds.

He is very upgront but in a friendly caring manner. He didnt beat around the bush. He cared about our opinions and goals. But most importantly he cared about helping us build our family. He is a true gift from God!

Ask lots of questions. Trust him and his team. They know what they are doing and are doing it for the right reasons (its not all about the money there!)

I used the LEAP i believe it was called. Due to my DOR I had a very tailered medication regimen. He was very upfront the entire time on when and why we had to make changes and adjustments etc etc

We paid for the procedure which included everything except bloodwork and any additional ultrasounds if needed

His goal is for you to have one healthy baby. I appreciated his encouragement to only transfer 1 embyro. I knew he cared about me and my unborn baby, not just making sure he got good results for his own numbers.

He was knowledgeable and patient but constantly couldn’t remember what I had done and would suggest medications that would cause me to overstimulate. I think he’s a good doctor but slightly rushed with me as an IUI patient.

Advocate for yourself.

Three IUIs for $1500 I believe? Ultrasound is $165 I think. They no longer offer the package of IUI and i think it’s $625

Dr. Opsahl is kind, thorough, and very clear in what he thinks would be the best course of action. He can be a bit blunt but I appreciate his honestly in order to make hard decisions. He gives his opinion but also honors yours and lets you decide what is best for you and your family.

Advocate for yourself as I think this is important in every doctor patient relationship. Dr. Opsahl wants to help you to the best of his ability but you have to tell him what you need and what you want too.

I haven't received any bills yet

He prefers eSET but if you were in a situation where you didn't have any good quality embryos but may have 2 questionable ones he would put 2 in. Not more than 2

I think if you want someone who is going to do anything to get you pregnant, maybe he would do that, but he doesn't seem like he's just in it to make money and was always very honest about what he could and couldn't do for us. I really enjoyed working with him- I just wish he could perform miracles!

Go in knowing the questions you want to ask because he will be willing to keep answering as long as you keep asking!

Advanced sperm analysis because we already knew we had male infertility but he wanted to know how the sperm functioned. Blood tests and ultrasound to test female fertility. Clomid Challenge to see how my hormones would respond.

Most things were covered by insurance because they billed them as diagnostic except for the advanced sperm analysis. And the Clomid cost about $30.

I have always found Dr. Beesley to be who I am hoping to see when I have to go to the clinic because his ability to be positive and kind (without being condescending) makes each appointment a bit easier.

I feel POMA tends to be conservative in their medical practice, so don’t be afraid to ask about other options.

IVF was fully covered by insurance.

Fertility treatments are quite invasive, but I felt respected and as close to comfortable as was possible under those circumstances. I was very apprehensive about certain aspects of IVF, but found myself really trusting Dr. Opsahl

Feel free to ask any question, no matter how inconsequential it may seem—Dr. Opsahl won’t make you feel stupid and will gladly answer.

Dr. Opsahl recommended transferring one embryo because the success rate was higher than with multiple embryos.

Dr. Opsahl is honest, kind and clearly wants to see success for his patients. We have not gotten the results we want yet, but have felt like we are in great care with Poma fertility. I would highly recommend him to a friend. My one negative comment is that the clinic is quite busy and so your time to with the doctor is short and there is not always time to have all questions answered.

Be ready for an honest conversation about your situation and a doctor who genuinely cares.

We used the same protocol with slight variations for each of my cycles.

Each cycle is roughly $11,000 out of pocket with the option to get insurance to cover failed cycles.

N/A

Good experience overall. Sometime it feels like they are way to busy, therefor overlook certain details or patient history specifics. But the doc is always there with a smile, remembers you and the staff is there to answer the questions well.

IUI, then egg retreval, then IVF trials.

Pretty expensive overall we’ve paid out of our pocket with very basic insurance coverage that does not cover infertility around $18,000 total put ornaments pocket.

Dr. Opsahl is very knowledgeable and blunt. I do feel that he had way too many patients for the size of the clinic. When I saw him, he was always in a rush. He wasn't very interested in experimental procedures.

There has been some miscommunication of which procedures will be performed. Make sure you know what will be taking place. Also, drug suppliers (in US) POMA suggests do not always have best prices. Do your homework

I pushed for all the protocols and dosages based on experience. Do your homework

about $7k for stim and retrieval. $3k for embryology (getting from day 1 embryo to 5 day embryo). $3k for FET

eSET was not required from me because I have failed 3 PGS screened embryo transfers already

The dr made sure that we understood every topic that was discussed. He seemed well experienced, educated and as if he genuinely cared about our experience and outcome. He explained potential risks and what to expect.

No advice needed, you are in good hands.

This was a consultation only.

I believe IVF is around $25,000, that includes everything and gives you a guarantee. If IVF does not result in a live birth, you get to do your next round at a discounted cost

In the beginning we had good communication with the Dr. Once Ivf started, I was to be in contact with one of the nursing staff.i had many question that didn't get answered and felt like I was just a number. When I asked questions the Dr sent me to one of the nurses to answer them.

Make sure to go in with questions when meeting with the Dr and get them all answered the first time.

8,000 for 8 frozen donor eggs 10,000 for Ivf . 1200. In medication

Dr. Opsahl is kind and funny. He was always willing to explain or elaborate a procedure or test result if we didn't understand the reasoning behind a recommendation. He was prompt to all appointments and efficient too, an appointment rarely ran long.

Dr Opsahl strongly encouraged an eSET. When we transferred two embryos for our failed cycle, he explained why that was the best course of action.

Dr. Opsahl was great. I felt well informed and taken care of at every appointment. He listened to my concerns and made adjustments to my treatment when ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome became a potential issue.

Definitely make an appointment for an initial consultation!