STL Fertility

Doc Dayal is very knowledgeable in thr infertility field. She went over all the pros and cons to each choice I had and help me decided based on my age and other factors what is the best route for treatment. She even let me try a couple other things first.

TRUST IN HER. She will guide you to the best path to get to your dream outcome.

Everything was emailed to me in great detail so I knew what to expect. Very organized and made me feel aware of the steps and whay I needed to.

Ivf is 20000 not including the meds for that. I've probably spent several thousands on test and scans etc to figure out why I was not getting pregnant

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Dr. Schulte is one of the kindest and most compassionate people I've ever met. She has a passion for fertility, and it shows. I feel like I can be completely open and honest with her, and she never ever makes me feel like my thoughts are too crazy. She is thorough and knows how to explain things that make sense to everyday people. I have never felt pressured to do things or complete cycles when I didn't feel like things were perfect. She has absolutely supported our journey and is willing to try anything to make sure her patients get the outcome they desire.

Be open and honest with her! Let her know your worries, frustrations, concerns, etc. She is very willing to listen to any concerns you have and make sure you both agree on a good treatment plan.

I conceived naturally, but ended up being a miscarriage. While I was not technically "under her care" since the pregnancy was natural, she still allowed us to come in for bloodwork, and even 2 ultrasounds to make sure things were progressing okay. When the miscarriage happened, we immediately got into contact with her to start a plan for IVF. Being that it was our 2nd miscarriage, she immediately wanted to run an RPL panel, as well as other testing before deciding on a treatment plan. Additionally, she strongly recommended PGT testing due to our prior losses (and knowing one for sure was genetic-related). Our first transfer we did a medicated cycle, along with Lovenox and baby asprin. Unfortunately that cycle was unsuccessful, so the 2nd cycle she recommended a natural transfer. I am now 4w3d pregnant from that transfer! I just felt very heard and that she was willing to try something else when things didn't work out the first time.

Sometimes monitoring appointments can be hard just because they do get busy, and you never know what kind of short-notice you're going to have to be monitored. It never seemed to matter though; the front office always got me in when I needed to be seen, regardless how booked they were. Once in the office, I've waited anywhere from 5-20 minutes to be seen (depends on how busy it is that day), but it's understandable as some things just take more time than others. I do like that if I'm needing bloodwork done along with an ultrasound, they will have me come do the bloodwork then go back to the waiting room. I like that they're efficient with things like that!

Thankfully I had Progyny insurance, but the quote we received for an IVF retrieval was $18,500. 1 frozen transfer ran $4,500. An ERA was $1,500. Each IUI we did through them was $1,850.

Due to my age, a single embryo transfer was recommended. STL Fertility seems to utilize single transfers far more frequently unless there is good reason.

Dr Schulte has been through fertility issues herself and that makes it more relatable and personable when a physician can share their experiences with you and truly understand what you are going through, instead of just saying they do. I feel she does care and wants the best outcome for me. The only weakness I have is at times, I do feel a little "rushed" in the room. I feel like I need to have all my questions readily available during the visit or she might be on to the next patient but I know they are busy and I try to have my questions written down and ready before my appts. Otherwise, I feel she is trying to help me build my family and truly cares that we make every effort to help that happen

They are a busy clinic and will answer any questions you have, but I recommend trying to brainstorm, research or write down any questions you might have prior to your appt to ensure you get to ask them and they get answered.

We attempted IUI 4 times, planned intercourse once before moving on to IVF. We have had 1 retrieval and 2 unsuccessful transfers with healthy embryos. We tried a fully medicated cycle and then a modified natural cycle with immunotherapy protocols without success. Unsure what we will try next.

Currently around $24,000 and counting as we still don't have our rainbow baby.

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Extremely compassionate. Treated me like a intelligent person and made me a part of the treatment decision making process. Did not leave my husband out of the loop. Talked through options multiple times until I felt comfortable.

Do your research and be prepared to suggest ideas. Moe will tell you why or why not they are good ideas.

Down-reg with Lupron and bcp. Retrieval started with normal doses of Follilism and Menopur, decreased at checks due to follicle growth and bloodwork. Stimmed low and slow to increase chances of getting a good cohort of eggs maturing together, since we could only afford one retrieval.

About $10k for ER and 1 FET. $5k for meds for ER. $4k for 2 additional FETs, $2k for ERA testing cycle. $3k for surgery (at outside hospital, at Moe's recommendation for fertility purposes)

Strong preference for eSET. Explained why, including sharing relevant peer reviewed research. Compelling evidence, and I too now strongly prefer eSET.

Dr Dayal is wonderful! We switched clinics because I was not happy with our care. Dr Dayal was so very thorough and performed her own procedures. I am anxious at baseline and she provided me with the information and reassurance I needed. She called us in the evening more than once to talk through random questions I had. She is the absolute best.

Ask all your questions, she truly wants to hear them and help you!

Unlike the clinic prior, Dr Dayal made a medical regimen specific to me and explained drug choices and dosages. The meds resulted in the production of many eggs and she changed my dosages frequently at the end of the retrieval cycle (with additional appointments to monitor and determine the best retrieval date).

We were able to meet with someone in billing on our first appointment. She spent about an hour with us and explained all our options. I felt like they were more aware and conscious of billing than the previous clinic we went to. We ended up utilizing Attain fertility.

Dr. Dayal has zero weaknesses. She is the most compassionate and intelligent doctor I have ever had the pleasure of knowing. During the miscarriages and hard times she would reach out personally to make sure we were okay and made us feel like her only patients. She makes the treatment processes much easier to handle.

Keep up with communication with your nurses, etc. Do not be afraid to ask questions and make sure you have everything you need.

During the IUIs I was placed on letrozole and did a pregnyl injection to release the egg(s). Egg retrieval for IVF was Gonal F, Lupron, Menopure. At the time this was the best course of treatment. After doing an ERA last summer she found that I would potentially benefit from a day 6 transfer instead of a day 5 with the next FET.

The costs have been uniform since our first visit. With each cycle we knew what our costs would be and there were no surprises. We were able to secure a loan to help us.

From the moment I met her she was warm and friendly. She treated me like a new friend and she was very open and honest about my course of treatment. She was candid, yet comforting in advising me on my road to conceiving with and without the use of an egg donor. She spent as much time with me as I needed when any set backs occurred.

Be ready to hear the good and the bad news because she’ll be open and honest about your possibilities. In theory we may want a doctor to tell us we’ll all get a baby, but we need the ones who are honest about how likely that really is.

We did an ultrasound to see my egg quantity (3). I then started birth control. At my next cycle I started IVF drugs (Lupron, Gonal, & Menopur). I went in for a blood test and ultrasound the first week. It didn’t look great and we decided that if we were lucky enough we’d do a fresh vs frozen transfer since they wouldn’t have a lot to test. I continued the drugs for another week. Went back in for blood work and ultrasound. I only had one egg, so we canceled retrieval and I did the trigger shot and timed intercourse. No success. Covid-19 cancelled current treatments, but when we have the money our next step will be using an egg donor.

$3400 was my portion after insurance, $580 for anesthesia (didn’t use and still waiting for refund), plus additional copays for specialist office visits.

I know she prefers a single embryo transfer, I know that in my case if we’d been lucky enough to get two, she’d have done both, but normally she only does one.

Dr Witten was pretty blunt with me during one of the initial appointments. I ended up leaving in an embarrassing mess of tears. The next time I came into the clinic, he offered me one of the most sincere apologies I have ever experienced. From then on he was compassionate and sensitive. Also his exams/procedures were as comfortable as they could be.

I guess this doesn’t apply now that he is retired.

Due to my age, poor egg quality and low reserve, my only choice was donor egg. First I had a saline ultrasound. I found out on my own about frozen egg banks and chose to use a frozen egg lot. After the eggs arrived at the clinic, I was started on birth control, then transitioned to lupron injections. Then I started steroids and injected estrogen. Close to transfer I started progesterone in oil and antibiotics. I chose to use the acupuncturist who came to the clinic on transfer day. Then after transfer and confirmed pregnancy I stayed on all of those meds until 10 weeks except for the antibiotics. I was then released to my obgyn.

It’s hard to say. I paid the donor egg bank for up to six cycles and then they paid the clinic for all my treatment.

I was only interested in eSet so it was never a discussion.

While I decided to leave the clinic, I still hold a special place in my heart for Dr. Witten. He is very compassionate and follows probably what most other doctors follow. I felt that he had my best interest at heart. I had to switch clinics to try a different treatment plan and regain some hope. I was walking away from Dr. Witten with no help and an unexplained diagnosis. We had went through some terrible loss and did not feel anything was going to change, therefor, we had to make the change.

Fight to change your treatment plan if it is not working. Also, try not to schedule Friday appointments. They seem to be very busy on those days and wait times can be long!

I have been off birth control for 4 years and we really tried to start conceiving in January 2017. We started in November 2018 with Sher and did one round of medicated timed intercourse. We then proceeded with an IUI in January and February. Had a HSG performed in February 2019 that came back normal with no blockage. In May we attempted our first IVF cycle but was cancelled due to low number of follicles. During this cycle Lupron, Gonal F, Menopur and the HCG trigger shot was used. During June we went through another retrieval and used the same medicine but added Cetrotide and increased the dosages on the other. They retrieved 11 eggs, 10 fertilized and 6 made it to day 5. We then did PGS testing and 3 came back normal; 2 males and a female. The abnormal ones had the following issues: one of the embryos was missing a chromosome on chromosome 1, one had an additional on chromosome 8, and the other had an additional on 11 and 13. We then went through a transfer in August 2019. Lupron and E2V were used to prepare. My lining was above 9mm. We did have to use Viagra suppositories to get my lining to thicken. We transferred on 8/22 and used Progesterone and Progesterone suppositories along with E2V after transfer. Blood tested on 9/1 and came back with a negative. During October, an ERA was performed. Again, used the same medicine regime. The ERA came back receptive. During November, we prepared again for another transfer in December. A few differences during this cycle was that they did test for blood clotting disorders and I do have a single mutation for the blood clotting disorder MTHFR. For this round they added Lovenox daily. We also did a scratch during the fluid ultrasound. My lining was at 10.4mm 5 days before transfer (last ultrasound) and we transferred on 12/13 and embryo glue was used during this transfer. A blood test was done 12/23 and came back negative. We have transferred both our male embryos and have the female embryo left.

We have insurance coverage right now so i cannot help much here. If i were to get this grant, I am giving it to my close friend that is also going through the same thing as we are.

Dr. Dayal is extremely warm, intelligent, and thorough. Despite the fact that I have still not achieved the outcome I want, I completely trust her and believe she has left no stone unturned. I would recommend her wholeheartedly to anyone going through infertility.

Dr. Dayal is incredibly thorough and explains everything well but certainly feel free to ask her questions, which she will always answer!

Prior to egg retrieval, I used Lupron. I had two retrievals with Dr. Dayal which were much more successful than the retrievals I had with another RE. I felt Dr. Dayal carefully considered the best approach given my history, age, etc. For the FETs I have had under Dr. Dayal's care we have used both medicated and a semi-natural/gentle stim cycle.

I used an Attain shared risk plan.

I have only done single embryo transfers, which Dr. Dayal is strongly in favor of.

Dr. Dayal has always been very straight forward with us. She tells us what treatment options are best for our situation. When a cycle failed, she changed things up so things looked different the next time. She genuinely cares about me as a patient and always weighs the risks and benefits of each treatment option.

Be prepared to never want to see another doctor again! Dr. Dayal will warm your heart and give you confidence that you'll walk out of that office pregnant.

We attempted a timed intercourse cycle with a low dosage of stimulation drugs. I have a high number of eggs so she wanted to start with a low dose so as not to overstimulate me. That cycle was unsuccessful, but it did give Dr. Dayal an idea on how my body would react to a full stim IVF cycle. We moved straight forward with IVF, choosing the skip IUI as the issue was annovulation, not a sperm issue. She monitored me very closely as I did produce a very high quantity of eggs. Due to the large number of eggs we had to freeze all of our embryos and do a frozen cycle. Our first frozen cycle failed. After that cycle Dr. Dayal added on a bag of intralipids and had us do an ERA to determine our optimum window for implantation. Our second cycle also failed, and I will be speaking with Dr. Dayal tomorrow on what we can change for our next cycle to try to be successful.

I do not remember the costs. I know that my insurance did cover 85% of the total costs of treatment.

Dr. Dayal did recommend only transferring one embryo because of my younger age. She told us that transferring two embryos doesn't really increase your chance of getting pregnant, just your chance of having multiples.

I have had over 20 visits to this clinic and have seen Dr. Witten every single time besides once, when he was out of town. I have several friends who see different fertility Dr.’s and none of them have actually gotten to see they doctor as much as I’ve seen him. I feel like that says a lot about the care he provides his patients. He is always on board with any new idea I have or something new to try. He spends so much time with me each appointment and I never feel like he’s rushing to see the next patient. He’s also always been on time and I’ve never had to wait past my appointment time to see him. He has also done very cool things like let me see the sperm sample through the microscope so I am convinced that my husbands sperm are swimming correctly! Being able to do that was beyond one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen a doctor do for a patient and I’m a nurse and work with doctors on a daily basis.

Let him know everything about how your feeling or any issues you have with anything. He’s a very good listener and always wants to know how you’re feeling throughout each cycle. Be very open to him about your feelings.

Every cycle I have a baseline ultrasound to check for cysts, then I start my (cycles with IUI’s was 5 mg) 7.5 mg of femara on cycle days 3-7. I come back around cycle day 11 or 12 or another ultrasound to see how my follicles are responding. He has always been the one that does my ultrasounds. We have previously done 3 IUI’s three months in a row with no positive results. However, I did handle those cycles just fine with no issues. Before the first IUI he checked my cervical mucus to check for sperm. He was not able to find any so we thought IUI should work. Since the failed IUI’s he upped my dosage from 5mg to 7.5 to allow more eggs to produce to see if that would help. Before I was producing one egg each time. I also give myself a trigger shot every cycle with or without doing the IUI’s. Unfortunately I have not received a positive test from any cycles yet. This cycle we are currently on he’s checking my ph and we are trying a baking soda douche the night before I ovulate. He checked my cervical mucus again this cycle and there was living sperm in it which is better than when he checked before.

The IUI’s were out of pocket for us and were $1000. Femara and trigger shots are also out of pocket but they providing me with the cheapest pharmacies for me to get them through. All of the ultrasounds were run through insurance and we covered the rest out of pocket. Roughly around $250 per month.

We came to Sher and Dr. Witten after a bad experience elsewhere. He is very thorough and really took the time to run every test and go through every potential obstacle before recommending treatment. We started with Femera and Ovidrel and moved on to IUI. We’re perfect on paper, but just can’t get pregnant. Dr. Witten saw a fibroid, but performed a test that showed it was not inside the wall and decided it was not an issue. After a 2nd failed IUI we went in to discuss moving to IVF. Instead of just taking our money and starting IVF, he referred us to a surgeon to remove the fibroid. He didn’t want any obstacles when we finally start treatment. This will delay our treatment 3 months, but we will at least know that we did everything possible. We feel that he genuinely cares about us and our outcome and we continue to trust his treatment plan.

He is very sweet, but no-nonsense in his approach. Sometimes he can be very direct. My advice would be to ask as many questions as it takes so you understand exactly what is happening.

We started with Femera and the trigger shot with timed intercourse for several months. We did our first IUI, went back to Femera during the holidays and did a 2nd IUI two months later. He performed many tests including HSG and a saline ultrasound. Most recently we have been referred to a surgeon for fibroid removal. The surgeon seems to think this could be causing our issues. We will resume treatment with Dr. Witten after recovery.

IUI cost 1,000, but ultrasounds are included

The thing I love the most about working with Dr. Dayal is I feel like we're part of a team. I can always ask her questions, mention concerns, and we work on a plan together. I never feel rushed with her in my appointments, even when I have a ton of questions. With both of my losses Dr. Dayal was incredibly compassionate and when I was ready mentioned procedures/tests we might consider to get to the bottom of the issue.

Ask all the questions you have. It isn't a reflection on Dr. Dayal or her staff because they are great with communication, more being your own advocate and not being afraid to ask any and all questions.

The first IVF cycle I did with Dr. Dayal was canceled. We had agreed to do a low dosage protocol and my follicles simply stopped growing at the mid-way point. Dr. Dayal suggested a low dose protocol because she was worried about hyper-stimulation due to my PCOS. We tried to work with the cycle but it just wasn't working so we wound up canceling it. Our second IVF we did complete and did a freeze all instead of doing a fresh transfer. We used a "middle of the road" dose protocol and it worked perfectly. She was still worried about hyper-stimulation and warned me if this occurred we would have to do a freeze all. While I didn't hyper-stimulate I did have a rough recovery with egg retrieval due to past abdominal surgeries, completed unrelated to Dr. Dayal, and we wound up having to do a freeze all anyway. With each of our 3 frozen embryo transfers (FETs) we used the same protocol because even though the first one was unsuccessful with a negative beta, my body responded exactly as wanted to the medication protocol. My 2nd and 3rd FETs resulted in positive betas but ended in miscarriage, both at 5 weeks 1 day. After learning this Dr. Dayal highly recommended doing an ERA test to make sure we were transferring on the right day.

I don't specifically remember costs because my Husband and I are very lucky to have health insurance that helps with infertility treatments. However, they do use an anesthesiologist who does not accept insurance and their cash/check payment cost is $500 which is due at time of service.

The entire staff at SIRM was a complete Godsend for my husband and I in 2019. I was diagnosed with stage 3 colorectal cancer at the age of 31. Just 48 hours before, I had been playing with my wiggly and growing nephews with the desire to be a mom. Before my diagnosis, I thought our pregnancy journey would begin just a few months later in summer 2019. Our “normal” life was stripped from us. We met with my radiation oncologist, oncologist and surgeon. For the first time in my life, I felt extremely hopeless when we were informed that I would very likely become infertile from radiation and chemotherapy. Our only option was invitro fertilization (IVF) and then surrogacy. Seeing that I had almost a complete obstruction in my rectum, my healthcare team was hesitant to allow fertility treatment to proceed. However, given my age and my current childless state, I was given the green light with specific instructions that I had three weeks to undergo IVF and then cancer treatment started. Following referral from a close friend, I contacted SIRM the next day. I felt battered, beaten down and extremely fragile. In all honestly, I had an extremely negative attitude and felt powerless to my situation. Andrea McClain answered the phone. From the first interaction, we felt relief. Although booked solid, Andrea opened Dr. Maureen Schulte’s schedule for us to arrive the next day as a “rescue retrieval” case. We drove there in silence. The fear was palpable. We needed a win, however small, that day. Insert Dr. Moe. I arrived at SIRM with little to no hope. I did not understand the IVF process. I had no idea if I was fertile. All I knew was that I had aggressive cancer and we had one shot to have a family genetically. Five hours later, I left SIRM rejuvenated with hope and encouragement that I was being taken care of by the best doctors before cancer treatment started. Dr. Moe took on my case as if we were long-time friends or immediate family members. Absolutely every single interaction was heartfelt, honest and meaningful. During the 10-day hormone injection period, Dr. Moe sent daily text messages of encouragement, support and love. To be honest, I often felt like I was Dr. Moe’s only patient during our egg retrieval because she was genuinely concerned about our health journey. It was extremely obvious that our situation was just as important to her as it was to us. Dr. Moe called to inform us that we had genetically normal embryos waiting for us when I was cancer free. To be Dr. Moe’s first “rescue retrieval” was a gift. When I had little hope and the possibility of having a family felt like it was slipping away, I received encouragement, love and tons of hugs from every single member of the SIRM family. Every individual, from the front desk, to lab technicians, to our administrative gurus and Dr. Moe, made our world seem a little less scary. When I wanted to quit during my six months of chemotherapy, our future family kept me going more times than I can count. We dreamt of our family more in the last six months than ever before. That dream will one day become a reality because of Dr. Moe and her talented team. Dr. Moe is living her calling in life. It is insanely obvious that she fully invests in her patients through her witty and adorable bedside manner, personal touch and follow-up interactions. As a past patient and cancer survivor, I highly recommend SIRM for all your fertility needs. Make the right choice. Choose SIRM today.

Do not be intimidated by the process. You are with the best. She will make you feel taken cared of and do everything in her power to help you start your family.

Roughly $5,000 for certain medications and genetic testing. My insurance covered the rest of the costs.

Dr. Dayal was always gentle in all of her procedures that she performed and took care to minimize pain. She was generally good about explaining everything and was upfront if a certain test or procedure did not have a lot of research. Dr. Dayal was open to trying new procedures and medications. Unfortunately my last experience with Dr. Dayal is the reason why I cannot recommend her as a doctor. I went into her office for a D&C after a miscarriage and unfortunately her nurse anesthesiologist was not able to place an IV despite many tries so the procedure was cancelled. This is obviously a terrible experience, but Dr. Dayal told me she would see if either the other anesthesiologist team she worked with would be available and also took the name of my gynecologist to see if she could get me set up to have it done with them and that she would call me later that day. She never called. I called my gynecologist's office the next day who said they had not heard from Dr. Dayal. My gynecologist's office had to chase her down to get the records they needed and only through their efforts was I able to get my D&C. A miscarriage is awful enough, but having a doctor that you worked with for years abandon you in the middle of it is just unconscionable

Dr. Dayal tends to phrase things in a very optimistic manner. Please do your own research and take any statistics she quotes you with a large grain of salt.

Long lupron protocol with fresh transfers of a single embryo (against Dr. Dayal's recommendation) then double embryo transfer. Did natural killer cell testing after the first fresh transfer failed and when this came back elevated, she added intralipid infusions to future transfers. Also did two medicated frozen embryo transfers.

Had insurance coverage

Due to my age, she recommended transferring two day 5 embryos. I do think Dr. Dayal downplays the risks of a pregnancy of multiples.

Dr Dayal is very compassionate and seems to truly care. I have had issues that I have brought forward and she listens well and has attempted to make them right. I really appreciate that she is in every appointment, she answers all my questions and I have felt like I have a say in my care

Advocate for yourself, have questions prepared and don’t be afraid to adk

We have tried several different protocols. I did not stun well my first try at egg retrieval and we started making changes after that

I am not sure we had some coverage but each cycle seemed to be about 7000.00 prior to medications

I had a uterine anaomly and will always do a single transfer

Dr. Dayal is very warm and compassionate. She remembers details about you when you visit (both medical and personal). While we were seeking a second opinion before doing IVF she called to get a check-up on our progress. Although she will give her medical opinion and guidance, she is 100% supportive of OUR decisions through the process. She treats us as intellectuals and explains ideas that need elaboration, but doesn't overexplain ideas that we've "got." She has never once rushed an appointment with us. She has made it clear that us having a successful pregnancy is her priority.

Is it possible for a doctor to be too kind? I am struggling to come up with anything except that maybe at times I wish she was a little more forceful with her advice (ok, not really). But we may have made some different decisions to move quicker if she had guided us to. So have an idea of what your goals are when meeting with her.

If I remember correctly, IUIs were somewhere around $1,000 a piece (roughly), and we've been quoted about $10,000 for the first round of egg retrieval, $5,000 if we have to do a second round, $3,000-6,000 for meds (ours is $4,250), $450 for anesthetic, and approximately $5,000 for transfers.

We have not yet gone through the process of IVF, but in our preliminary discussions, she has mentioned the odds of success for single vs. multiple and does seem to have a medical bias towards single. It seems like she would allow us to do two if we chose two, but she is definitely recommending one (which we will likely follow!)

I have nothing but positive things to say about Dr. Witten. He was very thorough in explaining the process. He was great about changing our course of treatment as needed as different issues came up with my endo. I had an endometrioma pop up during the time I was getting shots. He decided he would do the egg retrieval but may need to delay the transfer for me to have surgery to remove the endometrioma. He knew how upset this made me as I had already had 2 laparoscopic surgeries that year to remove the endo. He wanted to do everything he could to avoid me having another surgery for the year. As he did my egg retrieval he was able to rupture the endometrioma so we could complete transfer right away!

Do EVERYTHING by the book. They lay out everything you need to know and do to achieve best results. Even though it may be hard or inconvenient it pays off.

Due to my diagnosis of endometriosis and low ovarian reserve, we used a higher dose of the follistim. During my treatment, an endometrioma began growing again. It caused a lot of discomfort as my ovaries were very enlarged from the meds. After retrieval I began to feel much better after about a week. My ovaries were going back to normal and Dr. Witten ruptured my endometrioma during retrieval. Because of the aggressive nature of my endometriosis, Dr. Witten recommended transferring 2 embryos. We now have 8 month old boy/girl twins!!

The cost was between $10,000-$15,000

My husband and I completely trusted Dr. Witten's advice on how many embryos to transfer. He recommended we transfer 2 due to the aggressive nature of my endometriosis. We understood the risks involved with multiples and decided to take his advice. We are very glad we did.

Dr. Zarek is hands down the most amazing Doctor I've every had! She always explained everything and sat down and made sure my husband and I's questions were answer before she left the room. She takes her time and made sure we were comfortable and knew what was going on and what to expect. Even if we had a question after we left the clinic she wanted us to call her so that we wouldn't keep wondering. Without Dr. Zarek who knows if we would have had any children but with the love, support, and knowledge of Dr.Zarek we were able to conceive our daughter, Maye. We are so glad we found her and will hopefully be returning to see her for more children in the future. For anyone that is going through fertility issues I highly recommend Dr.Zarek!

She is very trust worthy physician!

Really the only thing I can remember her suggesting is for my husband and I to do IVF bc we had male infertility and with the IUI it may not be worth the time and money with the issues we had with some of the sperm counts

The cost was not cheap and insurance didn’t pay for much. However you could sign up for a payment plan. They always suggested sign up for scholarships to help cover some of the cost

We were only able to do one embryo bc that was the only embryo that we had survive. And with Dr Zareks approach and knowledge we let her guide us in the right direction on what to do

The right Reproductive Endocrinologist for you can be the difference between success or heartache. Therefore, I want my review to be as honest as possible so others can make an educated choice. My experience with Dr. Witten spans about a 2 year time frame and if I had to do it all over again, I would most definitely choose a different RE. We were struggling to conceive so I was instructed to see a RE by my Ob-Gyn. She gave me a list of RE's that came recommended but I settled on Dr. Witten, who was not on her list. We wanted to be seen by an older RE, thinking his years of experience would be an advantage. Under Dr. Witten's care, I received an HSG, which revealed one of my fallopian tubes was not spilling any dye. Dr. Witten said that he thought the other one was fine He recommended a laparoscopy surgery. Dr. Witten does not do surgery, he did not tell me this, I just figured it out after he advised me to have my Ob-Gyn do the surgery. My Ob-gyn said she preferred him to do the surgery so they went back and forth. I had been complaining for the majority of my life how awful my periods were but no one would ever listen. After 2 months in lingo, Dr. Witten referred me to the gynecological surgeon he apparently sends all of his patients to. So off I went to surgery with a different doctor, who ultimately discovered endometriosis and a damaged tube. He removed the tube and removed the endometriosis and sent me back to Dr. Witten. Dr. Witten continued to monitor me, we'd do ultra-sounds constantly but not much direction was given, other than he kept wanting us to do timed intercourse, which is what we'd been doing for the past 1.5 years with no luck without a RE. I felt like we needed medication but he wouldn't even discuss it. It took so many ultrasounds-2-3x a week, traveling 60 miles one way to his office and leaving work early just to hear the same old spiel. One day, during an ultrasound he mentioned IUI but he said I needed to do it right away because I was about to ovulate. I had not been on any medications but trusted him so I received 1 trigger shot and had an IUI the next day. It failed. I was told at his office that the IUI would cost $525 but once I got to Sher Institute, which is where he does the IUI, they told me the price was $1000. They did honor the original price I was told but informed me any future IUI's would be $1000 a piece. Then the next 2 cycles he put me on clomid, with no pregnancy resulting. He then suggested IVF, which is not in our budget no matter how bad we want to have a child. We were devastated and felt as though he did not give us enough time on medication early on to try an IUI again. He waited over a year to even attempt any medication, even after telling us that we had to rush because I have very low ovarian reserve. We are devastated and haven't been back. We are currently doing research to find a RE that better fits us.

Ask questions and demand answers. Do research before your appointments and ask about medication and treatment options starting with your first appointment and everyone thereafter. I regret that we didn't push harder, wasting valuable egg quality time.

IUI, with 1 trigger shot. Clomid with timed intercourse. His treatments are very reserved, not an aggressive go getter type.

At least $5000, maybe more for just doctor appointments, very little medicine and 1 IUI.

Fantastic, compassionate, smart doctor. She would hug you on a bad day and be a cheerleader on a good day. She never made us feel like a patient but more like family. She cared whether we got pregnant or not.

Take each step of the fertility treatment one step at a time. I found it worked best for us by taking each hurdle of this process one at a time versus having everything thrown at you at once. Dr. Dayal always did this for us.

We did interlipid treatments before each transfer. When we had two miscarriages we added longer Interlipid treatments and more meds to ensure a positive test.

I want to say around 10,000.00 for a fresh cycle and 3,500 for a frozen.

Dr Witten is a pleasure to work with through this difficult life journey. Compassionate, knowledgeable, and personal he made this entire process so much better. He is dedicated to ensuring both my husband and I understand every step, but always makes sure we don't get ahead of ourselves. He is a rock during a very difficult time and I would recommend him to anyone.

I have PCOS and annovluation. I was not responding to clomid so he immediately switched me to low dose femara where we had great follicle growth. When he found out we weren't ovulating he adjusted our protocol by adding an hcg trigger shot to force ovulation. He performed all tests to ensure we didn't have any other problems but felt an IUi would still improve our chances of a positive cycle so we proceeded with that. After numerous failed cycles (just not the right genes!) he took us into the next step where we used follistim. He was very in tune with my bodies reactions and while we ultimately had 3 great eggs, none took and I showed signs of OHSS which has led us to begin ivf.

$10,000 is our estimated total cost to date which was composed of co pays, medications not covered by insurance, iui (also not covered by insurance).

Dr Witten is open to a single or double embryo transfer because I am young, have an optimal body weight, and in overall good health. We haven't made our decision yet but he has provided information so we feel very informed

I was so scared and nervous to start the IVF process. As soon as I walked into my first appointment I knew that The Lord put Dr. Witten and his team in my life for a reason. They made me feel comfortable and happy every time I saw them. This is a very hard and long processto go through but I always felt so much better and so hopeful after every appointment. It's like I have a extended family that knows me and greets me like they see me everyday even when I haven't seen them in weeks. I absolutely loved my doctor and am so thankful to have found Dr. Witten and the other ladies at the Sher Institute. They truly have been a blessing to me and my family & have made this process so much easier.

Don't be afraid to ask questions. He will tell you everything and anything you want to know.

I started on birth control and Lipton gonal f and menopur for my egg retrieval. My dosage was very low because I'm so young and my body reacted fast and well. I had my egg retrieval and Dr. Witten retrieved 24 eggs. 15 made it to fertilization then we were able to freeze 8 day 5 blastocyst. I was very sore and in pain after my retrieval but Dr. Witten gave me antibiotics and pain meds that helped. I healed for the next month and started back on birth control and now I'm starting my transfer meds. Dexamethazon, Lupron again, Estrace, Prenatals, Folic Acid. My embryo transfer is scheduled for the end of this month. I couldn't be more excited and anxious.

My insurance told us that I was covered until two days before I started medication. We were going to cancel the entire thing but my mom decided to pay it on a credit card. She paid $8,000. Luckily my insurance paid most of my medication fees, we only paid about $200 out of pocket for those and probably less than $500 all together for other tests like bloodwork and ultrasounds. We live 3 hours away from clinic and it's the closest one so we did have to stay in hotels so that is about $500 in hotel costs through the entire process.

I agree with what Dr. Witten wants to do. If he feels like he should just do one I trust him.

He is very thorough and wants to make sure his patient understands fully what is happening inside their body. He was always very optimistic and had just a great overall energy about him. He was extra caring and accommodating for different circumstances that arose along the way.

He does have an accent because he is from New Zealand I believe so just keep that in mind. But I don't think it negatively affects his communication.

He wanted to make sure I was ovulating so we started out the first few cycles with just clomid and timed intercourse. Those all resulted in negative pregnancy results, but after the first few cycles of my body not responding, he decided to do a tubal X-ray to make sure my tubes were open. He determined they were open and I was in fact ovulating. So the 4th cycle I was on clomid and timed trigger shot. This was also negative. The next three cycles have been clomid, timed trigger shot, and IUI. The first two resulted in negatives and I am currently in the last cycle in the two week waiting period. If this results in a negative he wants to move on and do other tests and for me to lose weight.

An IUI costs $525 there and it was not covered by our insurance. It could be covered under another's. $50 for each visit. $89-110 for each trigger shot About $400 to test for tubal blockage.