Christina E. Boots

Dr. Boots was welcoming from the first appointment and very comfortable, I didn't feel rushed in my decision like my two previous doctors, she was very compassionate and made my husband feel included also. My husband has mentioned that he feels very happy with her and feels like we can come out with a baby of our own at the end of our journey. Dr. Boots suggest numerous options and explained every single step and recommended us for grants and she also is great at following up. For a military family always getting stationed in different places, I highly recommend Dr. Boots so far throughout our journey. I'll even go as far as after we have our child and in a few year if we are stationed somewhere else, we will come back to her as she is the most efficient and professional doctor we had so far.

I would tell my friends or anybody looking to start a family with help that you will feel welcomed and don't worry about being rushed with your appointment like most doctors will. She will explain everything even draw out diagrams to help further explain various examples and/or situations. She looks at all angles and will assist you in coming up with a plan. As a military family, we appreciate her so much as our schedule is never routine. She will work around your schedule.

Dr. Boots first went through our situation, took time to understand our story, as we seen clinics in Guam and San Diego with no success, then she explained and present diagrams of all options, after getting an HSG test and a sonohysterogram, I was diagnosed with tube blockage and will have surgery to get my tube removed and with that Dr. Boots explained IVF will be one of the only options left. So she explained the procedure and set us up with a financial counselor to explain the process. Within, our first two visits we had a game plan with the route we were going to go without the financial plan yet. We are still waiting on the results.

Since we are in the military, Tricare allows us to see her and get certain services completed but does not cover IVF or IUI so she recommended various grants and yet the visits, bloodwork, and other procedures were covered by insurance.

Dr. Boots explained the cost and differences between the single and multiple embryo process. She went step by step and explained the different processes.

From the beginning, due to my age I felt like they didn't want to treat me and immediately offered the egg donor option. Having been pregnant twice before, and a 1st time IVF patient, being encouraged towards egg donor-ship was startling. I wanted to exhaust all my options before looking into that route. After 2 losses, we were adamant about getting our embryos PGS tested to reduce the chances of another miscarriage. However, on the 10th day of stimulation I received a voicemail from a nurse that my cycle was being canceled due to a low # of follicles and that an IUI was being recommended. That defeats the whole reason why we are doing IVF. After the canceled cycle, the Dr. and I just couldn't connect by phone or appointment. It takes 3-4 weeks to even be able to see the Dr.

Be your own advocate. Ask questions. All of them. And be persistent.

PRIMING: Day 10 after LH surge: 2 Estradiol Patches - replaced every 2 days Day 12-14 after LH surge: 250 mcg Ganirelix - for 3 days STIMULATION: Day 3 of period/Day 1-3 of Stim: 300 units Follistim/150 units Menopur Day 4-10 of Stim: 450 units Follistim/150 units Menopur Day 11: CANCELED cycle (2 Estradiol patches stayed on entire duration of Day 1-10 of Stimulation)

I had already reached my insurance out of pocket costs. The visits and medication were covered under my insurance.

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Dr. Boots was so wonderful. She made me feel comfortable from the beginning. She answered all my questions, even when I came with long typed out lists. She was compassionate even when I was kist starting out and only doing the ovulation induction meds. I always felt like she cared about me, at each stage. She walked me through every step of the process every time I met with her and explained things until I felt comfortable. My body threw us a lot of curveballs and she had multiple ideas and solutions every time. We always discussed the pros, cons and risks of each option and she wanted me to feel good about our decisions. I trust her completely and always felt like she was doing and recommending what she believed was best for me. We had a rough road, but are finally pregnant. We are incredibly grateful for Dr. Boots and her care. We wouldn’t be here without her!!! My experience wasn’t easy but she made it as positive as it could have been.

Ask a lot of questions and come prepared to your appointments! Don’t be afraid to keep asking about something if you don’t understand it. Even if you read about something online or heard about it from a friend, she will help explain and never makes you feel silly for asking.

Letrozole & Clomid for timed intercourse/IUI. GonalF Menopur Ganirelix Omnitrope Estrogen Progesterone Lovenox for IVF. For frozen embryo transfers, we tried estrogen pills, then patches and then injections and on our last round we stimmed my ovaries with GonalF and Menopur to create my own estrogen and mimic a fresh cycle.

Efficient machine, first come first serve. Some days busier than others but that was to be expected. Most of the time it was quick.

Insurance covered.

Recommended single due to my young age and no history of miscarriage. After 2 unsuccessful transfers we discussed transferring two embryos. She was very open to it but discussed potential risks with me. She supported my decision completely. We ended up going with two.

Doctor is very understanding of my particular situation. With a lot of money at stake for treatment a bit more clarity or face to face time would be appreciated. I felt heard but I would like a more detailed explanation of why, when things don’t work

Do your research and ask a lot of questions

2 IUI with Clomid, Ovidrel - negative 1 IUI Letrozole, Ovidrel (I asked for Letrozole change) Negative 1 IVF converted to IUI because of response Antagonist- negative 1 IVF long lupron protocol negative but better result

It was busy during monitoring but organized. Check in and then First come first served basis. Mostly in and out in half an hour

Over $5000 so far, some coverage

She was open to discussing pros and cons about this.

Dr. boots was great! I didn’t she her often but she responded to all message quickly and was always willing to setup a call to walk me thru everything. She was always positive and that helped getting thru all the appointments and procedures.

Get on a Facebook support group. I learned so much from those groups and they helped me understand more or have someone to talk to that was going they the same thing.

My first cycle, I was on BC then microcode Lupron protocol. My second cycle, I was on global-f and Menapur then added in ganerlix after a couple of days.

I have insurance but my deductible was $350 and I spent 7,800 on meds for 2 cycles.

I believe she only will transfer 1 if it’s a 5 day transfer. I think it should be up to the patient if they want 2.

Even though we miraculously got pregnant naturally between failed IUIs and planned IVF, I give Dr. Boots a ton of credit. She was always extremely warm, seemed sympathetic that we even had to be there in the first place, and explained things in a way that didn't make it seem so scary. I always felt like she took time and care with us and never felt rushed. She's a dream doctor all around.

Just to go to her in the first place!

Because my husband and I are both young (28, 30) and all of our test results came back normal (HSG, semen analysis, FSH, prolactin, thyroid, AMH levels etc) we were diagnosed with unexplained infertility. Dr. Boots recommended that we try medicated IUIs first but also explained IVF as well. She acknowledged that for some people, budget is a definite consideration and that because IVF has a higher success rate, some people like to jump straight to that. I liked that she considered treatment from all angles - emotional, health, and budget. She recommended medicated (Clomid) because she felt like it would give us potential the highest chance of success and we also used a trigger shot which I liked so I didn't have to stress over when I ovulated. She did mention that her recommendation was 3 cycles and that the success rate over 3 cycles was about 30%. We did 3 back to back IUI cycles and unfortunately none were successful b. After that point we had a detailed meeting with her to discuss next steps and everybody was on board that IVF was next. I personally couldn't continue to do the same things over and over and was ready for something with a higher success rate. Dr Boots again walked through the IVF process. She did not recommend that we use birth control before which I liked. But otherwise we would have followed a pretty normal atoms for 7-10 days, trigger, and egg retrieval process. Thankfully we had a natural miracle positive test before we could even begin! That was after 20 months of actively trying to conceive

I don't remember exactly but I want to say that the overall costs for our IUIs were close to $2K with the actual procedure and ultrasounds creating the bulk of it. Bloodwork was $25 and Clomid was $5

Dr. Boots' and Northwestern have a one embryo transfer policy under the age of 35. She said the only time they'd put multiple embryos back would be if I was over 35 or if they decided to transfer Day 3 embryos that maybe weren't looking so great. At first this bugged me because the more the merrier right? But she explained to me the risks of multiples for me and the potential babies and seeing as she's a twin mom herself, she reassured me that was the right call.

Compassionate, skilled, experienced. She is realistic, thoughtful, and hopeful. Responsive when directly reach out and state want to speak with dr. Most communication is canned responses of next steps and with nurse.

Ask for what you need. Ask clarifying questions for better understanding.

3 medicated IUI cycles using 100mg Clomid x 5 days, Ovidrel trigger shot, IUI and progesterone. 3 cycles using 7.5 mg Letrozole x 5 days, timed intercourse, progesterone.

Had met deductible when started IUI so most costs covered. Monitoring ultrasounds cost about $300, labs $30-60. Unable to afford IVF not covered by insurance.

Dr Boots was a wonderful, caring doctor. From our first visit she made us feel comfortable and made us feel heard. She used diagrams to help explain the process and answered all the questions we had. Our journey felt slow at times and not everything worked successfully, but Dr Boots was available to answer questions, always called to talk through solutions, and helped me understand next steps.

Dr Boots would only do a single embryo transfer for my age category given that I had previously become pregnant.

I only met the dr once or twice witch is normal but I never felt like she was hands on with my care. She also did not call after to discuss my results I had to be proactive with the appointment. It’s hard to rate the dr when we had little contact and poor results.

You have to be proactive in your own care. Do not expect hand holding.

Agnostic protocol. Gonal F ansmenopure.

Cattle call. They won’t give you results until they call late in the day. Other clinics will tell you while you are on the table.

Insurance paid for most appointments.

We did not transfer the embryo. We froze it for future use.

My husband and I were advised to complete genetic testing of our embryos and paid for the service. Genetic testing never occurred. After the fact, Dr. Boots indicated my embryos were too fragile; however, this was never told to myself or my husband until the mistake was made. Since it did not occur, we were required to re-open an emotional wound and try for the embryo transfer which ultimately was unsuccessful.

Make sure she writes everything down for you and you have a copy. Do not trust her word.

Cattle call, had to get there super early, wait in line. COVID hit and they started scheduling appointments which made it easier. Would not be allowed to get lab work at the clinic if I was getting blood draw only which was ridiculous.

IVF - $10K out of pocket plus drugs, FET - $5K out of pocket plus drugs, bloodwork and monitoring. Genetic testing was between $2-3K which never happened. Billing there is a nightmare.

She is very knowledgeable and caring . Every appointment with Dr. Boots was very informative. She has a calming nature to her that helped us feel comfortable when she diagnosed me. She likes to draw pictures to help explain the diagnosis as well as the treatment options. I always left appointments with her feeling very hopeful.

The treatments and protocols are very straightforward and all researched based

The high cost has nothing to do with the clinic but the lack of insurance coverage.

The doctor and clinic together have a policy to prefer single embryo transfer depending on the situation