Erin Lewis

As I mentioned before, Dr. Lewis it’s truly the first doctor or really person throughout my IVF journey over the last 1.5 years to actually ask me if I was doing okay physically, mentally and emotionally. Not only is she just a genuinely good person and cares about you as a human being but she is incredibly intelligent well trained and prepared to personalize your treatment regardless of what setbacks You may encounter along the way. She will take the time whenever you need to schedule an appointment in person or on the phone telephone, as I live three hours away it has been very convenient to be able to schedule telephone calls with her, and in then she will answer any questions you have as well as go over all the options available as well as her recommendation. Not only will she tell you her recommendation but she will tell you why and she will use actual evidence-based medicine that is current to back up why she’s recommending some thing to you. She is not stuck in the past or in any old routines that some IVF doctors get in , she it’s very clear that her goal is to prevent any losses and to minimize how many times you have to go through any of the procedures involved in this process. She is also realistic based off of the circumstances personal to you about alternative outcomes and how she will approach modifying things for the next time or in the future should you face any sort of negative outcome or loss. Not only does she have a back up plan but she has multiple of them so she is prepared to approach all angles of what may need to be modified to provide you with success. I am currently starting my second egg retrieval, first one with her, this week. I feel very comfortable with the plan we have for it as well as for freezing and biopsy of the embryos we will (hopefully) get! Along the way to prepare for this I had an HSG performed, and an ERA to determine the best transfer time for me. Unfortunately the last clinic had not recommended biopsy of the embryos because I was 29 (which I say to anyone embarking- just biopsy them It’s worth it) so unfortunately we don’t know the quality of the embryo that had been transferred by her from the old clinic. So this time we plan to biopsy them. She did notice that I had some cervical stenosis as well and should that have been one of the reasons for my transfer failures she has explained to me that we can do a cervical dilation three weeks prior to my next transfer in order to eliminate that obstacle. So clearly as you can see she is looking to scientifically determine all angles of what may be causing your fertility and prevent them in the future to provide you with success. I feel very confident and encouraged she is going to make it happen for us and will be determined to do so.

Absolutely feel peace of mind she and her staff will take care of you the way you deserve to be treated during this journey in your life.

So basically When I first had my consultation with Dr. Lewis I had one remaining embryo from the previous terrible facility I do used, but had not been biopsied. I had not had an HSG done at the other facility, so we did that procedure first, it was normal. Then since we do not know the quality or any information about that last embryo we transported to Dr. Lewis we did an ERA procedure which essentially measures your receptivity to implantation after a certain amount of progesterone exposure. This procedure was important to complete so that if the reason my prior transfers Hatfield were related to needing more or less progesterone transporter to be successful we would know that moving forward. Mine ended up coming back receptive on a standard day most people are which is what I had had my previous transfers at. So at that point we thought it was worth attempting to transfer the embryo, during the ERA Dr. Lewis discovered that I had pretty significant cervical stenosis and mentioned perhaps that could be another factor related to my past failed transfers. I explain to her I noticed my prior clinic physician struggling with my cervix as well and he had passed the embryos back-and-forth through the tubing during the transfer which was shocking to her. She looked back through the record and that physician had never even documented the struggle with my cervix or having done that to the embryos which disturbs me. But we decided it was worth a shot since the transfer catheter is much smaller than the ER a catheter to move forward with the embryo transfer of that last sent embryo. Unfortunately it did not work so moving forward with this IVF cycle I’m starting this week we are going to of course biopsy any hope for embryos we have but also she explained that three weeks before we transfer any frozen biopsied embryo that she wants to perform a cervical dilation procedure, which is essentially an outpatient surgery procedure . (Usually covers by insurance btw bc it’s a medical diagnosed problem) Tess eliminating that as an obstacle to the next transfer. She has made it very clear that her goal is to make this the last egg retrieval I have to go through to get as many embryos as possible and to do everything they can to make the next one successful.

They have always made it very easy for me to schedule monitoring appointments and been flexible; even if I’ve had to request a time change the day before.

So for the whole IVF cycle with retrieval it was approx 14,500. The frozen transfer is approx 4600 for everything. The only things that those cost at not include were medication‘s or embryo biopsy. The financial staff provided me with multiple resources for financing, which I ended up using “future families” and shot out to them for being an amazing financing company specific for IVF loans.

Of course there are a lot of factors that physicians consider for the situation of single versus multiple embryo transfer. For my age being 30 next month, assuming that the embryos we hopefully get our good quality Dr. Lewis explained that her recommendation is to transfer one healthy embryo at that point. She explained all of the science behind that recommendation as well. However since I have had three transfers that I failed up until this point, she did verbalize to me that if we really wanted to transfer two embryos when the time comes she would be willing to do that.

I am still early in the processes. I have never met her in person only on video twice and a phone call. She is nice tries to explain things. Just needs like 3 confirmations to move forward. We were not really told our options because we thought we knew what we wanted before seeing her. A lot of the stuff I have a problem with is her unpreparedness because of a lack of communication from the clinic. If she was getting the info before seeing me I think she would be great.

Dont be in a rush. The reply time is longer than you want it to be.

Not there yet

Aetna PPO Blood work 1 $90 Blook work 2 $90 Sonohystogram $226 IVF wPGA $5,400 (havent done) Meds 4,500-7000 (havent done)

My one of doctors strengths is that she recognized that she needed to adjust treatment after I failed one cycle and was really disappointed, she also was super positive about the possibilities regardless of how bleak things seemed to be. The only thing I’m sad about is that she is no longer with the clinic I started with because I would love for her to complete my next transfer.

Don’t relay solely on the doctors. Do your research and discuss everything with Dr. Lewis. It’s a partnership.

I went through a pretty normal round initially but the dosage was adjusted in my second round as to not be so aggressive with stimulating my follicles and as a result I got better quality embryos the second time. Additionally, I had my uterine lining tested to confirm the optimal time for transfer after trigger. Which to me was a game changer and the reason I even have my daughter.

My coat was about 30 thousand dollars for two treatments including medications

Initially I was kind of upset that Dr. Lewis recommended to transfer one embryo but I’m glad I listened because I could’ve only ended up with 1 embryo left instead of two.

Dr. Lewis was exceptional. I feel so fortunate to have had her. From day one, she was upfront with me about my options -- she was both candid and hopeful, and didn't beat around the bush to help me achieve my goals. I appreciated her disposition -- I'm a facts kind of gal, and that's what she gave me.

Please choose her.

I have PCOS and we decided on IVF for me upfront. The only other option was injectables, but the risk of multiples was much higher and I wasn't interested in that. I was on birth control for 3 weeks before starting my stim meds; did the stim meds for about 12 days, going in every other day for monitoring; and then a retrieval. I was expecting ~ 15-20 eggs retrieved; however, I didn't respond well to the trigger shot. Dr. Lewis chose the trigger shot because I was at higher risk of OHSS (very dangerous) due to PCOS and this one was less intense. I was disappointed to have only had 9 eggs retrieved, but it seems the other eggs were just poor quality and never released from the follicles. But, it's quality over quantity and I ended up with 3 PGS-tested embryos and no major side effects from the retrieval. I took a few weeks break and then started treatment again to prep for the implantation. I took a combination of estradiol orally and vaginally and then continued it just orally while starting vaginal progesterone and the progesterone in oil shots ~ 6 days before my transfer. 9 days later I found out I was pregnant, and I am now 26 weeks along. I continued on the progesterone until ~ week 10.

My insurance covered 100% of my treatment, but I believe IVF would have been ~ $15,000

It wasn't even question that we would only do one.

As mentioned before, from day 1 she made us feel comfortable. She is very kind and thorough when explaining things to us. Things are never rushed when its your time with her. Very easy to talk too!!! Helps you make hard decisions in terms of providing clarity.

Enjoy! She's great!

After my egg retrieval on May 2018 I was released to go home. The nurse in charge of me kept saying I was pale but let me go anyways. On our 3 hour drive back home we stopped mid way to use the bathroom. I was laying in the back seat the whole time since I left the clinic. The minute I got up I nearly fainted and started sweating profusely! My husband called the clinic and the doctor who did my egg retrieval recommended I go to the nearest ER. Turns out I was bleeding internally...my ovaries never cauterized not sure if that is the right term. The OB doctor in charge discussed emergency exploratory surgery to stop the bleeding. Dr. Erin Lewis immediately made contact with the hospital and soon after I got my own room. She was in contact with the OB on staff and recommended we leave me as is and wait it out a bit as sometimes these things happen after egg retrieval. She also called my husband and explained what was happening and what the next step was. She also called and checked on me a few times over that weekend and gave me her cell number to call or text if I needed. She was always very involved through out the entire process and we appreciated that so much!

Monitoring was my only issue with this clinic. Because we drove from so far away the appointments had to be early to avoid traffic or sometimes they scheduled me late. I understand they had to do daily monitoring but I wish it could've been done somewhere else close to home. Luckily, some of those days also fell on weekends and that was nice. Some of the ladies doing the ultrasounds were a little rough and I voiced that to someone.

We had insurance coverage with this cycle. Out of pocket costs with the clinic alone was maybe $3,500...not completely sure. All other costs and fees were associated with labs and meds etc...

no comments.

I felt very confident in the care of Dr. Lewis. She was empathetic but not too much so. I did an egg retrieval with her (which was very successful in number of eggs retrieved) and fertilized many embryos successfully. I always understood my options and fertility treatment plan.

Expect Dr. Lewis to be very on top of your treatment plan. She is sensitive and you can call her whenever you need and ask her many questions. She is a younger doctor so expect that but she is highly qualified and eligible in my experience.

We went through 4 rounds of clomid. Then we did one IUI where I ended up being hyper stimulated so could not proceed with IUI. From there we started IVF. My first transfer was successful but ended in a miscarriage at 8 weeks. My second was not successful. We have another 6 embryos to transfer.

We elected an Attain program (a private company they partner with for eligible people). We elected a two egg retrieval cycle program. This cost us a flat fee of $25k without medicine. The medicine after one egg retrieval, one IUI, and two transfers cost us estimated $10k. My cycles were abnormally long and the medicine was more expensive (so I have been told by friends, doctors, etc.).

RSC of the Bay Area, my fertility treatment center, has a solid policy on eSET.

Dr. Lewis is an expert. She is warm, kind in her treatment and highly experienced in her field. She explained every step in the IVF process and we immediately trusted her. I highly recommend her to anyone who is starting IVF treatments.

Ask as many questions as you can think of. Dr. Lewis knows the research.

IVF with Genetic testing

26k-30k

N/A

Only had a consult with Dr. Lewis so far, but she was very nice, informative, make us feel comfortable about starting the process with her & RSC. She never made us feel rushed or uncomfortable in conversation.

Just be yourself, be honest, and ask questions.

No treatment yet, but she recommending IVF with PGS.

$340 out of pocket initial cost.