John David Gordon

Even though we are dealing with the stressful topic of infertility after having a stillborn, Dr. Gordon's hopeful and optimistic attitude combined with his frankness when describing expectations and risks was very much appreciated. I wanted to feel like he understood and cared about my history and that any course of treatment that he prescribed was carefully tailored to my case. So far, 3 rounds of letrozole/novarel/timed intercourse failed and we are hopefully to do IVF once we get tests and finances straightened out. I will be nervous, of course, given that I have lost a son at 32 weeks due to unknown causes. I appreciated that he was direct and confident in his approach and very knowledgeable. As someone who is seeking answers, he has done his best to give us answers to the extent that he could and if he couldn't, he would explain why. As for a con, I wish I could have more time to ask more questions and talk to him more about my concerns. It's not like he rushes us out, but I think consultations should be longer than 30 minutes.

write down all the questions you have ahead of time. Be informed about your own case and be your own advocate.

After being dx'ed with lean PCOS, he prescribed Metformin, which I didn't want to take/didn't tolerate too much. He said I could stop taking it if that was the case; I am not insulin resistant. I took Letrozole from days 5-9 of my cycle, then we would do u/s monitoring and then take Novarel to force ovulation. We did this timed intercourse for three months, which did not work for us for whatever reason. His advice was that we should try a different approach after 3 times of trying this, and I agree. He also knew that as someone who had a stillborn, I am not able to handle the disappointment each month and I would not want to be trying w/o success (or likelihood of success) each month w/o a plan. We discussed IUI and IVF options; he didn't push either. We chose IVF. We start next cycle.

$600 so far for 3 rounds of letrozole/novarel/progesterone pills

Dr. Gordon does not encourage multiple embryo transfer because it is more high risk. I agree with this approach. After suffering a major loss, I do not want to add more risk to pregnancy -- something that is riskier than I had ever expected.

Dr. Gordon has been very helpful and understanding for us throughout the process, and I have trusted the medical advice he has provided and the course of treatments he has recommended. He has been supportive and has given us good advice that enabled us to make an informed decision in deciding whether to continue with IUI treatments or to move on to more aggressive treatment measures, such as IVF.

Dr. Gordon is an excellent fit who will show empathy to those who need it. Our process was particularly difficult because my partner and I had experienced a stillbirth following difficulties becoming pregnant. Dr. Gordon did not shy away from referencing our history and showed sympathy for our situation in addition to factoring it into our treatment.

Dr. Gordon recommended a 3 month course of IUI given that we had solid and healthy fertility factors for our age (I'm 38 and my partner is 37). After that was not successful, he allowed us to make an informed decision as to whether to pursue more aggressive (and more expensive options). I appreciate that I did not feel any pressure from him to pursue the more aggressive option. He presented the options and let us make the decision.

It was a few hundred dollars for our first few rounds of IUI. We are considering options for IVF that range from about $16,000 to $26,000.

I think he’s a good doctor. Very caring and he’s tried as much as I think he can at this point. He’s been empathetic with us and has met with us to discuss our options. He doesn’t seem like he’s in it only for the money and is invested in us being successful with whatever decision we choose.

Ask a lot of questions and come prepared with options to try.

Tried stimulating me even though my prognosis was that I wouldn’t be a high responder. I wish we hadn’t wasted the time and money on this and tried the other option which was a modified natural IVF. This would help to control my early ovulation. The modified cycle produced one egg, but it wasn’t viable. The stimulated treatment didn’t produce any egg in my follicle.

The monitoring appointments are scheduled during convenient hours when you’re typically on your way to work. I’ve never seen more than 2 women waiting to be seen here. Everything is kept confidential and sign-in and sign-out is easy.

For the stimulated IVF, it was around $24,000. For the modified IVF, it was the same cost as the natural cycle at around $5,000, but with increased cost of meds which wasn’t covered by my insurance for over $1,000. Consultation visits were $250/visit.

Dr. Gordon said he’d only transfer one depending on my age.

Dr. Gordon was always very clear that he didn't have all the answers. He tells you like it is but is clearly compassionate and invested in the process with you. We saw Dr. Gordon during most of our visits during monitoring, and he did all our procedures, so we really felt we got to know him and were sad he couldn't be with us through the whole pregnancy. I haven't had such a good experience with a doctor putting us at ease yet patiently answering all our questions in a long time.

I'll still remember some of his advice and pass it on to friends who are in similar situations, but when we were struggling to decide whether we wanted to do IVF and then if we wanted to do natural or stimulated, he agreed that it was a hard decision, helping us understand pros and cons with all options. He also said if you had cancer, you would never question trying to get the best care for yourself. In this situation, you can think of it the same way, but people struggle because cancer really never spontaneously cures itself whereas infertility can. Not sure if that was the intention, but that put it in perspective for me that this was a medical issue that we were treating not some failure on our part.

We had already done a failed IUI at another clinic and went to Dr. Gordon wanting to learn more about natural cycle IVF as we were still unsure about stimulated IVF. Having talked through our options, he thought we were good candidates for both natural and stimulated. However, it was our decision to do stimulated in the end because we knew our insurance only allowed us to do one round, and we decided it was best in our situation.

At Columbia, monitoring was absolutely a cattle call, but at Dominion, it was a well oiled machine. We were generally in and out with about half an hour. Each visit they asked when we usually come for monitoring, so they can be prepared for staffing at peak hours. We were always promptly seen. No complaints.

Our insurance covered most costs, but we do pay for embryo storage, the injection teaching, visits after I was pregnant and couple other things. Overall, we did spend a lot, but it wasn't nearly as much as it would have been without insurance.

I consulted with multiple groups before undergoing fertility treatments. Dr. Gordon was the right fit from the beginning. He was straightforward, blunt, and gave just the right amount of sympathy without making me feel more sorry for myself. We had a lot of procedures that did not result in a pregnancy, and he was there for my pregnancies that ended in miscarriage. I always appreciated his personal phone calls and follow up with my OB. We also came to value his approach to trying again (or not) and was always willing to try (or at least discuss) some of my own ideas. Over multiple years I used up several lifetime limits on different insurance programs. Once I had decided to use an egg donor and knew I would be paying out of pocket for 100% of the cost of treatment, there was no question that I would be going to Dominion Fertility and Dr. Gordon. Once I finally had success and brought home a real live baby, I felt like I was bringing the baby to visit the "family" who made him possible.

He can be really blunt, he won't hold your hand and cry with you. He will be very honest and not sell you a procedure or a statistic that won't work.

Monitoring was from 7 to 9 am. I could be out of there within 35 min (even when the waiting room was full). The nurses even gave me the advice that if I was more flexible on leaving, 8:30 would mean a less full waiting room.

Dr. Gordon is very honest and is great at explain procedures and what to expect with each procedure. He also works slowly and gently during procedures, so it does not feel rushed. He talked to my husband and I throughout the transfers to explain what was going on. He always took the time to explain things during meetings when a transfer did not work.

Trust in the protocols he prescribes. He will change what needs to be changed if a protocol does not work.

I do not remember the specific protocols used. I know that I always produced enough eggs to create embryos. One cycle was natural cycle ivf, so there were no injectable medications used. This cycle produced a viable embryo transferred on day 5, but no pregnancy.

Monitoring was during early morning hours, before work, which worked for me. The nurses were very quickly during this time to see all of the patients they needed to see.

My employer covered fertility treatments 100% so I was very fortunate not to have paid anything except for the cryopreservation of embryos.

They strongly recommended transferring 1 embryo during my second and third transfer. My first transfer was from natural cycle ivf, so it only produced one egg. On my third transfer, I wanted to transfer two embryos, and they very specifically warned me that I could end up with twins, which is high-risk.

Dr. Gordon seems to be a good professional and a very nice person. He is patient and willing to help you throughout the entire process. I was lucky that my egg retrievals were during the week so he was able to do them. If the egg retrievals had been during a weekend when he was not working, another doctor would have done them. I don't like that. Fortunately, I was lucky.

Get informed about the process and ask as many questions as you can.

The monitoring is "first come, first served". The monitoring hours start early and end at 9AM. I think the time frame is very convenient.

I love Dr. Gordon. He was the perfect doctor for me. He was very realistic and honest yet presented things in an optimistic manner. He was willing to try when no other doctor would. He was communicative therefore I never had questions.

Don’t wait! Infertility is stressful. You need a doctor who will also be a cheerleader and team member with you. Dr. Gordon is that doctor!

The strategy he used that ultimately led to pregnancy for me was putting me on birth control pills to reset my hormones. This was after my third monitoring cycle which lasted over three months. The BCP reset worked.

My monitoring experience was good. The nurses were fantastic.

I do not remember specifics. My insurance covered doctor visits.

Dr. Gordon is definitely a character and has a big personality. He can be blunt and very matter of fact. That doesn't bother me but any potential patients should know that as if you need a kinder touch, he may not be the right fit. He's lovely and very kind, he just often says what needs to be said. Most importantly, I found Dr. Gordon very good about recommending to us a wide variety of options for treatment. He might suggest how we proceed, but he was always very clear about our options and totally open to our preference. He also often references research and what medical studies say about increased rates of success (for example, recommending endometrial biopsy in order to increase the chance of successful subsequent FETs) which we liked a lot. Made us feel like we were dealing with a true professional.

Quick and convenient.

Our insurance covered a great deal of the costs (minus the medications unfortunately). It was expensive but the finance department was great about reaching out proactively to discuss upcoming treatments.

I have had an amazing experience with Dr Gordon. After going off my birth control medicine, I had experienced rapid and unexplained weight gain over the past 18 months, and had seen almost a dozen specialists and had been tested for everything from thyroid disease to brain tumors, without being able to identify the cause. Within 5 minutes of meeting Dr Gordon he suggested that it was PCOS, and he was correct. I'm now mediciates for PCOS and have been losing the weight.

Come with questions - he is very patient and has spent a lot of time answering all of mine!

Because of both PCOS and male factor infertility, Dr Gordon did not recommend trying Clomid. He did suggest IUI, but we decided to skip right to IVF since the success rates are so much higher

Expensive but worth it. $24,500 for the guarantee program, which guarantees a live birth or you get the money back, and covers 4 IVF cycles and all transfers

Dr Gordon strongly encourages single transfer, since it is safer and has a much higher success rate. His office does offer a "guarantee program" that we qualified for, so there is no extra expense to us to do one at a time.

We had an excellent experience with Dr Gordon.We had been trying to get pregnant for almost 10 years and thanks to Dr Gordon, we are now the parents of two children. He was compassionate, caring,honest...we really had a wonderful experience with him. In our journey to get pregnant, we saw many fertility doctors and Dr Gordon was by far the best one.

Do not hesitate to ask any questions.He will respond honestly .

I had a natural cycle IVF

Dr. Gordon seemed really busy and we felt ever so slightly rushed through our first appointment but only because we had so many questions. I didn’t like that he seemed to have a “default method” that would have required useless sperm testing for my husband (confirmed by a second opinion from a urologist)

Ask all your questions while you have him in the room!

TBD- haven’t begun full cycle

Still under treatment. Diagnostic tests alone were a couple hundred dollars I think

Na