Steven Spandorfer

I would not wish this man on my worst enemy. He is cold, arrogant, dismissive, and sometimes downright cruel. I was under his care for 9 months and was more traumatized by his treatment of me than by my 3 failed embryo transfers. After my first transfer failed, I told him about my history of inflammation and asked about an autoimmune protocol. He scoffed and said, “we’re not doing that.” End of discussion. I told him I wanted my embryos PGT-A tested, and he told me it was a “waste of time.” I pushed and got them tested anyway, and when I called him to go over the results, he cut me off and said, again, “we’re not doing that,” and hung up the phone on me. When I was confused and disappointed about my egg retrieval results (because he did not explain them to me,) he responded by saying, “if you’re going to complain, do it to someone with a more sympathetic ear than me.” I cried on the exam table after he left. I cried leaving his office often. After my second transfer ended in a chemical, he didn’t get in touch with me for days. When he finally did, he said “so, what do you wanna do now? Same protocol again?” He was asking ME! Then he didn’t even remember the protocol we agreed on the next time he saw me. Speaking of seeing me, he didn’t perform any of my 4 IUIs, my egg retrieval, or any of my 3 transfers. I could easily go over a month without seeing him or speaking to him while under his care. Many doctors at Weill Cornell provide their patients with ways to contact them directly— not Dr. Spandorfer. He makes it very clear he does not want to speak to you. The only way to contact him is to leave a message with the nursing team requesting a call back, which he would sometimes take days to answer, or not answer at all. He did the same transfer protocol with me 3 times in a row and never did additional testing. Failure after failure and he made no adjustments or did any investigating. During my last consult with him before changing doctors, I broke down and asked him what was wrong with me. He shrugged and said, “I’m diagnosing you as unlucky.” Please. See anyone else other than this man.

See somebody else. Please. There are so many wonderful REs at Weill Cornell, do not endure this awful man on top of the trauma of IVF itself.

Transfer number 1 was a fresh 5 day transfer. I was on estrogen patches and progesterone in oil. The rationale was “this is the standard first transfer protocol for everyone.” It failed. Transfer number 2 was unmedicated, with just progesterone pessaries after transfer. Rationale was “you ovulate on your own, why not?” It ended in a chemical. Transfer number 3 was the exact same protocol as number 2. There was no rationale, as he left it “up to me” to decide. It failed. That was my last euploid embryo, and after not getting a call back from him for 2 days after the failure, I switched doctors.

You show up and sit around until someone calls your name. I’ve waited anywhere from 5 minutes to a hour. I work for myself and make my own schedule, I genuinely don’t think I could have used this clinic otherwise.

$25k for retrieval and genetic testing. Around $4500 for each transfer. Hundreds of dollars in medications if you don’t get pre-approval

He did not care either way. Left it up to me.

Dr. Spandorfer was pleasant during our consult and took an extensive history for both my partner and I. He acknowledged the emotional toll infertility takes on a woman and highlighted the psychological/counseling resources that are available at the clinic. While I had a basic understanding of my diagnosis from doing research on my own prior to my first consult (my OBGYN had completed basic hormone level testing which indicated severe diminished ovarian reserve and high FSH and referred me to the clinic), looking back I feel that Dr. Spandorfer could have been more specific and blunt about my chances of success doing IVF and using my own eggs. At no point would he give us an estimated chance at success given my young age and diagnosis. He explained that while I would likely only produce 2-4 eggs per retrieval, there was a good chance that due to my young age, there was a chance I could produce a good quality egg within that cycle. As we progressed with treatment and moved on to second and third rounds of IVF, I often found that he would present options (ex: medication protocols) and I would be left to make the decision on which path to choose. I would have preferred the doctor to have more conviction and state "we should go with XX option given this will give you your best shot". I received a lot of "well we just don't know..." in my time with this doctor.

Be your own advocate. Do your research and be well prepared for your consult and appointments. You will need to speak up for yourself and not be afraid to ask questions about your plan of treatment.

Cycle 1: estrogen priming/antagonist protocol- 300 units Gonal F and 150 units Menopur; eggs retrieved: 3 Cycle 2: low dose medication protcol with clomid-> (150 units Gonal F and 75 units Menopur; meds were eventually bumped up due to lack of response) we tried this approach given my body will never produce a large amount of follicles and I had been told by other parties that this is a good approach for poor responders/diminished ovarian reserve patients. This protocol unfortunately did not work at all and I was left stimming for approx. 18 days without any follicles growing past 10mm and cycle was then cancelled. Cycle 3: returned to original protocol- estrogen priming/antagonist protocol- 300 units Gonal F and 150 units Menopur; eggs retrieved: 1

The clinic has the flow down for monitoring appointments and is run efficiently however, there can be long waits due to the number of patients if you decide to go at "peak time". It is best to go when monitoring hours open or if it works for you, to their Tribeca office.

From what I recall, an IVF cycle with ICSI was approximately $20K.

For my first transfer, we transferred two embryos. The doctor gave me the choice if I wanted to transfer 1 or 2 embryos. He and the doctor performing the embryo transfer explained that there was an increased chance of twins by transferring 2 embryos.

We came to Dr. Spandorfer after seeing another REI in the NYC area for a second opinion. Dr. Spandorfer who is truly the best. My husband and I were referred to Dr. Spandorfer from a few different friends who love him. He is so thorough, thoughtful, caring and meticulous with his diagnosis and treatment. After not being able to be told what was causing my symptoms by the first REI Dr. Spandorfer figured it out at my first appointment. There were a few reviews I had read prior to seeing him that made me unsure but from the first visit we were very impressed by him. His clinical knowledge was unparalleled. I saw him at all of my appointments and he always remembered who I was and I never felt like a number. He is very straightforward and to the point but does it in a caring way. We could not recommend him more.

Go in knowing that he might not be the most warm and fuzzy physician but he truly cares and is a great clinician.

Dr. Spandorfer has many years of experience and can be compassionate and has some good humor, but only at times. He didn't consistently educate or inform me all the details of an IVF cycle (i.e. medication protocols), and we were not prepared with having frozen sperm in storage when my partner was not able to provide a sample on the day of my retrieval. He could have let us know or recommend beforehand to have frozen sperm, just in case, but he didn't acknowledge how this was overlooked. Because of this, it had a big impact on the result of that cycle which was not successful.

Try to ask as many questions as possible so that the process is as clear as possible and that nothing gets overlooked. If he answers questions vaguely, dismissively, or non-compassionately, I would move on and see a different doctor in the practice.

He did not describe his rationale for which protocol he was using other than to try to stimulate as many eggs as possible. Unfortunately I did not produce many eggs for that cycle and non of them fertilized. I then decided to go to a different clinic to try a different approach and because I had exhausted all of my insurance coverage for fertility treatments at that point. I have since moved on and used donor eggs, which I am currently pregnant!

Everything was mostly covered by my health insurance, aside from co-pays and co-insurance costs.

He was willing to do a multiple embryo transfer, which was part of the original plan, but we didn't make it that far since none of the eggs that were retrieved were mature enough to fertilize.

Dr. Spandorfer is a seasoned IVF doctor. He is very knowledgeable in the space and will answer all of your questions along the way but make sure you come prepared to ask them! After my failed transfer I saw him every single time during my second cycle and he made sure to schedule my transfer during his shift. He is very straight forward which I valued and will guide you along the way to make the best decisions throughout your IVF journey.

Have a list of questions ready. There are so many steps along the way so make sure you take the time to research the process and bring up any questions to him during your appointments. Also know that he’s not the fuzzy warm doctor some patients enjoy, he will be very straight forward with you but know that his goal is always to help you achieve a successful cycle.

After finding out that I had a blocked Fallopian tube, Dr.Spandorfer suggested that I have it removed prior to starting a cycle to increase my changes of having a successful transfer. After the removal we moved on to ovarian stimulation and egg retrieval. My protocol was pretty standard if I remember correctly. We transferred 1x embryo during each transfer.

I’m not sure as our cycles were covered by insurance.

He was open to us making that decision and was perfectly fine with a single vs. double embryo transfer.

I saw Dr. Spandorfer over the course of several months and always felt like I was in very good care with him. He performed two surgeries on me (hysteroscopy & a D&C) and both were seamless with no complications. I also went through two attempts at pregnancy (1 natural IUI and 1 FET) and both resulted in a pregnancy. The IUI ended in a miscarriage and that was because the embryo had abnormal chromosomes (he performed a D&C to remove the embryo and it was tested). I also went through 1 IVF cycle with him and had the embryos tested, and transferred 1 embryo which resulted in pregnancy. Overall, I found Dr. Spandorfer to be extremely knowledgeable, friendly enough, and always made time to answer any questions I had. I always felt comfortable during all my appointments, procedures, and surgeries. When I experienced the miscarriage he expressed genuine compassion. In terms of his style and demeanor, he isn't the type to talk forever and hold your hand. You definitely need to come with the questions you have because he isn't one to divulge or give you too much info unless it's absolutely necessary. You need to be prepared with what you want to know and get clarity on - and ask! Once you do he will give you the information. He is friendly and tried to keep things light - usually cracking a light joke which I found helpful during a process that can be so intense and grueling. I would highly recommend him to anyone who wants an experienced, skilled doctor and doesn't mind that he isn't your best friend during the process.

Come prepared with your questions and ask! I found him to not say too much - only the basics are necessary info - for anything else you need to ask him.

When I initially saw him for our consultation, he seemed to really know what he was doing and genuinely seemed to care about his patients. I felt like I would be in good hands with him. I was wrong. After my first IVF failed with him he became a different person. Perhaps he thought I was a lost cause. He was distant, snappy and often rude, especially when things went even worse with his new protocol for the 2nd round. He never even followed up with me after. He needs to retire. He is a rude, grumpy old man who could really careless about the patients he thinks won't up his numbers.

See someone else.

First we did the antagonist protocol with estrogen priming. 150 menopur with 300 gonal-f then added antagonist. When that didn't work we did micro-flaire. Hi rationale was these are the most commonly used protocols. He did not tailor things to me AT ALL.

20k for each IVF cycle

He really determines that based on how many children you want to have and how the process is going once the embryos start growing. He is not opposed to multiple embryo transfer.

He's very straightforward and has a good, dry sense of humor. I'm not someone who needs a lot of coddling but when I had to cancel my egg retrieval due to low response, he was sympathetic and understanding without sugar coating things for me. I really appreciate that quality.

You may not get a lot of time with him so come prepared and don't be afraid to answer questions.

I was initially on a very standard protocol, albeit at the highest doses of menopur and gonal-f. I will be on a new protocol with twice daily injections (still at max dose), micro dose lupron, and estrogen priming the second time around.

Expensive but what I had not spent was promptly refunded when I had to cancel my egg retrieval.

I saw Dr. Spandorfer after a failed cycle at another top clinic in New York where the experience is much more personal. Cornell is a factory, but a really good and effective one. Dr. Spandorfer has decades of experience; I can't imagine anyone will come in with a situation he hasn't encountered before. As a result (or maybe just his personality), he is calm, kind, optimistic -- but realistic -- and confident. You will feel like you're in very good hands, and you are.

If you like to check in with your doctor outside of appointments, he is not the doctor for you. In fact, Cornell may not be for you. You are a number, and they are running a big operation with lots of patients. I very much thought I needed a better experience, but turns out having a more personalized experience doesn't equal results. It's a certainly more pleasant to feel like your doctors know you and care deeply about your case and will check in with you over email or text in the evening after a treatment, etc. But at the end of the day, the only thing that matters is success of the treatment. From the moment I met Dr. Spandorfer, I felt like he was going to be successful (even if he told me that I should call during business hours when I asked him for his email address) -- and he was!

He stuck closely to my natural cycles and used as minimal hormones as possible.

See previous; long wait time, lots of patients. Come at 6:30 am or 8:30 am avoid waiting....

Dr. Spandorfer isn't the hand holding type but I appreciated his warm personality and light humor. He was positive, empathetic and helped make a stressful and emotional process a bit easier. He doesn't always explain next steps thoroughly but was always willing to answer questions or elaborate if I asked.

I had two unsuccessful IUIs before moving on to IVF. My first retrieval resulted in 26 eggs that became 13 embryos. Due to my age and good test results Dr. Spandorfer did not recommend PGS testing. We did one fresh transfer which resulted in a miscarriage and then 3 frozen transfers before getting pregnant. Each time we did natural FET cycles. I'm now trying for my second and after doing 2 natural FET cycles from frozen embryos from my 1st cycle, I did another retrieval that yielded 31 eggs and resulted in 17 embryos. This time we did PGS testing and have 7 high quality embryos. We have transferred 4 of those in 3 different FETs, 2 natural and 1 medicated cycle and have yet to be successful.

$10,500 - IVF Cycle (Not including PGS testing or ICSI if needed) $2,630 - ICSI $4,260 - Frozen Embryo Transfer

Dr. Spandorfer recommended eSET but after a few failed transfers he supported our decision to transfer two embryos.

He is experienced and many people rave about him. He had a very busy practice and it doesn’t seem patients get personalized care. I asked him why he was recommending a certain drug protocol and he responded “years of experience.” Period. He has little time/patience for communicating reasoning behind his decisions.

If you don’t want questions answered, don’t need personal care and know what your issue is, I think he’d be great.

I stopped seeing him before we started a protocol.

My tests and diagnostics were covered by insurance. He takes some insurance but the clinic is out of network for most plans. So visits with him were covered and they were careful to send my blood work through the hospital so it was covered. They were very good about being clear on coverage and cost.

He recommended single, which I liked.

I felt like Dr. Spandorfer didn't really explain what was the next step. It was like, here is the Clomid, the nurse will explain when to take it, and then come back next week. At the next appointment it was like ok you are ready for the IUI, come back tomorrow with your husband. It felt so overwhelming and confusing. I had never taking fertility drugs before, so I had no idea what the steps were. By the third IUI, I finally understood the process, but it was very hard to figure out initially. It was almost like he expected me to have done my research.

Make sure you know in advance what your protocol is.

I took clomid, 50mg at for the first round and then for my 2nd and 3rd I was bumped up to 100mg since I responded fairly well. Unfortunately with unexplained infertility there was not too much for the doctor to do. The 1st and 2nd resulted in a negative beta, and my 3rd produced a chemical pregnancy.

Cornell accepted my insurance, but their 'center' did not. The center does everything for IVF and some IUI procedures. Very hard to understand. Made for some very confusing and expensive bills.

Did not do this.

I liked Dr. Spandorfer. He was just the right amount of involved. The only thing that bugged me was that it was hard to speak directly with him, unless you were at the clinic. I wasn't given an email address and when I left messages, it took a while for a return phone call. I would have liked to have been able to email questions. He was sympathetic when I had a miscarriage and did a lot of follow up because I had complications.

So, the one thing I was not wild about: we ended up with 2 embryos and this was our first IVF. We debated transferring them both, because we were not sure we would go through it all again. But, we really didn't want twins. Dr. Spandorfer told me that at my age (40) the likelihood of twins was very low. Yada, yada, yada, I have 4.5 month old boy girl twins. Of course I love them and are thrilled, but it was a lot to take in and on.

I had a great overall experience with Dr. Spandorfer. When my husband and I showed up at his office with an unexpected severe MFI diagnosis, we were in a bit of shock and did not know what to expect. He was kind and empathetic, but did not spend much time on exploring why or how this issue came about. Had we been hoping to attempt to fix the problem naturally (or get satisfying answers) before moving on to ART, this might have been a problem for us. But we were looking for the fastest and most efficient route to a baby and Dr. Spandorfer ( very appropriately and capably) focused his attention his areas of expertise and helping us move forward quickly. While our interaction with Dr. Spandorfer during our fresh cycle was fairly limited (due to Cornell's pooled monitoring/procedure method), I felt like he was reachable if I had any questions and knew that he was the one reviewing my file daily and making the important calls. When our first cycle was successful but ended in a miscarriage, Dr. Spandorfer showed much more compassion than I expected for a doctor at a high volume fertility clinic (and more than I had gotten from any of my regular obgyns in the past) and became our single point of contact for all future appointments and procedures. While it is true that he is very efficient and aware of keeping to a schedule, this benefits his patients and I never found him unwilling to spend time if i had questions or engage in friendly conversation. Rapport with him was so easy that I actually found it hard to transition back to a regular ob after our successful frozen transfer.

Keep your eye on the ultimate goal; he will do his best to get you there.

Fresh cycle: Antagonist protocol with follistim and menopur, followed by ganirelix as trigger date approached. Stimmed for approximately 10 days. Resulted in 14 eggs retrieved, 11 mature, 11 fertilized with ICSI, 1 blastocyst transferred on day 5. Resulted in positive pregnancy test but subsequent 1st trimester miscarriage. Frozen cycle: Programmed (due to luteal phase defect/low progesterone in monitoring cycle). Birth control for 3 weeks to begin, layering in lupron injections and estrogen patches, followed by Progesterone in Oil injections. Currently 5 months pregnant from this cycle.

Impersonal but efficient. If you arrive before 7:30 you won't wait all that long.

I had strong insurance coverage so was not aware of detailed costs.

Dr. Spandorfer left it entirely up to us how many embryos we would transfer, but we never considered more than 1 at a time.

I was very happy to have chosen Dr. Spandorfer and Weill Cornell after having negative experiences at another clinic. I felt like Dr. Spandorfer was readily available to speak on the phone if needed and I saw him during most of my visits. He loves to tell corny jokes - but this doesn't bother me. Infertility is so depressing, that it was kind of nice to have the mood lightened.

Be proactive. Always ask questions if you have them and don't be shy to speak up if you have concerns.

IVF + ICSI - We had male factor infertility with low morphology so he felt that ICSI was necessary to get the best quality sperm. I believe my IVF injections were given to me in low, steady dosages so as to improve the quality of my eggs for retrieval. We successfully fertilized 11 embryos (out of 15 eggs) and 5 made it to Day 5. For our fresh transfer of 1 embryo, we were not successful. For our second transfer - a frozen cycle - I was put on birth control, lupron, estrogen patches and progesterone in oil. We transfered 2 frozen embryos and were not successful. For our 3rd transfer - another frozen cycle - we did the same process and transfered 2 embryos. We are currently 6 weeks 4 days pregnant with 1. Our first ever positive in 2.5+ years. The only change this cycle was I had a hysteroscopy and lining scratch the month prior.

My IUIs were covered by insurance with only copays. My insurance did not cover IVF or any drugs involved with IVF. IVF + ICSI + fresh transfer + embryo storage + the hospital fee + sperm collection + all bloodwork/ultrasounds cost us approximately $15,000 (medications not included). Each frozen embryo transfer was approximately $4600 (medications not included).

He pushed eSET for us since I am under 35, but after our first failed transfer he had no issues with us moving to 2 embryo transfers. He warned us of high risk pregnancies with multiple embryos.

He simply should not be treating for infertility. I've lived in NYC my entire life and have never encountered someone with less bedside manner. Unacceptable, rude, unprofessional, and generally seems like he should probably retire.

Look elsewhere. Cornell on a whole doesn't have a great reputation. No personal care. I love my regualr ob/gyn there but the fertility practice is too big and factory-like.

We didn't get that far- he was only interested in having me come in every week to do a sonogram, take blood, and charge me $1000's of dollars while at the same time acting like I was getting on his nerves and wasting his time. I went to another doctor aftwerwards who somehow managed to see me less often and got much more approved on my insurance.

About $6000

He seemed very optimistic about our case and about the prospect of getting pregnant, which I can't say for every doctor I've seen and I do think it makes a huge difference in my general confidence about the situation. He does not sugar coat anything, and he's not a hand-holder. That said, any time I've had questions or concerns, I've left him a voicemail and he's called me back immediately and walked me through the options and my worries. He never rushes me on the phone. In person, I do feel rushed with him and at times, like a number. But as long as I have my questions lined up, he will answer anything in person and is very helpful. We've yet to have a positive outcome (full term pregnancy) so I can't speak to his effectiveness just yet.

Don't expect hand holding, have your questions lined up before you see him (write them down) and call when you feel uncomfortable or worried.

1 IUI - Clomid, Trigger Shot (negative pregnancy test) 2 IUI - Clomid, Trigger Shot (negative pregnancy test) 3 IUI - Clomid, Trigger Shot (negative pregnancy test) 1 IVF - Follistim, Menopur, Ganirelix, Pregnyl, Progesterone injections (11 eggs, 9 embryos, 7 5-day Blasts, 2 transferred fresh - resulting in chemical pregnancy, 3 frozen)

Monitoring takes place between 7-8:30am. If you come at 7am, you'll be in and out in 20 minutes. If you come at 8:15, you'll be there for 2 hours.

$10,000 for IVF $2,500 ICSI

He strongly advised us to transfer two. He said that it could result in twins, singlet, or nothing, and that the only reason he wouldn't recommend this is if we were trying to avoid multiples.

Dr. Spandorfer himself was great. I called me personally from his cell phone whilst commuting on the train to discuss test results and was a very competent doctor. However, at this practice you see your actual doctor fairly infrequently, and the clinic's antiquated communication style got in the way of patient care.

Speak to someone about how Cornell works and what to expect before going to this particular clinic for treatment. The doctors are great but the clinic definitely has a factory approach.

3 IUIs with clomid.

100% covered by insurance

Dr. Spandorfer has an excellent bedside manner. He puts you at ease with his humor. He gives you hope even in the most grim situation while still being frank about the circumstances. He gave me treatment even when a previous doctor had given me no hope. When the first round of IVF was unsuccessful, he carefully tailored and alternative method of treatment for the next cycle. Ultimately, he helped me to successfully have a baby girl and for that I am eternally grateful to him.

Know that you will not see him at every visit which is typical of larger fertility clinics, however, he will call you back if you leave messages with his assistant.

39yo, dimished ovarian reserve, 6 failed IUI cycles at age 33 with another doctor, 1 miscarriage (natural pregnancy) at 7 weeks at age 36, 2 cycles IVF at 39 yo,1 live birth of singleton girl at 39 yo 1st IVF Cycle 4 eggs retrieved, 1 fertilized but did not make it to day 3, day 3 transfer cancelled. Estrogen patch Gonal-F Menopur Garilinix 2nd IVF Cycle 4 eggs retrieved, 4 fertilized with ICSI, 4 transferred on day 3 (14 cell, 10 cell & (2) 8 cell). 1 implanted. 1 successful live birth of healthy baby girl. Birth control Lupron Gonal-F Progesterone

Tons of patients, however, wait time was not too long.

For 2 cycles about $40k including all medications

Because of my history, age, low AMH, we transferred all 4 embryos (per doctors suggestion)

Dr. Spandorfer was good to work with. He's pretty down to earth, pleasantly jocular (but professional), and in my experience was able to both level with me and my husband as well as be sensitive at tough times. He also rolled with my husband's inappropriate sense of humor.

He's a good RE for you if you appreciate the facts. He can be very empathetic, and is always pleasant, but he's not going to be a touchy-feely hand-holder. For my money, that's good, because you know he's giving you the lay of the land and not b.s.'ing you.

We started with a Clomid 100mg+TI cycle, as I'd done one unmonitored Clomid cycle with my OB and apparently not ovulated (PCOS), and my husband's MFI wasn't so pronounced as to make TI a complete waste of time. It took that cycle to discover I needed a trigger to ovulate, and we repeated Clomid 100mg+TI the next cycle, when I successfully ovulated. The following cycle we stepped up to IUI. Our 3rd cycle with Dr. Spandorfer I didn't respond to the initial dose of 100mg so was bumped up to 200mg (I think?) and did ovulate, again IUI. In December, continuing with 200mg/IUI I had visual disturbances on the Clomid, which Dr. Spandorfer took very seriously, and gave me the IVF talk. Due to my very high AMH, he was not open to doing injects IUIs with me, so we went to IVF+ICSI after our final IUI cycle was a bust. We did a standard antagonist protocol with ICSI. Started at 125iu FSH, went down after bloodwork monitoring, then back up, then down again, added in 1 vial Menopur/day after about 5-6 days, along with Ganirelix. Triggered with 5,000iu hCG. 23 retrieved, all 23 mature, which I think says something very impressive about Dr. Spandorfer's management of my crazy PCOS ovaries. 16 fertilized with ICSI (which is around the 70% fert rate "they" look for with ICSI). I developed mild OHSS ahead of the transfer, but Dr. Spandorfer had me come in for close monitoring to ensure the transfer would be safe. We did a 5dt of one blastocyst (Dr. Chung did it - he was lovely and very encouraging) and were able to freeze an additional 7. I realized I was successfully pregnant when my OHSS returned (moderate this time - incredibly unpleasant). The upside of the OHSS was that I got a bunch of early ultrasounds to confirm an intrauterine pregnancy by 4 weeks 6 days, onward. I was released to the care of my OB by 7+ weeks, and the result is my almost 4-month-old daughter who's sleeping in her crib as I type this. If we decide to try for a second, we'll go back to Dr. Spandorfer, even though he's not on our insurance any longer.

IVF monitoring hours are "monitoring hours." TI or IUI monitoring hours are (with the exception of weekends) all with your dedicated RE, and specifically scheduled.

IVF was about $15K. TI/IUI cycles were about $4-5K. I had to tack on extra costs for OHSS management at the end of the IVF cycle. I was fortunate that diagnostic testing early on and blood work throughout were covered, otherwise that would have added up astronomically in the IUI cycles. (IVF fee covers blood work until actual pregnancy testing and evaluation.)

He is very to the point and honest. I found him warm and friendly but I could see how others might not. He has a good sense of humor and a good perspective on the serious work he does. My husband and I trusted him and liked him.

Do not expect warm and fuzzy but know that he knows what he is doing and has a big heart.

Dr. Spandorfer has developed the co-culture protocol which takes cells from the mother's uterus to create a customized culture in which to grow the embryo. I thought that was neat. We tried that with him and a variety of different protocols (lupron, estrogen patch, etc.).

It is a very large waiting room and they call out names every 30 seconds or so. Get there early and your wait is usually less than getting there in the middle of the monitoring hours. Getting there on the later end of the window could also work sometimes. The waiting is comfortable, though most people are understandably pretty stressed out.

Insurance covered three rounds of everything then it covered the monitoring and procedures we paid out of pocket. I don't remember the amount.

They deferred to our preference.

I answered some of this in the previous question but I would say Dr. Spandorfer was not a hand holder but he was efficient clear and willing to work with me despite my diminished ovarian reserve. And by work with me I mean he was willing to do an egg retrieval and insemination and a transfer even with very few eggs produced by stimulation -- which by the way I had gotten from other doctors with various mixes of medication so I think it was inevitable .

Be aware that you might not have your transfer with him. iIt might be another doctor and in my case that other doctor pushed for us to transfer two embryos even though we only wanted to transfer one.

I'm a bit hazy on the protocol specifics. I remember estrogen priming high doses of Gonal-F and something else I can't remember. None of the DHEA or anything else that I've heard some doctors use for diminished ovarian reserve cases.

It was an efficient well oiled machine . One thing I noticed it was different from the other clinic I attended is that they would call you up for monitoring by first and last name. The other clinic would just use first names presumably for anonymity. I found that kind of stupid because of course you could see the person, so if you know them you know that they're there for infertility. But I also found the use of first names only at the other office in the monitoring hours to be subtly infantilizing. It did mean at Cornell that I noticed a colleague was there and I might not of noticed that she was there if she hadn't been called up to the desk by first and last name. But I didn't think this was a big deal since obviously were all in the same situation so it's not like I'm going to go gossiping to our mutual colleagues that she was at my infertility clinic, thus outing myself as a fellow infertile.

I have insurance from the state of Massachusetts --" Romney care "-- which provides excellent coverage so I was not too aware of the price per procedure .

We had a different doctor for the transfer I think his name was Dr. Cho . I was in the surgery room and he said something like, "Did Dr. Spandorfer talk to you about transferring one or two embryos?" He hadn't and then Dr. Cho sort of talked us out of our preference for a single embryo transfer even though we absolutely positively did not want to have twins and felt very strongly about single embryo transfer .

As mentioned, he could be very curt in the morning. He doesn't answer a lot of questions and he can have a cold bedside manner. You have to do your homework on infertility and come prepared to ask the right questions. When I did have bad news, he showed more compassion.

You have to have patience. It is not likely going to work on the first time. Tell yourself it is a journey. IVF is an art, the doctors learn more about you with each round, and make adjustments as necessary. Stick with it and hopefully it will work. Dr. Spandorfer always talked about what we would fix the next time.

We tried IUI three times, which I feel was a waste of time. It rarely works but I think the insurance companies require it before they allow IVF. He gave me very low dose drugs the first IVF round so I only made 3 eggs. Wish we would have made more to have something to freeze. For the second round it felt like starting all over. This time he gave me higher drugs and I made 13 eggs and was able to freeze 2. So when the second round didn't work we had two left to do a Frozen Embryo Transfer round. That worked and we had our son!

Both a cattle call but well oiled machine. They have timers outside each door and they set it for 7 minutes.

$10K per IVF round, additional $2K for ICSI

It would be impossible to overemphasize how amazing my experience as a patient of Dr. Spandorfer's was. He took me as a patient, despite a history of failed IVF. At the time, many clinics were not taking patients like me because they didn't want to mess up their high ratings. He was patient and kind with me - and most importantly, there's now a beautiful little girl who exists because of him. I owe him my new life as a mom.

Be patient and trust his advice.

I spoke to Dr. Spandorfer once on the phone and I saw him twice (once on the day of the egg harvest and the day of the transfer), otherwise I saw other doctors at Cornell. Spandorfer was very nice and had a great bedside manner. But if it had been my first IVF instead of my fourth, I probably would have been upset that I almost never saw him but it was fine because it was my fourth time.

Wait times were over an hour for monitoring appointments.