William Schoolcraft

Dr. Schoolcraft is very knowledgable in his field. I loved his calm manner when describing the treatment and his logical approach to everything. There are many aspects of IVF that can be complicated and he does a superb job of coming up with easy to understand metaphors so the concepts seem more simple.

Trust the facility and take great notes. You will be given a lot of information, but they are there to help along the way.

We did request Dr. Schoolcraft shoot for twins for us due to personal reasons. My husband and I were very set on this goal and have had other medical professionals try to convince us it was not a good idea. Dr. Schoolcraft also did not recommend it, however, he was the first doctor to convince us of the right answer through logic, facts and helping us fully understand the risk/rewards.

Hearing and reading about Dr. Schoolcraft I knew what to expect when meeting with him. He is pretty stone faced and his demeanor is intimidating in that sense because for me personally, I am always seeking compassion and tenderness from my doctors especially in this particular field of work. He is a man of few words and his answers are brief, but he does radiate this confidence that really made me believe that HE will be the one to make my & my husband's parenthood dreams a reality. I must say that Dr. Schoolcraft did surprise me a bit at our first transfer when was very lighthearted and made a joke before the transfer. It really did calm the room, gave us all a laugh and put me more at ease. What was even more surprising was that at our second transfer to our surrogate (which my husband and I did not attend) he made another comment to her that was silly and out of character and put her at ease. I loved hearing that from our surrogate and that she definitely never saw the cut/dry personality he could possess.

Always be prepared with questions and follow up questions. He likely will not initiate the conversations with you.

As this relates to my courses of treatment, I'll start this by informing the reader that I do not get a period and I do not have a uterus. My first cycle was very similar to the cycle outlined below with the exception that I started taking Follistim 300mg for about 3 days prior to having my doses lowered. For this first cycle another doctor did my retrieval because Schoolcraft was out of town. Some of my eggs had to be removed abdominally which in my other two previous cycles at another clinic was never necessary. For my second cycle (which I am about to start priming for next week) he lowered my doses of Follistim at the onset from 300 to 150 units because of how active my eggs became initially in our previous cycle. This cycle is extended estrogen priming - antagonist using Estrace 2mg and Prometrium 200mg. Then moving on to 2 vials of menopur in the morning, 150 units Follistim + Clomid 100mg + Dexamethasone in the evening.

Since my husband and I traveled to Denver from out of state we incurred additional expenses related to airfare, car rentals, accommodations, etc. When you visit for your 1 day workup at CCRM, you provide a $1K deposit. We paid out of pocket for all of our blood work and ultrasounds during that one day workup totaling about $3K. Genetic testing screenings provided by the clinic were $350/person. Cycle payment including anesthesia $6,286 Lab fees including genetic testing $12,831 Abdominal retrieval (additional charge) $623 Shipping kit for blood workups for out of state was $110 each time.

Dr. Schoolcraft strongly believed in implanting ONE embryo. Our surrogate also preferred that in her contract. And, at the time we transferred my embryos were created when I was 35 and my husband 33.

When speaking with Dr. Schoolcraft during my initial phone consult, he was direct with his feedback and provided information that my previous clinic had failed to give me despite asking multiple times (example: quality of embryos transferred). My previous doctor said "the embryos looked good" vs. Dr. Schoolcraft stating the transferred embryos were "wonky" and didn't appear to be the best quality. When meeting during our follow up appointment at the one day workup, he demonstrated an understanding of my infertility history and provided thoughtful comments in response to my decision to move forward with an egg donor cycle given my severe diminished ovarian reserve/ high FSH diagnosis.

Be prepared to ask questions about your case and proposed treatment. He is willing to take the time to answer any questions that you have which I really appreciated. Given my multiple failed IVF cycles at a previous clinic I was clear that we needed a more pro-active approach and that we could not and did not want a "cookie cutter" treatment plan. He immediately explained that most of the people that come to him have multiple failed cycles elsewhere and he realizes that he has one shot with these patients. He reiterated that his goals are aligned with mine.

N/A- I am awaiting a donor egg cycle at this time.

The clinic and doctor did say that they prefer to transfer one embryo at a time. I'm sure there are instances and cases where other guidelines would apply. I did not press this point given we will be doing CCS testing.

Dr. Schoolcraft is a highly knowledgeable expert in the field of assisted fertility. He possesses extensive expertise in this area. After experiencing an unsuccessful transfer, he recommended considering a donor egg in the event of a second failed attempt. At that moment, I perceived it as though he had given up on me, and it seemed like he wasn't fully committed to battling this challenge alongside me. Consequently, I switched to different doctors for my second and third attempts, only to later realize that Dr. Schoolcraft's advice was indeed correct. Following these unsuccessful tries, I returned to his care, and I successfully became pregnant on the second attempt with donor eggs. I wish he had shown more empathy and a willingness to support me in making the difficult decision to use a donor egg, even though it offered a higher chance of success. This decision can be emotionally challenging for any woman to accept.

Dr. Schoolcraft, though straightforward, is an absolute authority in the field. I've come to realize that he genuinely seeks the best possible outcome for you. With his wealth of experience, he can provide a clear and definitive answer that will prevent you from incurring additional expenses and emotional distress.

I used the highest protocol for my first try: Clomid, Gonal-F, and Menopur. That yielded the result that I had a diminished reserve, and the meds were not helping. After that, I tried the donor egg transfer and he put me on the medicated transfer with Progesterone in Oil, every other day Vivelle patches, and Progesterone Vaginal inserts

Probably like $25000 for the Donor Egg, plus the transfer like $17000, the second transfer was like $4000

On my last transfer, I had two embryos left. One of them was day 7, and the other one was inconclusive. He did not recommend transferring both embryos, but they were my last try, so I signed a release form.

Dr. Schoolcraft has a calm, soft spoken, matter-of-fact demeanor, which I appreciated. He will start your consult by asking you to summarize your fertility journey so far. Once you move to the one day workup and post-op debriefs he generally starts every conversation with "Do you have any questions?". So if you don't have any prepared, it will be a short conversation. He will not voluntarily dive into details or comments, so go to your meetings with him prepared with questions and topics you want to cover since he will not kickstart them. I found he always gave us odds and numbers on the cautious side, probably to reduce patient disappointment. He gave me a protocol (CCRM PAL protocol) that really worked for me and he was very responsive in tweaking my medication doses throughout treatment (transmitted through my nurse). I felt closely an safely monitored and that my protocol was personalized. Although I had limited interaction with him directly, I had excellent results and no real negative complications under his care which is what I came to CCRM for.

Have a list of questions and topics you want to cover prepared before every meeting with him. He will not voluntarily offer discussion points unless you prompt him. Be clear to yourself on why you chose him as your doctor - I chose him to get good results, that's it and that's what I got. If you have more dimensions than that, such as to develop a close doctor-patient relationship, have someone really educate you every step of the way, etc. he's probably not for you.

For both my egg retrievals I was on Acai pills and the CCRM PAL Protocol which is for high responders (I have an antral follicle count of ~25 total with high AMH of ~8-9. Dr. Schoolcraft ruled out PCOS because I don't have any other symptoms of that). On the Acai, although I had no pre-disposed medical situation for Dr. Schoolcraft to recommend me taking them, I asked him about it since I had heard of the trial they did and he said I could take them if I wanted to since it certainly wouldn't hurt. So I said why not! I recommend getting those pills right off the bat following your one day workup if you can because you need to take them for 2-3 months before you start stims to be effective and the provider does now ship outside the USA. On the injectables, I started out with 1 vial of Menopur and 150 units of Gonal-F for the first 4 days. Then after that he tweaked my meds depending on the ultrasound (follicle count, size, growth rate) and bloodwork, and added in Cetrotide or Ganirelix starting Day 5 or 6 of stim. Dr. Schoolcraft recommended to trigger with Lupron only from the get go since I was at higher risk of OHSS. For both retrievals I had very similar protocols and I stimmed for 10 days each time. Although the first time I was on slightly higher Gonal (150 daily) and my estrogen spiked dramatically on Day 10 so he took me off Gonal that night. I also experienced some very very mild OHSS in my opinion which was abdominal/ovarian discomfort for about 2-3 days after retrieval. Nothing dramatic, I didn't even bother taking Tylenol for it. But I did wake up a few times at night from the discomfort. Because my estrogen unexpectedly spiked on Day 10, he did prescribe me Letrozole pills and Cetrotide for a few days to use post-retrieval to reduce my risk of OHSS. After 2-3 days I was fine. On my second retrieval, my estrogen rose in a more normal gradual fashion, I was on lower Gonal as well (75 units as of Day 5) since my follicles were responding more strongly than the first time and post-retrieval I had zero OHSS symptoms and therefore did not need to use Letrozole and Cetrotide post-op. My first retrieval yielded 20 eggs, 15 mature, 14 fertilized, 11 made it to blast (9 Day 5, 2 Day 6), 4 were euploid (all Day 5'ss) - **only 2 were euploid from the first CCS test, there were 2 that were "inconclusive" from the first test - ya, it's a thing apparently, so I opted to re-test them even though they said this decreases the chance of a live birth by 10% points - from ~50% to 40%. The 2 re-tested ones came back euploid. I did a second retrieval to bank embryos since Dr. Schoolcraft said the general rule of thumb is it takes 2 euploid embryos to make 1 baby and unfortunately I had 2 out of 4 euploids that had a reduced likelihood of live birth since they were frozen and CCS tested twice. My second retrieval yielded 20 eggs, 14 mature, 13 fertilized, 12 made it to blast (11 Day 5, 1 Day 6), 7 were euploid. I really don't know what explains the big difference in euploid embryos from both my retrievals (4 vs. 7). Protocol was similar and I was on Acai both times. Dr. Schoolcraft had told me beforehand that there can be some slight variance cycle to cycle for a woman but usually it is not dramatic. The second retrieval results were a very pleasant surprise, especially since I got CCS results on all of them on the first test.

~$3,500 USD for the one-day-workup since I don't have US health insurance I got a lower price, ~$28,000 for first retrieval package including $1,500 for a small polyp removal, ~$18,000 for a second embryo banking cycle. Medications were all extra, I spent about ~$3,500 per retrieval because I was on their low-dose PAL protocol for high responders and used Alto Pharmacy which at the time had amazingly low prices. The first FET cost is included in the $28,000 first retrieval package I purchased. Medications for FET were around ~$2,000. I would recommend not throwing out ANY of your medications until you have "graduated" from CCRM. You never know what curve balls may come your way. For example, I did not expect to do a second retrieval nor at the time was I aware what meds you take during FET, so I had thrown out some leftover medication like a partially full Gonal-F pen and a Pregnyl kit which in retrospect I should have kept.

Before doing IVF I had thought twins would be great, but after reading up on it I realized single pregnancies were much safer. I chose a single embryo transfer and never really discussed the option of a multiple transfer with Dr. Schoolcraft.

We could not be happier with our treatment at CCRM under Dr. Schoolcraft. He helped us throughout our journey. We fully trust his clinical expertise, as he always led us in the right direction and answered all of our questions. We are so thankful for him and CCRM. We had a successful first transfer and now have a healthy full term baby boy.

Bring a list of questions to each meeting with him. He does a GREAT job of answering all of your questions and leading you in the correct direction. But, you will generate the conversation by asking your questions, so make sure you have a detailed list.

We did an egg retrieval and a frozen transfer. We had some male factor infertility - therefore, we did use ICSI to assist in the IVF process. We followed the typical first protocol that they gave us for a frozen transfer and then, Dr. Schoolcraft successfully adjusted our medications based on my numbers at the blood draws. We had a successful first frozen transfer and we welcomed a healthy little boy.

The treatment was very expensive, but well worth it.

He's very knowledgeable and clearly an expert in his field. He is straight and to the point but isn't overly verbose. So appointments are quick and productive. Without a lot of unnecessary chit chat. He lays out realistic expectations, and always answered our questions.

Educate yourself on the process, and details so that you know what questions to ask.

3 rounds estrogen patch/cetro priming. Clomid, dexamethasone, gonal 300, meno 2 vial no change when cetro added.  I did meno and cetro in AM the rest in PM. dual trigger - 2.5k IU HCG, 2 separate shots of 80unit lupron trigger, stimmed for 10 days. Results: Round 1: 21 eggs, 13 mature, 12 fertilized, 4 blast, 1 euploid Round 2: 13 eggs, 8 mature, 7 fertilized, 1 blast, 1 euploid Round 3: 14 eggs, 7 mature, 5 fertilized, 1 blast, Abnormal 1 round microdose lupron flare. In progress.

$24K for 1 ER and 1 FET $14K for an early blast banking $17K for a blast banking

Strong preference for testing, and single embryo transfer. This makes sense given the risks involved for an older patient.

After extensive research on clinics and doctors, we were absolutely sure that we wanted Dr. Schoolcraft as our fertility doctor and we fully trust him to help us achieve our goal of having a child (or children). He has decades of experience, is a highly respected doctor in the field of infertility, and is professional, extremely knowledgeable, and honest. At our first appointment in the summer of 2021, he told us that due to my age and low egg quality, we would be looking at using an egg donor. While it was a surprise to us, we do appreciate him not wasting our time or money on trying IVF cycles with my own eggs, which had a very low chance of success. After extensive tests, a corrective surgery to reshape my septate uterus, and a mock cycle to confirm that my uterine lining would build up enough to allow for successful embryo transfer, we had our first (and so far only) transfer in early February 2022. I got pregnant with that first transfer, but unfortunately, we found out at our first ultrasound that I had lost the baby. There doesn't seem to be any reasonable explanation as to why the embryo did not continue to grow after the first few weeks, so Dr. Schoolcraft is not adjusting my treatment plan at this point. My uterine lining was good, as were all of my hormone levels. We were advised that we should choose a different donor for our next round because out of 16 eggs, we only ended up with one quality embryo after genetic testing, which is below average. We have chosen our new donor, reserved our eggs, and are hoping for successful results with our next IVF cycle.

Know that he is a really great doctor and that he will be the one in charge of your treatment plan but he's also a very busy doctor and you likely won't deal with him in person very often. You'll work much more closely with his nurses than you will with him. And don't be surprised (like I was) if he is not the doctor who performs your embryo transfer(s) or surgeries. He did perform the first surgery that prepared my body for IVF treatment but he was out of the office for my first scheduled transfer and for the D&C that I needed after I miscarried.

Because we used an egg donor, I did not go through egg retrieval. For IVF, I was prescribed three weeks of birth control; about a month of Lupron injections to make sure I didn't ovulate; estrogen patches, progesterone in oil injections, progesterone vaginal inserts to help build my uterine lining and hormones and to maintain the pregnancy; and low-dose aspirin to aid blood flow to the uterus. Just prior to embryo transfer, I was prescribed a few days of methylprednisolone to suppress my immune system, decreasing the chance that my body would reject the embryo, and doxycycline to decrease any chance of infection. The estrogen patches, progesterone in oil, progesterone inserts, and low-dose aspirin would have continued through the first trimester of pregnancy, had I made it that far.

Honestly, the costs of fertility treatments are exorbitant and not affordable for many people. My husband and I are fortunate enough to have help from a family member, otherwise, we would absolutely not be able to afford this path. For our first round of IVF including work-ups, preparatory surgery, donor eggs, medications, transfer, etc., the cost was somewhere in the 60K range. Unfortunately, because I miscarried with our only viable embryo, we're looking at about the same cost for the next round.

We only had one embryo available for transfer.

We went to Dr. Schoolcraft because of his experience and reputation in the field as one of the top doctors. In our first consultation, we felt immediately like we were in the best care. His expertise is immediately apparent. He gave us honest and frank answers about our odds and the process. He is quiet, so you have to come with your own questions. He always spent as much time as we needed answering questions and explaining anything we didn't understand.

Write down all of your questions beforehand.

My first cycle was their protocol 3, antagonist protocol with estrogen patch priming. Cycles 2, 3, & 4 and the most successful were all their protocol 5, Microflare protocol plus HGH.

We chose to consult with Dr. Schoolcraft after failed IVF rounds and no explanation from our local doctor. We had obviously heard that he and his lab are "best in the country". I do believe that his/CCRM's standard of testing with the one day workup is the most comprehensive a fertility clinic can do and I feel like it was worth our money just to have had the workup done (it includes extensive testing on both partners). We live outside of Colorado so our initial consultation with him was via telephone and he was out of town the week we came to CCRM for the one day workup, and I was told this when I scheduled. He also was not the doctor to perform my egg retrieval, as all of the doctors rotate weeks doing egg retrievals. Finally, when my frozen transfer was scheduled, I received a call about a week or two prior to the scheduled transfer that he was going to be out of town and I had the option to reschedule for another time or have one of the other doctors perform the transfer. All in all, I saw Dr. Schoolcraft one time during my treatment. I believe he is engaged in other professional opportunities outside of CCRM (lectures, research, education), which take him away from the clinic more frequently than other doctors. His personality is very straightforward but he is still a caring doctor. After not getting answers from my previous doctor, I appreciated his straight-forward approach to my case. We just didn't really develop much of a personal relationship since I did not see him for much of the care I received at CCRM-he was behind the plan and had his associates execute it (one day workup hysteroscopy, egg retrieval, FET, etc...)

He may not be the doctor who performs your procedures or executes your plan of care

Something like the "poor responder" protocol. Used menopur, Gonal-F, dexamethasone, and others I can't remember for ovarian stimulation. This helped me produce 13 eggs, all mature, whereas at my previous clinic I had only produced 9-10 eggs with retrieval on a slightly different protocol

The one day workup (done prior to starting ANY treatment cycle) was around $6000; One round of IVF with our one and only FET was $24,000. These were both required to be paid upfront and paid directly to CCRM. These do NOT include cost of medications or travel to Colorado

We only had one PGS normal embryo so this was not an issue

Dr. Schoolcraft has devised a very particular treatment plan for me. I am 46 years old. Although I froze eggs over 6 years ago, I know that that does not guarantee a healthy pregnancy. I came to Dr. Schoolcraft after being treated like a number by the clinic that did my egg retrieval. It's a huge cost and emotional investment to travel to Colorado to do this treatment. But from the first instance of talking to Dr. Schoolcraft, I felt treated with such dignity and compassion. Dr. Schoolcraft has been honest and direct about my chances of IVF working. He is going to do one round, but he believes my frozen eggs represent my best chance. I have tremendous anxiety about that process but Dr. Schoolcraft both explained completely how his lab works and then had his chief embryologist speak with me. I talked to her three times on the phone! They both have answered every question. Plus, Dr. Schoolcraft has put me on a regime of daily supplements and developed a very specific drug protocol for when I start IVF. I have absolutely no doubt that he will give me the best treatment tailored specifically to me and my needs. He's deeply compassionate, thorough and speaks in very clear and kind manner.

Call him immediately. Do not waste time going to clinics where you can't get a doctor on the phone. Set up a phone consultation if you have concerns about traveling to Colorado. Just 2 minutes into your call you will be convinced.

We haven't started a protocol yet, but the plan is to begin with a testosterone gel applied every morning and an Estrace 2mg tablet by mouth twice daily. After about two weeks, I start Prometrium at 200mg twice a day. On cycle day 21, I start a testosterone patch, which I do daily for 5 days. At the start of my next cycle, I start stimulation medications, which includes Menopur, Gonal-F/Follistin and Clomid.

The costs are projected to cost about $12,000 for one cycle, which will also include working with my frozen eggs. We are doing to do both IVF and try to fertilize the frozen eggs.

Dr. Schoolcraft promotes elective single embryo transfer.

Dr. Schoolcraft is the reason we are patients at CCRM. We left our local clinic and travel out of state to CCRM for Dr. Schoolcraft's lab and expertise. Although we have not received the results we desire (yet), we are confident that he is the doctor that will bring us success. His demeanor is quiet and when patients have the opportunity to meet with him, they need to be very prepared with questions in order to drive the conversation. Patients have minimal direct contact with Dr. Schoolcraft, so they must fully take advantage of the opportunity.

Patients need to prepare their questions ahead of meetings with Dr. Schoolcraft, as it is the patients who truly drive the conversation. Take advantage of the time you have with Dr. Schoolcraft, as you will have minimal direct contact with him throughout treatment.

Our diagnosis is "unexplained infertility", and I have a high AMH (18-24 eggs have been harvested during each retrieval). With that said, I took 2 vials of Menopur in the morning, along with 150IU of Gonal F in the evenings to start + dexamethasone. (As the retrieval neared, we increased the dosage of Gonal F slightly.)

Total IVF retrieval and transfer fees are roughly $25,000 + one day work up fees (pre-retrieval testing, approx. $7,000-$10,000 for me) + medication costs (~$7,000) + outside monitoring fees and travel expenses (~$5,000)

We have not been able to proceed to a transfer yet. However, in previous conversations, Dr. Schoolcraft mentioned that he usually only likes to transfer single embryos.

You can tell Dr. Schoolcraft is a genius in his field and I felt like I was in good hands having him as my doctor. He can be difficult at times to have a conversation with and I wouldn't say that he sets the room on fire with his energy. Be prepared to lead the conversation and always make sure you are armed with questions when speaking with him.

I recommend joining a few of the IVF Facebook groups and CCRM also has their own support group. I learned so much from all of the posts and it helped me learn what kind of questions to ask.

I was on Protocol 3 and I had really good workup numbers for my age. Dr. Schoolcraft predicted I would react well to the meds, which I did. I ended up stimming for an extra day. 21 eggs retrieved, 15 mature, 15 fertilized, 7 blasts

The IVF Package included all services associated with the egg retrieval and transfer. We had add on fees for PISCI and additional embryo testing. We paid about $600 for these extra services.

I have not transferred yet. My cycle was cancelled due to COVID 19

He has been very honest from the start about trying IVF for being 43. He did go out of his way to call us back and had a long conversation about what our next steps might be. He does not do egg retrievals, but he does do your transfer, but we never go that far.

You will be talking to your nurse via phone and portal. Do not hesitate to ask to talk to Dr Schoolcraft, if you don't feel happy with whats going on with your case. and if the scheduling desk gives you a hard time, be adamant that you want to talk to him ASAP.

I just remember being on Protocol 5, priming with Estrace, then during stim cycle took, Menopur, Gonal F, Clomid, Dexamthasone, Cetrotide. My 2nd cycle we added HGH at my request, same # of blasts as cycle 1, but all abnormal due to my age.

very efficient, on time

1 round of IVF I think was 24k, one day work up was around 4k

Dr. Schoolcraft isn't necessarily warm and friendly, but he has a very calm and approachable manner. He listened intently, asked questions that showed he was listening and validating my thoughts, and replied with knowledge and compassion.

Don't hold back with any doctor - it is important to advocate for yourself and fully explain your experiences (because by the time we are sitting in a fertility clinic chair, we've had a lot of experiences that have brought us here!) I think its important to have a Dr. who you feel listens to your unique story and who makes thoughtful treatment plans based on all the information and the facts. I am glad I took the risk to open up to Dr. Schoolcraft in this way because he proved to be an excellent listener and compassionate with his recommendations for moving forward.

By the time we were at Dr. Schoolcraft's office, we knew we were ready to try IVF. We had tried other treatments at another facility and the results had been disappointing. I had just had another very early miscarriage that my other fertility doctor had dismissed, though I was sure this wasn't the first time an early miscarriage had happened because I'd felt all the same symptoms before. Dr. Shoolcraft validated my understanding of my own body's cues and went on to wonder whether I had fibroids in my one remaining fallopian tube (I'd also had an ectopic pregnancy that destroyed one tube). Although we were ready for IVF, he still wanted to talk with us about IUI as an option instead of taking the opportunity to be pushy about IVF (the obvious $-maker for a fertility clinic). I think he wanted us to know our options and to feel good about whatever choice we made. Ultimately, we all decided IVF was the right place to start and so we began moving in that direction. Unfortunately, our plans have been stalled due to COVID-19, our egg retrieval was scheduled for April 10 and first fresh embryo transfer would have likely been on April 16.

Payment for all visits and tests had to be paid for upfront, even though we knew that some of these initial tests would be covered by our insurance. They collected our payment, then billed to insurance, and then when there is a credit in our clinic account, we can request a refund. This did make it so that we had to have more available funds in our account than we initially thought, even though we will be able to receive a refund for some of the insurance-covered testing portion. I do wish that for testing, we were not billed until after it was run through insurance.

Because of my age (32), and the health of my eggs, Dr. Schoolcraft was only willing to proceed with a single embryo transfer. I would love to have twins, but I understand his priority for the health and safety of me and babies!

We had just come from a failed IVF cycle at a clinic where the doctor was SO patient, compassionate, and meticulous with our care. The transition to Dr Schoolcraft was a bit of a shock, in that he doesn't really contribute much to consultations unless directly prompted by questions. I get the sense that he thought that we were an easy case to crack, so didn't invest his famous brainpower towards our case. I could tell that he hadn't looked at my notes at all at before my first consultation, so I nervously started self reporting what had happened as he casually flipped through my thick stack of patient notes (I felt like I should have asked him if he'd prefer me to stop speaking so he could pay attention to what was written). After being his patient through one failed IVF and one failed donor egg cycle, I still do not feel like he knows much about my medical history other than the top line items. We're going to stick with him to see what his "next steps" are, but to this point all of the information that he's given us has been pretty impersonal.

Come prepared with a list of questions. Ask them all. If you think that he has not read your notes, also come with a medical history to go through.

PREP: Metformin, Acai trial (90 days) STIM: Menopur, Follistim, Ganirelix, Dexamethasone TRIGGER: Lupron, HCG (Pregnyl)

very expensive, ~$35,000-$40,000 including the tests we had to re-take at CCRM before being accepted as patients. We had had the tests done at another clinic and they won't accept those results.

we didn't get there, but he made it clear he wanted to only transfer one embryo

Dr. Schoolcraft is smart and a leader in his field! But you pay dearly for it. I think his methods are very clinical, and they work for a lot of women. Unfortunately, I’m in the small percentage of women who it did not work for. That was hard to accept after spending so much time and money. I do think there was some false hope given, but if you’re in the small percentage of women facing recurrent miscarriage, you almost get used to that.

you Have to have your questions ready for him. You also need to speak up and advocate for your own situation because he sees so many women come through his clinic, I think it’s easy to get lost in the shuffle.

I already had 4 miscarriages so it was presumed that my eggs were “bad”. So I had an egg retrieval, froze the embryos and then had embryos genetically tested. I had four embryos make the cut. One was transferred and implanted successfully, but I had a miscarriage at 6.5ish weeks. From what I recall, my protocol included Estradiol patches, Lupron, ganirellix, Gonal-f, and novarel.

All in we spent about $40,000 for one retrieval and one transfer. No insurance coverage and that was with the in state discount. That price is inclusive of the medications which are very expensive. (For both transfer and retrieval probably close to $7,000)

Doctor wanted to transfer only one embryo, but would have done two if I wanted. He said if I were to miscarry I would lose two but if I didn’t the pregnancy risks would be higher with two. Since I miscarried I’m glad I only used one embryo.

He’s a genius and his methods are cutting edge and thorough. Rather than do the bare minimum testing a troubleshoot later, I was happy to do all testing upfront. His clinic Is beautiful and comfortable and I always felt confident that success was in reach.

Dr. Schoolcraft is very soft spoken and quiet. Don’t let that throw you. He personalizes everyone’s treatment and while he stays behind the scenes, he is the one ensuring that treatment goes well.

The strategy was aggressive and I produced too many eggs the first time. I had mild OHSS for the first of three back to back retrievals. My treatment was adjusted subsequent times to ensure I did not get OHSS during the other retrievals.

Testing costs Lab costs Retrieval costs Freezing costs Transfer costs

I had my embryos CSS tested and had a lot of normal embryos. Because of this, we decided to transfer 1 embryo. Dr Schoolcraft originally wanted me to transfer two, but felt confident that If I wanted to transfer one, that my chances would still be very good. I had a successful transfer and gave birth to a healthy girl in May 2019.

He is honest and has a very well run clinic. The main selling point is how organized they are. We got a lot of reading materials to take home that told us everything we needed to know and expect. Also we have direct access to the same nurses all the time to respond to questions so I feel like they really know our case there, even if we don’t interact much with Dr. Schoolcraft.

You may not get to talk to him much, but his nurses are too rate and you will feel like they really know your case.

We did a mock cycle that involved estradiol patches and additional estrogen and now I am just starting the cycle for the transfer. For the mock cycle my lining did get thick enough (I did monitoring through Emory)! For the transfer cycle, there are no results to report.

We haven’t paid for everything yet. So far most was covered by insurance or from our HSA. The clinic is in network for me but the lab is out of network. The financial counseling has been the most confusing part of our treatment because we got a couple of conflicting stories about what was covered and what wasn’t.

They are very strict about only transferring one embryo if you have high quality embryos. If they are not of high quality they may transfer two, but they make it clear that is not the norm.

Dr Schoolcraft was nice, patient, and gave enough time to answer all of our questions. He believes in finding a solution to our situation and genuinely wants to help. Dr Schoolcraft was on site almost daily and was able to look over my daily lab results. Though he did not perform the surgery, I had a great experience.

Ask all of your questions and be sure to be clear of your options before starting.

I was administered oral and injections for my stimulation medication. All resulted in a great outcome during the stimulation. I did need to stun for a few extra days but we did retrieve more eggs than expected. After finding out in the lab that none of my fertilized eggs matured, the re group determined he would recommend if proceeding the same way, a different medication protocol. Other options were discussed with donor eggs as well.

These were booked first thing in the morning and all appointments were handled quickly and smoothly.

Costs were between 25-35k including meds for IVF, ICSI and genetic testing

he seems smart and knowledgeable but I never felt that doctor patient relationship. As a new patient i want to know every step of the way but for some reason I just dont think I got enough information. Part of if maybe is because I just do not know what to ask but I was hoping that he could help me more. I felt like he never gave me the light that I needed in the dark.

Do your own research. Get your questions ready. i myself thought that I have those questions ready but it felt like everything was not fully explained to me. He maybe the best doctor in the world but you would want to go to someone that do not treat you as a number. And I thought all he cared was about getting a good success rate. And financially it's really expensive. I cannot do another cycle for that reason. they do not really have good financial programs to help the patients.

Antagonist protocol with patches if I may remember I had estradiol patch every other day. Began cetrotide day 11 for three days. Started stim meds with two vials menopure (150 units) for ten days in am and gonal f 300 units plus dexamethasone evry night. On day 7 I added cetrotide in am as well. on day 10 I triggered with novarel total of 10000 units. also had lupron shot an hour after that night.

A lot. We spent over 30 grand and still paying for a loan.

Never had this conversation with my doctor

I'm used to a RE who has amazing bedside manner and I connected with on a personal level. It was a drastic change going from that to Dr.S's style. His bedside manner is lacking, but I think it's just because he a genius and a little socially awkward. He is a man of few words and I'm still getting used to that when we have our debriefs, but at the end of the day I've seen better results with him than my previous clinic and that's what matters. I trust his decisions about my cycles because I'm confident he is one of the leading dr.'s in the industry. That makes me sleep better at night and our results are proof of that.

Be prepared to come to meetings with a list of questions or concerns. He does much better with that than informal conversation. If you are looking for a dr. that will hold your hand that is not him (lean on your nurses for that). Lastly, trust him even if it feels scary to you.

Overall, he used the same protocol from my previous cycles, with slightly lower doses and minor tweaks (ex: doing stims in the morning and night vs. just the evening). One of the big differences I noticed is that he changed the dosage throughout the cycle more often than my first clinic. That attention to detail was much appreciated and I also think helped get such great results. BC priming, menopur (2X in the am), Follistim (75-150 units pending blood work), dexamthesone pill at night (new for me) and lupron trigger twice before retrieval (also new for me). We got better results with less drugs vs. my previous clinic. Note results below includes PGS testing Cycle 1: 20 eggs retrieved/14 mature/11 fertilized/10 sent for testing/5 frozen Cycle 2: 14 eggs retrieves/ 10 mature/9 fertilized/6 sent to testing/5 frozen

We had to do PGS/CCS + PGD so our costs are higher than most. Each cycle was ~$20k with testing.

We have not made it to transfer yet, but since we will be using a gestational carrier I think he will recommend single embryo transfer.

He is compassionate and kind. He has a good bedside manner. I just wish we went over more options to help me. He pushed donor egg more than once and I told him the reason I was there was so I would not have to use donor egg. He was not available at every visit and he did not do any of my egg retrieval’s. With the amount of money I paid, I feel I could have gotten the same treatment in my home town.

You will not be seeing him often or have him retrieve your eggs. You can save a lot of money be going to a clinic near you because the treatment he will offer is nothing spectacular or special to Ccrm.

He did mini ivf and then regular ivf with injections. It didn’t work. I recently heard about growth hormone which is supposed to work very well for women with low amh and poor egg quality, which is my situation but that was never offered to me.

If I remember correctly it was about 18-22 thousand a cycle. Depends on whether I was getting PGS testing.

Bedside manner needed a little work- didn’t feel special at first- but then he absolutely went above and beyond when I had issues with nursing and finance office as we progressed through treatments. He even gave me his personal cell and reached out intermittently to check in.

Understand that you need to advocate for yourself and be just as blunt as Dr Schoolcraft

Essentially same protocol for both egg retrieval’s- he did up the medication for second protocol to “jump start” and then tapered off which worked better

$24 each retrieval/transfer if no insurance- we paid $8k for drugs and $15k for 2 retrieval’s/transfers after insurance claims

I loved that Dr was supportive of us only transplanting 1 embryo. He explained both scenarios - options- very thoroughly

We just love Dr. Schoolcraft. He is so trusting because he is blunt. He doesn't sugarcoat anything, which we appreciate. He is very intelligent and has been doing this forever. He is very kind and down to earth. He is very diligent and informative. He also lets you talk and ask all the questions you need to. We have felt very comfortable with him during a process that can be tough.

I would advise them to go to him. Put all your trust in him and CCRM.

We went to Dr. Schoolcraft after we had tried 3 IUI's and 2 FET with another clinic. So our treatment plan with Dr. Schoolcraft was to start with IVF. He ran a ton of test, blood work, genetic screening for both my husband and I and Embryo testing. He also prescribed me lupron depot to help with endometriosis which we had not done before either. They found my prolactin levels to be high so now I am on medicine to lower those. Our genetic screening for my husband and I both came back normal. Our embryo testing found only one of our 5 embryos the chromosome make up to be normal- so after our retrieval we were left with one day 6 embryo to transfer. Unfortunately that embryo didn't survive the thawing process. Here was my protocol- IVF Retrieval- midluteal Estrogen Patch Priming- Antagonist (protocol 3) Vivelle .1 mg patch every other day , Cetrotide/Ganirelix everyday until notified, menopur 2 vials A.M, 150 units Gonal pm + dexamethasone, add in cetrotid/ganirelixe am, trigger Novarel and lupron. IVF FET - Medication - Depot lupron 3.75 mg one month dose prior to start of transfer calendar, Birth control, Leuprolide acetate 2 week kit, estradiol patches .1 mg, low dose aspirin 81-83 mg, endometrin 100 mg, progesterone in oil 50 mg/ml, medrol/methylprednisolone 16 mg, doxycycline 100 mg Vivelle one patch every other day, lupron 5 units daily + Baby aspirin in crease vivelle to two patches every other day, continue increasing up to 4 patched every other day. Stop Lupron. Add Endometrin pm, medrol 16 mg, and docycline for 4 nights. Increase endometrin to twice a day start progesterone in oil 1ml every other day until transfer. After transfer- do not discontinue any medications that have been previously instructed. Unfortunately our embryo didn't survive the thawing process so we didn't really have a chance. We have a regroup with Dr. Schoolcraft not long ago and we are continuing to move forward. We will start coming up here soon. For this next IVF go round he has discussed changing my retreival protocol to protocol 5 "Luteal oral estrogen priming- extended clomid". We will be getting our calendar soon so then we will get an exact calendar.

IVF+ CCS+ FET= $22,181.40 Grand Total not including medicine Meds= about $6,000

Dr. Schoolcraft, in our particular case strongly recommended to transfer just one. We did only end up with one healthy embryo so we didn't have much of an option. We will find out what he thinks moving forward after our next retrieval.