CFA vent!!!

[Anonymous]

So far, the office has been good, and Dr. Sacks has been helpful, but I had awful experiences with both Dr. Rifka and Dr. Butler, and an concerned about moving forward with the office. Does anyone else have experience with the practice as a whole or insight into the other doctors?

[Anonymous]

i did 5 IVF cycles with CFA with no success and by the end was told all sorts of theories including that I had autoimmune issues that were keeping me from getting pregnant. I switched to another clinic and got pregnant on the first try there. I wish I could take back all the time and money I gave to CFA

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:i did 5 IVF cycles with CFA with no success and by the end was told all sorts of theories including that I had autoimmune issues that were keeping me from getting pregnant. I switched to another clinic and got pregnant on the first try there. I wish I could take back all the time and money I gave to CFA

I did four IVF cycles at CFA. First one resulted in BFP but later miscarried due to chromosome issues (no one's fault). But my follow up was botched, and I wasted tons of time and money on three more cycles. I finally switched to GW where Dr. F took a real interest in truly understanding what was going on instead of just pushing the same protool over and over. He found an issue requiring simple surgery, and I got pregnant on the first cycle I did with him (19 weeks today). On top of getting me pregnant after I had all but given up hope, GW offered supportive nursing staff and incredible financial/billing support in the embodiment of the amazing Brian. There is an alternative to CFA where nurses return your calls and emails quickly (and apologize if they don't) and the billing team knows what it's doing and doesn't make your life a living hell.

[Anonymous]

20:43, what clinic did you end up going to instead? I'm seeking a second opinion at CFA after 3 chemical pregnancies under SG's care, and part of the reason I'm going to them is having read on these boards that CFA is willing to dig a little deeper to understand what's going on. My fear, though, is that they'll diagnose an autoimmune issue, which seems rather iffy in the medical community, and push some sort of treatment that I'm not comfortable with.

[Anonymous]

I went to CFA and had the immunology testing done. My understanding is that Dr. Abbasi is the only one there who really buys into it. She works with the Alan Beer center to have the testing done.

You can actually do directly to them to do it. I ended up not being comfortable with their recommendations (LIT treatment in Mexico, which is banned in the US). We ended up going to see Dr. Kwak-Kim in Chicago who also treats autoimmune issues but does not recommend treatments banned in the US. I'm still a little iffy about whether it works but am willing to give it a try.

We also had communication and billing problems with CFA that made the cycles more stressful than necessary. We've since switched to Cornell and so far it's been relatively smooth even with the clinic being in another city.

[Anonymous]

I've had a pretty good experience at CFA in the Arlington office. I love my nurse, Tavia. I also like Dr. Sacks, but sometimes feel he's a little *too* laid back.

I like the other staff there, too (Sabrina and Andy). Everyone is always very nice & helpful. I have never had any communication issues.

[Anonymous]

Five failed cycles at CFA. Don't get me started on the billing nightmares. I stayed because I felt emotionally fried and incapable of starting over.

Finally did Second opinions at SIRM-Nj and Cornell. CFA kept blowing me off -"oh. We just need to find the right egg." Both REs at my second opinion were much more compassionate -and also seemed to have actual plans to get me pregnant. Funny enough, after four years of infertility, I got pregnant on my own before I could cycle at Cornell.

[Anonymous]

Two cycles at CFA and for the most part didn't have any of the issues prior posters had. Vanecia and Wendy were my main nurses and always got back to me by the end of the day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I've had a pretty good experience at CFA in the Arlington office. I love my nurse, Tavia. I also like Dr. Sacks, but sometimes feel he's a little *too* laid back.

I like the other staff there, too (Sabrina and Andy). Everyone is always very nice & helpful. I have never had any communication issues.

+1
I've never had any billing issues at the Arlington office.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So far, the office has been good, and Dr. Sacks has been helpful, but I had awful experiences with both Dr. Rifka and Dr. Butler, and an concerned about moving forward with the office. Does anyone else have experience with the practice as a whole or insight into the other doctors?

Dr. Sacks was my RE and I saw him the vast majority of the time. But Dr. Butler did one of my ETs and did my second u/s at 6 weeks pregnant. He was really nice to us both times and answered all questions, etc. I'm sorry you had a bad experience with him.

I had a couple frustrating moments there over 1.5 years but that entailed 5 clomid, 2.5 IUI (last canceled), 2 fresh IVFs and one FET and I think a couple bad days are to be expected. Overall, I felt really well cared for there and that it was always possible to get questions answered and when I had concerns they were heard. I had a couple billing problems upfront but they were always resolved with just a phone call or two.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:20:43, what clinic did you end up going to instead? I'm seeking a second opinion at CFA after 3 chemical pregnancies under SG's care, and part of the reason I'm going to them is having read on these boards that CFA is willing to dig a little deeper to understand what's going on. My fear, though, is that they'll diagnose an autoimmune issue, which seems rather iffy in the medical community, and push some sort of treatment that I'm not comfortable with.

They won't just diagnosis an autoimmune issue and only one of the doctors there routinely does this testing. If you have blood work done and are found to have an issue, then they will recommend potential treatments but if it's serious, likely in consult with a specialist outside of their office.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So far, the office has been good, and Dr. Sacks has been helpful, but I had awful experiences with both Dr. Rifka and Dr. Butler, and an concerned about moving forward with the office. Does anyone else have experience with the practice as a whole or insight into the other doctors?

I went to CFA for my first IUI, with Butler since he had openings in his schedule--and it was a hideous experience. He's incompetent, tested me for ovulation AFTER the IUI, based on an OPK, told me I hadn't ovulated, then tried to charge me for the blood test on top of everything else.

Over a thousand dollars wasted on consult, frozen sperm, and IUI. Office staff never knew what was going on.

I left right away and went to SG, then GW. Both were much more organized and straightforward, and with the exception of my first doctor at SG, I didn't doubt the competence at SG and GW.

I liked the fact that GW, as a teaching hospital, was open to change the protocol after a failed cycle, and we got 8 eggs instead of 2. If your case may have complicating factors such as immune or uterine, I would not go to SG--out of state is your best bet.

[Anonymous]

Sometimes they do test for ovulation afterwards to confirm that it did occur. This is obviously in addition to the more important testing done to estimate ovulation (trigger shot) prior to the IUI.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sometimes they do test for ovulation afterwards to confirm that it did occur. This is obviously in addition to the more important testing done to estimate ovulation (trigger shot) prior to the IUI.

I don't understand what you mean.

They can test to see if you have the trigger shot in your system. How would they test for ovulation before an IUI? Many doctors test your progesterone about a week after to make sure ovulation occurred. I have no idea what 14:20 means about an OPK kit. It would definitely strike me as odd if one was used by and RE to determine anything.

[Anonymous]

I moved from CFA to SG and have found SG to be worse with the exception of their billing dept, after 5 failed cycles (4 at CFA and 1 SGF) we need to give up or travel outside of DC.