Getting ready to start IVF at Shady Grove-- best option or other suggestions?

[Anonymous]

Another reason to go with SG if you are using a donor egg is they have one of the largest donor databases. We went through IVF at SG using donor eggs and we were glad to have had a wide variety of donors to select from. In the end, we felt like we ended up with the perfect donor for us. Indeed there were 2 who we thought were equally great for us and we selected the one who we thought had the better background story that we could one day tell our child. Nice to have had that option!

In terms of questions to ask SG, I would suggest asking about the difference in success rates using fresh eggs vs frozen eggs. Fresh has a slightly higher success rate, but, you may find your perfect donor match in their frozen egg database. Just something to be aware of before going the frozen route.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Dr. Frankfurter at GWU is recommended a lot on these boards. He's very thorough, I'd probably get one consult from him just to get information on which protocol he would recommend for your case.

GW is NOT the place to go for DE. I think that's pretty well established. Current SG patient for DE--I've been at other clinics in DC and NJ.
The DE shared risk is the best option out there, financially. Stay tuned if it actually works!

OP is 41. She will not be able to do shared risk.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Dr. Frankfurter at GWU is recommended a lot on these boards. He's very thorough, I'd probably get one consult from him just to get information on which protocol he would recommend for your case.

GW is NOT the place to go for DE. I think that's pretty well established. Current SG patient for DE--I've been at other clinics in DC and NJ.
The DE shared risk is the best option out there, financially. Stay tuned if it actually works!

OP is 41. She will not be able to do shared risk.

No, not for her OE. But yes for DE, which is what she's talking about.
You most certainly can do shared risk at 41 for DE -- doing it now at SG as a 42-year-old.

[Anonymous]

I did shared risk DE at SG and had a good experience. I was successful on my second try. Good luck!!!

[Anonymous]

SG overstimulates the donors and nothing is a guarantee.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you are willing to drive a little further south I would recommend Dominion Fertility. They have a Bethesda office and the donor egg coordinator, Natalie is amazing and so utterly helpful.
I tried SG and it was really rough-no call backs, changing scheduled treatments or medicines at the last minute. No FREAKING way I want to be treated like that while on hormones.
Good luck, OP.

Thank you, I will check them out. Do you know if their guarantee program price is comparable to Shady Grove?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm with Dr. Bromer and I really feel he is one of the best, if not the best, RE that Shady Grove has. If he can't get you pregnant, it probably can't be done.

This is good to know, thanks!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Dr. Frankfurter at GWU is recommended a lot on these boards. He's very thorough, I'd probably get one consult from him just to get information on which protocol he would recommend for your case.

GW is NOT the place to go for DE. I think that's pretty well established. Current SG patient for DE--I've been at other clinics in DC and NJ.
The DE shared risk is the best option out there, financially. Stay tuned if it actually works!

Wishing you lots of luck~!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think a shared risk program is a very smart move. I did the own egg one with Sg, had success first round but had no regrets. What I like about shared risk is, if it doesn't work out, you can put that money towards adoption. Sg can feel impersonal, but they know their stuff and have high success. You may feel like your on an assembly line at times. For your monitoring period, you will need bloodwork/scans everyday, so you need to make some living arrangements that allow you to stay for a couple weeks nearby and/or telework or use vacation time. Good luck!

Thank you. My understanding is I can mostly be monitored at my local facility. I don't mind that it's impersonal as long as it gets results.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm in my late 40s and have done IVF with SG using a donor egg. We were in the shared risk program. No regrets. We were lucky to get pregnant during our first round of IVF. While that means we will have paid more for the process than if we were not in shared risk, the fact is that we had to make a decision without the benefit of hindsight. We had figured out that if we had to go thru more than 2 cycles (a possibility given our medical issues) we would be out-of-pocket more than if we got pregnant in the first round. Frankly, if we weren't going to have success, we didn't want to be out all of that money. So, basically, I too think the shared risk program is a smart option.

If using a donor egg, some questions you might want to ask are the following:

I) What are the success rates using 3:1 split, 2:1 split, or no split. Basically, in shared risk, you can choose to receive 100% of the donor's eggs, or you can split them with 1 or 2 other persons. The price you pay in shared risk is lower if you split but the number of eggs is not necessarily less and thus the success rates are not dramatically different. I believe, but you'll have to ask, that donors with a higher number of follicles get put into the 3:1 program whereas donors with fewer follicles get put in the 2:1 program. But, if you are the first person to select a donor, you can upgrade them from the 3:1 to the 2:1 or 1:1. (However, the reverse is not true - you cannot take a 1:1 donor and make them a 3:1 donor.)

II) what kind of testing do donors go through? Lots.

III). Ask them to give you the temp password for their donor database and start looking ASAP to get a feel for what kind of donors they have and how quickly or slowly certain donors are selected. The temp password will give you access to most data on each donor.

Good luck!

Thanks so much, this is very helpful. They did talk to me some about splitting and from what I was told the success rates don't vary much but I will ask for that data again. They did also tell me about the testing they do, which I found impressive. We plan to do genetic testing on my husband as well. I have checked out the database with a temp password and was surprised by how much info they provide on their donors.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Another reason to go with SG if you are using a donor egg is they have one of the largest donor databases. We went through IVF at SG using donor eggs and we were glad to have had a wide variety of donors to select from. In the end, we felt like we ended up with the perfect donor for us. Indeed there were 2 who we thought were equally great for us and we selected the one who we thought had the better background story that we could one day tell our child. Nice to have had that option!

In terms of questions to ask SG, I would suggest asking about the difference in success rates using fresh eggs vs frozen eggs. Fresh has a slightly higher success rate, but, you may find your perfect donor match in their frozen egg database. Just something to be aware of before going the frozen route.

Great insight, thank you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Dr. Bromer is great. I had a successful IVF with him.

That's wonderful to hear!

[Anonymous]

I did DE at DF and was successful on my 2nd transfer. We did not do a guarantee program. We were able to pick a young donor who had previously donated.
We basically hit the jackpot with more fertilized eggs than I will ever know what to do with! We did opt for genetic testing on 15 of the embryos that made it out and froze the rest. Of the 15, 11 were normal.
May have spent 30k (?) out of pocket for the donor fees and clinical monitoring and another 5k for the 2nd FET that resulted in our success (first transfer is included in their price).

[Anonymous]

Dominion has a shared risk program as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Dominion has a shared risk program as well.

OP lives in WV and it would be a long drive to go the Bethesda office. Monitoring would be hard.