DOR ladies: If you could choose, money no object-- Shady Grove, Dominion, or CCRM?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Davis at Cornell if it's your last shot

+1

If that's not an option I'd do CCRM. I'd also do a consult with Davis at Dominion for natural cycle.

Shady Grove is fine for cookie cutter IF. But I wouldn't go there for DOR.

Exactly.

Agree. If you're under 40 I think it's less of an issue if you can't do Cornell. Consider doing a consult with Davis at Cornell anyway, though - it's about $700, so even if not covered by your ins., relative to everything else, it's not so expensive. Natural cycle is much less expensive than any medicated cycle (and it's pro-rated if you don't get all the way to retrieval), so you can see if that could still be an option once you're insurance coverage is gone. I think PP probably meant DiMattina at Dominion.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Davis at Cornell if it's your last shot

+1

If that's not an option I'd do CCRM. I'd also do a consult with Davis at Dominion for natural cycle.

Shady Grove is fine for cookie cutter IF. But I wouldn't go there for DOR.

Exactly.

Agree. If you're under 40 I think it's less of an issue if you can't do Cornell. Consider doing a consult with Davis at Cornell anyway, though - it's about $700, so even if not covered by your ins., relative to everything else, it's not so expensive. Natural cycle is much less expensive than any medicated cycle (and it's pro-rated if you don't get all the way to retrieval), so you can see if that could still be an option once you're insurance coverage is gone. I think PP probably meant DiMattina at Dominion.

Oops - sorry, Gordon at Dominion.

[Anonymous]

I did Day 3 transfers at SG

[Anonymous]

I am 35 years old with DOR (similar stats to OP) and currently pregnant from an IUI at Shady Grove. My RE was Dr. Jeanne O'Brien in Rockville. I thought she was very knowledgeable. Although we didn't get to IVF, she definitely indicated during the first consult that if we went the IVF route she would do low stims as there's no point to high stims with DOR. I found Shady Grove to be very data-focused, which I liked. I came in super skeptical that I'd ever be able to get pregnant, and I found Dr. O'Brien to be reassuring and realistic at the same time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I did Day 3 transfers at SG

Wow. We kept asking for them after going to day 5 transfers and finding out nothing was left but the Dr would only say if it doesn't become a blast in the lab, it wasn't going to make it in your body. I haven't been there in a few years so maybe they changed. Or maybe, you went to a more flexible doctor. I never heard of them doing d3 transfers before now

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:CCRM with Dr. Payson. In fact we've now decided to go there again, after a not great experience at Shady Grove and radio silence from Dominion after liking Dr. Gordon (but the nurses don't pick up phones apparently?).

Does CCRM have a DC monitoring option? I am leaning toward them but having to go to Vienna/Tysons for monitoring to come back to DC for work is something that I would have to consider

I’ve been at this for awhile and the biggest thing I’ve learned is that distance or convenience should be the least important factor in choosing a clinic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:CCRM with Dr. Payson. In fact we've now decided to go there again, after a not great experience at Shady Grove and radio silence from Dominion after liking Dr. Gordon (but the nurses don't pick up phones apparently?).

Does CCRM have a DC monitoring option? I am leaning toward them but having to go to Vienna/Tysons for monitoring to come back to DC for work is something that I would have to consider

I’ve been at this for awhile and the biggest thing I’ve learned is that distance or convenience should be the least important factor in choosing a clinic.

Yes and no. I'm a hard case. I started very young and went to IVF immediately. I stayed local at many different clinics and now go out of state. But for easier cases, I think distance and convenience is important. Not spending hours dealing with incompetent billing or centers that make you come back after monitoring because they realized that you didn't sign consents reduces stress. If you are going back and forth a lot, having two hours each day devoted to monitoring vs upending your life for two weeks because you are going out of state is a huge deal. Most centers out here can deal with the easy and medium cases. The problem is knowing whether you are easy or hard.

[Anonymous]

Visited all 3 and chose Dominion, so far I have been happy.

[Anonymous]

Same STATS as you at age 34. Went on to have two babies while under care of Dr. Dimmatina at Dominion. Love that guy. He gets a bad rap on here, but he was great with me. No nonsense, but it is what it is.

First kid I got pregnant naturally after trying for years on our own and doing 3 IUIs. Dr. D still saw me as his patient. For my second kid, went straight to NC IVF which worked on the first try.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are a ton of threads asking this very question. You can use the search function in the forum. I would choose Widra at Shady Grove. He is straightforward, which some people like and other don't. Regardless, he will listen to you and discuss/explain options if you are researching a lot and have specific questions. I asked really dumb questions along the way and he was always patient and respectful despite that. I also considered him to be sympathetic and sensitive overall. He knows a lot about the industry and what other clinics do. He is not that involved during the monitoring, so you need to set up consults and follow-up consults for that. He will answer questions you send in through your nurse.

I have done consults with other REs who have reputations for being especially warm, great bedside manner, etc. and I didn't have that experience at all with them. I liked Widra much more and never left a consult feeling really upset or like my issues were dismissed.

So, given reactions vary from patient to patient, you may need to devote a bit more time to comparison shop to get a better sense which is the best fit.

I know folks don't like SG. I had a great experience with Widra as did my friend. I was 40-41 with fine (but not stellar numbers) and my friend was 42 with DOR. We both had babies. Widra is very smart. He knows what everyone is in the industry is doing. He is direct and numbers driven as am I. He also listened to me.

I think the takeaway is that I would do a consult with one or two doctors to see what your best fit is.

[Anonymous]

I would personally write SG off your list right now. They are not great with DOR.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would personally write SG off your list right now. They are not great with DOR.

Yah I'm getting that vibe. My insurance covers 4 cycles with PGS but my last retrieval I only got one egg and we transferred the embryo on Day 3 (GW).

So I just want to be very thorough in whether I choose Dominion or CCRM at this point. I'll prob do consults at both but still love hearing others' experiences.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In my experience, SG will only transfer embryos on day 5. If you have DOR, you will probably not have anything to transfer. Also, at least my old doctor at SG (can't speak for the whole practice) gave me very high doses to increase egg production. But the quality of these eggs were horrible. I was also in my twenties when I was at SG, so bad quality was not a function of age. Cornell and GW will both do day 3 transfers and will give you low doses of medicine.

I did Day 3 transfers at SG. I worked with Kate Devine. I was unsuccessful, but she suggested trying Day 3. She also wanted to try a "mini-stim," which I was happy about, but it involved high doses of Menopur. If I could do it all over, I would try CCRM (they weren't open yet when I was stimming). They are known for their success rates, getting more eggs, tweaking protocols, getting more blasts, and getting more normals.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In my experience, SG will only transfer embryos on day 5. If you have DOR, you will probably not have anything to transfer. Also, at least my old doctor at SG (can't speak for the whole practice) gave me very high doses to increase egg production. But the quality of these eggs were horrible. I was also in my twenties when I was at SG, so bad quality was not a function of age. Cornell and GW will both do day 3 transfers and will give you low doses of medicine.

I did Day 3 transfers at SG. I worked with Kate Devine. I was unsuccessful, but she suggested trying Day 3. She also wanted to try a "mini-stim," which I was happy about, but it involved high doses of Menopur. If I could do it all over, I would try CCRM (they weren't open yet when I was stimming). They are known for their success rates, getting more eggs, tweaking protocols, getting more blasts, and getting more normals.

What do you consider high doses of Menopur and why are you against them?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In my experience, SG will only transfer embryos on day 5. If you have DOR, you will probably not have anything to transfer. Also, at least my old doctor at SG (can't speak for the whole practice) gave me very high doses to increase egg production. But the quality of these eggs were horrible. I was also in my twenties when I was at SG, so bad quality was not a function of age. Cornell and GW will both do day 3 transfers and will give you low doses of medicine.

Were you successful?