Unexplained Infertility IVF Success_What Clinic Did You Use?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:**Disclaimer** We haven't done a transfer yet, so I don't actually have a baby. But our first/only retrieval cycle was successful.

I am 36 and significantly overweight, but have no health issues (blood sugar/A1C, blood pressure, etc. all fine). CCRM and GW weren't willing to go forward with an egg retrieval until my BMI was significantly lower. Columbia Fertility Associates didn't have a problem going forward right away. I don't have DOR, I ovulate, and have regular periods (30-33 days). My husband has slightly low morphology, but not so low that they were willing to say we had male factor. We were diagnosed as unexplained.

My response to the stim meds was textbook. Retrieved 15 eggs, 14 were mature. 8 fertilized, and all 8 made it to blast. 6 out of the 8 were PGS normal. We plan to do a transfer early in the new year after I've lost a bit more weight. (I'm 35 pounds down since April.) We worked with Dr. Sacks, and were really pleased.

Overall how did you find going through this process with CFA? We are currently working with Dr. Sacks but doing IUIs, trying to consider what our options would be if we go to IVF. It has been very challenging for us as we went to CFA thinking we could have monitoring done at their Arlington office and now we are told it is hit or miss when there will be a doctor in the Arlington office. Was the decision to wait to do the transfer yours, or Dr. Sacks?

We had a similar experience - planning to have most of our monitoring done at the Arlington office, only to find out that most of the monitoring would have to be done in DC. For me, that wasn't a huge deal because I come into DC every day for work. It was annoying...but the whole process is annoying....so....whatever. Honestly...I found working with CFA to be FAR better than other reports on DCUM and elsewhere. Their back office/billing staff were helpful and basically worked seamlessly with our insurance (which, thankfully, covered pretty much everything - we're very fortunate). (This is something that CCRM NoVA really screwed up for our initial testing, by the way.) I found Dr. Sacks to be compassionate. Waiting to do the transfer was our decision, not his. He would have done an FET right away (or the next cycle) if we'd have asked, given that my blood work/blood pressure/other health indicators are otherwise good. He just recommended that I remain on a Mediterranean diet throughout the pregnancy - which I'm doing already.

OP here. Do you mind letting me know how transfer at CFA goes?
I thought I could have gone to the Arlington office too. But I went there for my IUI monitorings and they had to call the doctor from DC asking what I was doing there. They almost attempted to draw my blood for some random infectious diseases testing that day. I just worried if they are that chaotic, would they mess up my eggs, sperms, embryos with someone else's. ?

At least their billing has been fine. I was tempted by Shared Risk and the fact they have much closer office. But it took us over a year fighting SG for things that covered by insurance because they submitted the wrong codes.

That is my fear. I noticed that none of the charting seems to be electronic at CFA, so I question their ability to communicate seamlessly with their different locations in a time constrained environment. The other thing I find challenging is that the nurses primarily respond to messages (at least to me so far) at the end of the day between 2-4, so you receive a message from them at 2-something and you have a question back and need to call or e-mail them back, it is very difficult getting them to respond same day without multiple attempts. Again, I'm in an IUI cycle right now but I would imagine this would be exacerbated in an IVF cycle.

[Anonymous]

Unexplained dx here. The only parameter that was a little off was sperm but still classified as "unexplained." I tried several medicated IUIs with CFA and none of them worked- 7 because paid one our of pocket and insurance covered 6. I was successful with IVF at Shady Grove in Rockville, Dr. Chang. By the time I got to IVF I and finally primed for retrieval, I was 38! I did 2 retrievals and will be forever grateful that Dr. Chang really pushed for PGS testing. The embryos that made it to Day 5 testing in the first batch all looked "fantastic" but ALL 4 were abnormal. It was gut wrenching but if I would have transferred them it would have been guaranteed miscarriages all year...if they had even taken. (I forget the specific abnormalities; it wasn't anything like Downs but the more serious/most common in miscarriages.) Anyway, 2 from the 2nd batch were normal and the first transfer worked. I have a wonderful child and another potential child in the freezer. My son was born a month after I turned 39 so I wish I had started the process sooner and had not viewed IVF as a failing. We lost years to it. Every case is different but I had a great experience with IVF w/PGS and single embryo transfer.

On a completely different note, I originally went to CFA in DC because a friend recommended a doctor but it didn't work, the doc was super friendly but not worried/aggresive. The waiting room was dirty (one day a child literally vomited) and the staff was not very organized. I switch to SGF in Rockville because it was literally down the street from my job and it was so clean, organized, and no children allowed in the waiting room (much more peaceful) and while Dr. Chang wasn't super friendly or optimistic when I first met him, he became more friendly and more importantly, I have a child. Best wishes to you!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:**Disclaimer** We haven't done a transfer yet, so I don't actually have a baby. But our first/only retrieval cycle was successful.

I am 36 and significantly overweight, but have no health issues (blood sugar/A1C, blood pressure, etc. all fine). CCRM and GW weren't willing to go forward with an egg retrieval until my BMI was significantly lower. Columbia Fertility Associates didn't have a problem going forward right away. I don't have DOR, I ovulate, and have regular periods (30-33 days). My husband has slightly low morphology, but not so low that they were willing to say we had male factor. We were diagnosed as unexplained.

My response to the stim meds was textbook. Retrieved 15 eggs, 14 were mature. 8 fertilized, and all 8 made it to blast. 6 out of the 8 were PGS normal. We plan to do a transfer early in the new year after I've lost a bit more weight. (I'm 35 pounds down since April.) We worked with Dr. Sacks, and were really pleased.

Overall how did you find going through this process with CFA? We are currently working with Dr. Sacks but doing IUIs, trying to consider what our options would be if we go to IVF. It has been very challenging for us as we went to CFA thinking we could have monitoring done at their Arlington office and now we are told it is hit or miss when there will be a doctor in the Arlington office. Was the decision to wait to do the transfer yours, or Dr. Sacks?

We had a similar experience - planning to have most of our monitoring done at the Arlington office, only to find out that most of the monitoring would have to be done in DC. For me, that wasn't a huge deal because I come into DC every day for work. It was annoying...but the whole process is annoying....so....whatever. Honestly...I found working with CFA to be FAR better than other reports on DCUM and elsewhere. Their back office/billing staff were helpful and basically worked seamlessly with our insurance (which, thankfully, covered pretty much everything - we're very fortunate). (This is something that CCRM NoVA really screwed up for our initial testing, by the way.) I found Dr. Sacks to be compassionate. Waiting to do the transfer was our decision, not his. He would have done an FET right away (or the next cycle) if we'd have asked, given that my blood work/blood pressure/other health indicators are otherwise good. He just recommended that I remain on a Mediterranean diet throughout the pregnancy - which I'm doing already.

OP here. Do you mind letting me know how transfer at CFA goes?
I thought I could have gone to the Arlington office too. But I went there for my IUI monitorings and they had to call the doctor from DC asking what I was doing there. They almost attempted to draw my blood for some random infectious diseases testing that day. I just worried if they are that chaotic, would they mess up my eggs, sperms, embryos with someone else's. ?

At least their billing has been fine. I was tempted by Shared Risk and the fact they have much closer office. But it took us over a year fighting SG for things that covered by insurance because they submitted the wrong codes.

I will definitely report back. To be clear, CFA wasn't my first choice. I would have gone with Payson at CCRM NoVA if he'd have been able to do an egg retrieval at my higher BMI. (He said that he tried, but the practice wouldn't allow it.) But I'll also note that CCRM was actually MORE disorganized than CFA! (At least when it came to billing and dealing with insurance. They billed all of my initial screening tests as if they were a part of an IVF cycle, which would have eaten into our lifetime ART max. THEN they had to file a revision on our behalf and resubmit everything. I was displeased....but it all ended up being fine eventually.)

Anyway...we have been lucky so far. Fingers crossed that luck continues with the transfer. But I'm happy to be a lone voice in the wilderness that sings CFA's praises. For our relatively easy case (thus far), they met our needs very well.

[Anonymous]

I know three people that have had success at CFA! Good luck!

[Anonymous]

After being at Shady Grove and CFA, we finally had success (twice!) at SIRM in NYC

[Anonymous]

OP again.
For those who did it out of state, how did you do it? Took 3 week off work and stayed in a hotel there? Took a night bus and came back next morning? Did monitorings at one clinic and had the actual procedure at another clinic?

[Anonymous]

Unexplained dx as well and perfect bill of health. I had success with GW and the first IVF cycle (frozen transfer) worked after 3 IUIs. We didn't test any embryos though and never found out what was wrong although sometimes I wonder if it was a fertilization concern.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP again.
For those who did it out of state, how did you do it? Took 3 week off work and stayed in a hotel there? Took a night bus and came back next morning? Did monitorings at one clinic and had the actual procedure at another clinic?

I’m the poster that ended up at SIRM in NYC. During my cycle, I did local monitoring at SG. When it got closer to retrieval time, I’d go up to NYC via train or bus for the days that my doctor needed to see me. When I transferred, I could have also done a day trip, but decided to get a hotel room in the city to spend the night and take it easy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP again.
For those who did it out of state, how did you do it? Took 3 week off work and stayed in a hotel there? Took a night bus and came back next morning? Did monitorings at one clinic and had the actual procedure at another clinic?

I’m the poster that ended up at SIRM in NYC. During my cycle, I did local monitoring at SG. When it got closer to retrieval time, I’d go up to NYC via train or bus for the days that my doctor needed to see me. When I transferred, I could have also done a day trip, but decided to get a hotel room in the city to spend the night and take it easy.

The other thing is, at SIRM in NYC they do their monitoring appointments throughout the whole day, so there was never a rush to be up there first thing in the morning.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP again.
For those who did it out of state, how did you do it? Took 3 week off work and stayed in a hotel there? Took a night bus and came back next morning? Did monitorings at one clinic and had the actual procedure at another clinic?

I’m the poster that ended up at SIRM in NYC. During my cycle, I did local monitoring at SG. When it got closer to retrieval time, I’d go up to NYC via train or bus for the days that my doctor needed to see me. When I transferred, I could have also done a day trip, but decided to get a hotel room in the city to spend the night and take it easy.

Did SG agree to just do monitoring and send results over to other clinics? Or do I have to do it behind their back (like, booking a cycle treatment but stopping before retrieval time)?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP again.
For those who did it out of state, how did you do it? Took 3 week off work and stayed in a hotel there? Took a night bus and came back next morning? Did monitorings at one clinic and had the actual procedure at another clinic?

Went up on CD2 and stayed until transfer. DH came up for the retrieval and then stayed until 3d transfer.

It was a freakishly short cycle so just around 2 weeks total.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP again.
For those who did it out of state, how did you do it? Took 3 week off work and stayed in a hotel there? Took a night bus and came back next morning? Did monitorings at one clinic and had the actual procedure at another clinic?

Went up on CD2 and stayed until transfer. DH came up for the retrieval and then stayed until 3d transfer.

It was a freakishly short cycle so just around 2 weeks total.

Sorry - went up on CD5. Started local monitoring on CD2.