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Dr Frankfurter - SAVED MY LIFE!
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Anonymous
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I wasted an entire YEAR on fertility "treatment" at Dominion Fertility. Two IUIs and two IVF - and NOTHING. no reason, just wash, rinse, repeat the SAME PROTOCOL. ok, maybe it was just me, right?
On my last IVF retrieval, Dominion aspirated a "cyst" and sent it to get analyzed. Negative pregnancy test and never heard another thing about the cyst or the results. We thought we should give up (especially on Dominion). it was hard to give up the dream of becoming a parent, so I went for a 2nd opinion at GWU/Dr. Frankfurter. He was SO SO thorough. Our consultation was over THREE HOURS (I kid you not). That meeting alone was more time spent with him than the entire year with Drs at Dominion. We then decided to go for it. Dr. F. was so caring and compassionate. My insurance covered it, so why not? Well, that decision saved my life. On day 1 of monitoring, he found a cyst. I said, oh, I had that before (see above). He said, well let's just see how bloodwork looks today. Long story short - ordered MRI. Cyst looked "funky". Consult with gynecologist oncologist. Surgery needed. Lost 40% of my ovary and i have OVARIAN CANCER! i now have to undergo chemo. Silver lining? well - there are several. but i had severe scar tissue around my uterus from a surgery done in my teens (in my abdomen) that was causing infertility. so the embryos couldn't possibly stick. WHICH I ASKED DOMINION ABOUT and I got blown off. So, THANK YOU DR. FRANKFURTER. your specialized care saved my life. without you, this would have been found much too late. |
Anonymous
| Sounds like a miserable road you've been on, but glad to hear that you are on the road to recovery! |
Anonymous
| Make sure that you inform Dominion of your diagnosis. Ovarian cancer is so hard to find early and they are in a great position to diagnosis it but really missed this opportunity. GL |
Anonymous
Why do I need to let Dominion know? |
Anonymous
| OP, I am in the same situation as you are - two failed IUIs and two failed IVFs at Dominion. Now have a cyst too after a failed cycle. I brought it up to one of the doctor's attention and he shrugged it off. I am about to leave Dominion because I don't feel like I will succeed with them (I don't buy the explanation "We don't know or it might be your eggs" when perfect looking embryos don't stick). I might try GWU, so thank you for your post. |
Anonymous
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Good luck OP, hope all goes well and that you recover quickly.
FWIW, I've been with GWU, and I've been very happy with my care there as well. |
Anonymous
So they can learn from it and hopefully be more careful in the future. It could help save another life. |
Anonymous
| I too had a great experience with Dr F -- he is really great. Spends a lot of time thinking about his patients. |
Anonymous
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Most ovarian cysts are NOT cancerous. That is probably why the OP did not get an accurate diagnosis- Not that it is an excuse to have missed it!
I think Frankfurter is a great doctorkind person, too, but I switched to another practice because I did not like that the other 2 doctors in the practice did my procedures when he was the doctor I signed up with. |
Anonymous
| OP, What a story. So glad you found such a competent doctor and diagnosis. I assume you are quite young to be getting ovarian cancer. Did they suspect it was connected to fertility treatments? I have a grandmother that died from ovarian cancer, and I'm already worried that doing four Chlomid IUIs and one IVF this year will expose me to greater risk. |
Anonymous
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to 16.17
That is why I switched practices, too! |
Anonymous
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to 16.17
That is why I switched practices, too! |
Anonymous
Agree, and would request the first pathology report which should be in your medical record at Dominion. How much time passed between the first and second analysis? Your quest to have a baby saved your life also! |
Anonymous
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OP here
I guess I'm kind of young (39) for ovarian cancer. My last IVF cycle was in the fall. Second opinion with Dr. Frankfurter was in late winter/early spring. In that sort amount of time a cancerous cyst developed. They didn't say the drugs caused it, but I believe the drugs accelerated the cancer. Pumping myself full of drugs and over stimulating my ovaries certainly didn't help the situation. I had a full batch of fertility drugs that I didn't plan on using. Brought them to Shady Grove. Hopefully it made some other family's dream come true! |
Anonymous
OP, you are a kind person to still think of others after all of this (good for karma). Good luck to you. |