Anyone using Dr Preston Sacks at Columbia Fertility?
![[Post New]](/jforum/templates/default/images/icon_minipost_new.gif){kind=icon}
Anonymous
| Love CFA! Great experience w/ Abbasi & Rifka. NO problem w/ nurses. In fact, love them, too. |
Anonymous
Yes, I had a baby at 42 and saw Dr. Sacks. I got pregnant at 41 and had the baby at 42. I can't recall my exact protocol, but I think I started with Lupron, then was on Gonal F and Menapur (not sure how to spell that) for about 10 days until I got the trigger shot. It worked for me. Best of luck to you!! |
Anonymous
| Yes, I had a baby at 42 as well, and also saw Dr. Sacks. I did IUIs (lots and lots of IUIs). I got pregnant at 41 and had the baby last week. |
Anonymous
| This thread is making me more hopeful because I may have to switch to IVF. I'd love to stick with CFA if I make that move, but I wish they had more payment options like Shady Grove does. |
Anonymous
They may still have their Sweetheart Deal. I think if you are a self-pay, you pay for 2 IVF cycles and if those don't work, the third one is free (except for meds). |
Anonymous
|
They do still have that, true. But the sweetheart deal, if I were to need all three rounds, is a minimum $18,800+cost of meds (maybe another $10K?) Plus extra costs for ICSI, embryo freezing, etc.
$30K is still a lot, for me. If I could get into a study at Shady Grove there's the potential to pay much less. (But that's also a big if.) |
Anonymous
| The most recent IVF study that SG advertised did not seem like a boon AT ALL. It said they pay partially for meds (it sounded like not much) and free PGD testing, and that was it. It looked like the value or discount was minimal. Did not seem worth it. |
Anonymous
| I love SG and that's where I am, but don't forget - these guys are big business. They are raking in the dough. And SG won't allow you to participate in programs where it may not work for them, i.e. we were not approved for shared risk. We were approved for multi-cycle discount, so we got half off the 2nd cycle if we paid in advance. We asked if we would be able to go straight to cycle 2 if we had Frozen Embryos and they basically said no, that you have to use the fresh/frozen before you can move on, as that is how they make their money. You have to take all the programs with a grain of salt. It's not an easier way to pay if you have to pay for a cycle you never get to use. Of course - that's great news, right, but still. I just finished cycle 1 and it was a big fat fail, so now we get cycle 2 at the discount. But if I had gotten pregnant, cycle 2 goes away, as does the additional $6000. |
Anonymous
| We did Shady Grove and then Dr Sacks. Successful with both but I would take Dr Sacks any day over SG. |
Anonymous
|
There's another study underway that is $5500 for IVF + ICSI. (It may be full now, though; there were only 12 slots.) Because SG sees so many patients, there are a lot of studies going on at that place. But you have to call and ask about them, and some may be restricted to a particular group, or whatever. So it's worth checking these things out. I was told that if I don't meet the requirements for that study (they weren't sure if they would get additonal slots or not, and it seems to have fairly rigorous medical requirements) that there's another one starting up next year.
I do get that SG is raking in plenty of $$$, though, and you have to take all their discount programs with a grain of salt. But since I'm paying out of pocket, I have to shop around. |
Anonymous
And just to add: if I do have to go through IVF, I'll just lay out my money situation for CFA, tell them I'm considering Shady Grove, and see what they can do to keep me as a customer. I have no shame!  If they have free meds or some other ways to assist that I'm not aware of, I will happily take advantage of that.
But let's just hope my next IUI works. (#4) |
Anonymous
| Dr. Sacks is the best. After an ectopic pregnancy (where I lost a tube) & a miscarriage, we went to him for a fertility workup. After preliminary testing he counseled us to wait 6 months to see if we could get pregnant again. Sure enough at the 5 month mark, we ended up having a pregnancy that finally stuck and have our DD now. |
Anonymous
| I have a quick question for the ladies that got pregnant at 42 with Dr. Sacks. How many cycles die you undergo before the successful one? I just found out that my fifth is a big fat negative. Thanks for you feedback ladies. I really appreciate this. |
Anonymous
I did 3 IUIs and then switched to IVF. Got pregnant on my first IVF. I was 41 when I got pregnant and 42 when I had my baby. |
Anonymous
| Do you remember the protocol you were on? |