Dr. Widra or Dr. Levy? SG Rockville or DC?

[Anonymous]

So my experience with Dr Widra was that he was slow to make any changes to protocol. I basically had push him several times to makes changes:
1) increase my medication
I always found it odd that he provided my whole schedule up front, like he never wanted to bother with looking at my IVF cycle. An example of his lack of interest, my first cycle with him after my first child, I noticed that my follicle count seemed to be less than it had with previous two IVF cycles.
I called him a couple of times during the cycle to express my concerns. He basically blew me off. When we ended up with no blasts, he increased my dosage the next cycle and we ended up with three blasts. However, if he had listened to me previously then I would not have wasted the time nor the money, and I would have had better results.
2) frozen blast transfer with PGD
I had asked about doing frozen egg transfer with PGD given my age 40 because I had read it had higher success rates. Also I had previously experienced a miscarriage, and I wanted to reduce the chances of miscarriage. He told me it was not necessary. Finally after two cycles which failed, and one cycle he transferred two blasts when my progesterone was too high. He agreed.
After feeling like I was constantly chasing him down and doing all my own research, I switched to Dr Levens. He tried a completely different protocol that actually works well for woman over 40. It consists of Lupron. I went from getting 13 eggs during the initial transfer to 22 eggs. And I went from getting 1 to 2 blasts to 3 to 4 blasts. I was also transferring earlier in the cycle. I am pregnant and waiting, but I wish I had not waited so late to switch to Dr Levens. Just remember time is not on your side with fertility, and making sure your doctor listens to you and you feel like he is bringing his best to the table is super important. I found Dr Levens through my acupuncturist who had said that she had clients who had very positive results with him. And she had heard not great things about Widra. I am perplexed how anyone could have a great experience with Widra if you have anything beyond a simple case.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So my experience with Dr Widra was that he was slow to make any changes to protocol. I basically had push him several times to makes changes:
1) increase my medication
I always found it odd that he provided my whole schedule up front, like he never wanted to bother with looking at my IVF cycle. An example of his lack of interest, my first cycle with him after my first child, I noticed that my follicle count seemed to be less than it had with previous two IVF cycles.
I called him a couple of times during the cycle to express my concerns. He basically blew me off. When we ended up with no blasts, he increased my dosage the next cycle and we ended up with three blasts. However, if he had listened to me previously then I would not have wasted the time nor the money, and I would have had better results.
2) frozen blast transfer with PGD
I had asked about doing frozen egg transfer with PGD given my age 40 because I had read it had higher success rates. Also I had previously experienced a miscarriage, and I wanted to reduce the chances of miscarriage. He told me it was not necessary. Finally after two cycles which failed, and one cycle he transferred two blasts when my progesterone was too high. He agreed.
After feeling like I was constantly chasing him down and doing all my own research, I switched to Dr Levens. He tried a completely different protocol that actually works well for woman over 40. It consists of Lupron. I went from getting 13 eggs during the initial transfer to 22 eggs. And I went from getting 1 to 2 blasts to 3 to 4 blasts. I was also transferring earlier in the cycle. I am pregnant and waiting, but I wish I had not waited so late to switch to Dr Levens. Just remember time is not on your side with fertility, and making sure your doctor listens to you and you feel like he is bringing his best to the table is super important. I found Dr Levens through my acupuncturist who had said that she had clients who had very positive results with him. And she had heard not great things about Widra. I am perplexed how anyone could have a great experience with Widra if you have anything beyond a simple case.

I had a similar experience with Widra. I felt like zero thought was given to any adjustments, and had the poorest cycle with him out of several that I've done. He is too busy and blew off my concerns and requests for changes in protocol saying that the poor result was due to my age (41).

PP, what type of lupron protocol were you on with Dr. Levens? I'd be very interested to try that.

[Anonymous]

I liked Dr. Levy.

[Anonymous]

My experience with Dr. Widra was very different than the last few posters. I posted about him a few years ago in a thread about high BMI at Shady Grove. He was extremely sensitive about all of that and other problems with my treatment. Can see why people think he is blunt - it's just his style to be quick and straightforward. I still thought he was very respectful and passed my ultra-sensitive feminist radar for interpersonal communications.

If you have specific questions, send them through the nurse in writing and ask her to forward them to him. Or -- and this is key -- schedule a consult to go over a failed cycle, he will go over concerns in more detail and consider adjustments. He is very smart so wouldn't think it's in prospective patients' interest to read this thread and avoid him.

I agree that it's difficult to "negotiate" specific adjustments mid-cycle. If he is out of town during the cycle, other doctors might be reviewing your charts. That is the way it is at SG with everyone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My experience with Dr. Widra was very different than the last few posters. I posted about him a few years ago in a thread about high BMI at Shady Grove. He was extremely sensitive about all of that and other problems with my treatment. Can see why people think he is blunt - it's just his style to be quick and straightforward. I still thought he was very respectful and passed my ultra-sensitive feminist radar for interpersonal communications.

If you have specific questions, send them through the nurse in writing and ask her to forward them to him. Or -- and this is key -- schedule a consult to go over a failed cycle, he will go over concerns in more detail and consider adjustments. He is very smart so wouldn't think it's in prospective patients' interest to read this thread and avoid him.

I agree that it's difficult to "negotiate" specific adjustments mid-cycle. If he is out of town during the cycle, other doctors might be reviewing your charts. That is the way it is at SG with everyone.

A few years ago he was not the medical director of the practice. I think with that title came more demand and duties.

I am one of the PPs, of course I scheduled a follow up appointment after a failed cycle, during which he blew off my concerns, seemed to be miffed that I got tested for MTHFR elsewhere, said that my age is the problem and the only adjustment to protocol he offered was higher doses of meds, that's it, no budging on anything else (extra testing, any other protocols). I was very oversupressed by BCP despite not being DOR, and spent 8 (yes, eight) days on cetrotide because he started it too early. Since then I had a cycle on a different protocol with half the stim meds, and double the M2 eggs that fertilized normally, all this being even older than I was when I was with him. To me, what he is doing is lazy.

[Anonymous]

Having a discussion with you and then disagreeing with your suggestion, particularly when you aren't a medical professional, is "lazy"? Good to know how the word is being used here.

I'm sure it feels great that the other doctor chose a protocol that worked better for you.

I think many of us who have had a lot of experience with IVF cycles appreciate a lot about the choice of protocol is guesswork (especially initially), luck, and ultimately success comes with the ability (financially, physically, emotionally) to keep going with more cycles.

You can go through thread after thread here and find people love the doctor they were successful with and loathe any doctor with which their treatment was unsuccessful.

[Anonymous]

I also was not happy with my recent experiences with Dr. Widra. It was hard to get in touch with him, and I felt like all he wanted to do was the same thing over and over again that did not work. Since you don't see your doctor very often, I would recommend choosing a doctor in a different location, and then just doing all of your monitoring at K St if that is convenient. I have heard good things about Dr. Doyle and Dr. Levens.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Having a discussion with you and then disagreeing with your suggestion, particularly when you aren't a medical professional, is "lazy"? Good to know how the word is being used here.

I'm sure it feels great that the other doctor chose a protocol that worked better for you.

I think many of us who have had a lot of experience with IVF cycles appreciate a lot about the choice of protocol is guesswork (especially initially), luck, and ultimately success comes with the ability (financially, physically, emotionally) to keep going with more cycles.

You can go through thread after thread here and find people love the doctor they were successful with and loathe any doctor with which their treatment was unsuccessful.

I am the quoted PP. I am not a medical professional but I had 2 second opinions from medical professionals, so it's not like my suggestions were a personal whim. He readily chalked up the failure to age which after switching to a different protocol and practice turned out not to be age. Not being willing to change anything after a failed protocol or have a nuanced discussion about it is lazy, yes, I stand by that statement. There was no explanation as to "I think this protocol is the best for you despite failure for XYZ reasons", or "the protocol you're asking about is not optimal for you because you have ACBD in your hormonal profile". At how much it costs, I expect something like that, not a flat out "No."

[Anonymous]

Maybe it's lazy for the patient in that situation not to respond "I'm not comfortable continuing without a more detailed explanation of the reasoning regarding these options and your decision."

I highly doubt he would refuse to offer reasons.

I have done many "second opinion" consults regarding IVF options. It's a competitive, profitable industry and these REs always find fault with the last failed cycle.

I get it, you blame Widra and for some reason that's not so clear there was a communication problem.

Based on others' experiences I've read about here and mine, I think other patients will be able to work well with him.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Maybe it's lazy for the patient in that situation not to respond "I'm not comfortable continuing without a more detailed explanation of the reasoning regarding these options and your decision."

I highly doubt he would refuse to offer reasons.

I have done many "second opinion" consults regarding IVF options. It's a competitive, profitable industry and these REs always find fault with the last failed cycle.

I get it, you blame Widra and for some reason that's not so clear there was a communication problem.

Based on others' experiences I've read about here and mine, I think other patients will be able to work well with him.

Lazy on the patient's part? Give PP a break. Recognize the position of authority and higher knowledge that the docs are in. We see them as "experts" and it is very difficult to challenge someone in that position when you're really sitting there in that moment. I've been there. It's hard enough for most people to be assertive and to propose new ideas on your own in that dynamic, but when you've done it and then those are shot down by the expert, the door is not really open to push harder. It's very difficult to be in a position of questioning a doc's expertise. It sounds simple on paper but can very hard to do in practice, even for people like myself who are unusually assertive.

[Anonymous]

Asking for an explanation is not that challenging. Some of these posters sound incredibly whiny.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Maybe it's lazy for the patient in that situation not to respond "I'm not comfortable continuing without a more detailed explanation of the reasoning regarding these options and your decision."

I highly doubt he would refuse to offer reasons.

I have done many "second opinion" consults regarding IVF options. It's a competitive, profitable industry and these REs always find fault with the last failed cycle.

I get it, you blame Widra and for some reason that's not so clear there was a communication problem.

Based on others' experiences I've read about here and mine, I think other patients will be able to work well with him.

I don't blame him for anything - I am describing my experience. I think he is too busy to really plug into each cycle, who knows how many patients at a time he has. As for me, at that point (and having had the 2nd opinions to reflect on) I walked away from Shady Grove to another practice. You can call it lazy I guess, but I don't care to spend time and effort to convince him otherwise given that his response was "it's your age".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Asking for an explanation is not that challenging. Some of these posters sound incredibly whiny.

"You are not a poor responder based on your numbers, so EPP is not for you". Turned out, it was for me. But how do you argue with that?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We live in Rosslyn just on the otherside of Key bridge and had a consultation with their DC office. Dr. Osborne there was nice but the nurse was clueless and the front staff was inattentive. There was no one else in the waiting room, yet I waited 40 minutes to be seen. The front office staff seem to be goofing off and not very helpful. I waited another year then switched to their Annandale office. Although it's farther away the office is friendly and more efficient. Since I have to go every other day for monitoring, which most of us have to do for blood work and u/s, be sure it's convenient and that you'll like going there.

I loved the staff in the Annandale office. You can do monitoring in any office, so if traveling for your big appointments is not a deal breaker for you, that's an option.

[Anonymous]

I'm with Dr. Osborn at SG DC (same office as Dr. Wildra) and like her a lot.