Dr. Widra or Dr. Chang? Or does it not matter?

[Anonymous]

A few years ago I saw Dr. Widra in Shady Grove's DC office. I was lucky enough to barely see him - we got pregnant with our DS on our first IUI.

Now we are trying (so far, unsuccessfully) for #2. I am now realizing that I probably need to go back to an RE. However, we live in Maryland now, and to trek back to DC for appointments would be a pain. Has anyone used Dr. Chang? Does it really matter which RE you go to anyway within the Shady Grove system?

Has anyone used a Dr. in DC, but gone to another location for monitoring?

Many thanks in advance.

[Anonymous]

I think EVERYONE ends up going to other locations for monitoring!

"My" dr. is at Fair Oaks, which is closest to my house, so I sometimes go there, but about half the time I'm there, I don't end up seeing my doctor. And if I need to go for monitoring on a work day when I'm working in DC (3-4 days/wk), I always go to K Street. If it's on a weekend, I've gone to both Annandale and Rockville, depending on the reason I'm going. As it turns out, I hardly ever see my doctor. So yes, if you are treated at SG for any length of time, you can expect to wind up seeing several of the doctors and going to various locations for monitoring and procedures. If you want to stay with Dr. Widra, you can do that and you don't have to go to the DC office all the time.

[Anonymous]

We lived in Baltimore for IVF cycle #1 and went to the SG Columbia office. Fast forward 3 years and we moved to DC prior to starting IVF for pregnancy #2. We saw our original doctor in the Columbia for the consult for #2 and he managed the cycle but I had all my monitoring at the K street (weekdays) and Rockville (weekend) monitoring. We LOVED our original doctor and preferred to have him manage our care.

[Anonymous]

ew saw dr stillman in rockville for our first, but then for our second we saw dr osborne in dc, but did most of the monitoring in rockville - so really just communicated w. her by phone/nurse most of the time - but i really liked her.

[Anonymous]

Well, I saw Dr. Widra for 3 IUIs and 2 IVFs, and during the IUIs I only saw him once, when he did one of the IUIs - the other times he wasn't in the office or it was a weekend and I had to be in Rockville. For the IVFs, he did make more of an effort to see me if he was around, but I didn't see him for more than half of my appointments. So I would say go with who you'd like to communication with, as you're not going to have much control over who you'll actually see during appointments.

[Anonymous]

I don't think it matters and you will only see your dr for monitoring when they are on "call" for that day. It isn't often so I wouldn't try to plan a cycle around that.

[Anonymous]

We had Dr. Chang (before he joined SG) and were very impressed and happy with him. I have heard some people say he doesn't have the best (softest) "bedside manner" but we always felt listened to and that we got excellent care.

[Anonymous]

You could stick with Dr Widra and schlep to DC for office appointments (the ones before/after each cycle), but then do your monitoring in Rockville. I'm sure Dr Chang is a good doctor, but I have heard not such great things about his bedside manner. I think getting used to a new RE's style can be just one more source of stress, so that is what I would do. Good luck with your upcoming treatments!

[Anonymous]

I started at SG by seeing Widra b/c of the DC location and changed to Dr. Chang b/c of recommendations. I really liked Dr. Widra but I live in between both locations so I decided to change because of some personal connections to Dr. Chang. I got pregnant on my first IVF cycle with Dr. Chang. I felt like he was very assuring, always gave us time and attention and explained everything clearly. His nurses were always helpful and encouraging and communication was always open. I highly recommend Dr. Chang. Although he is somewhat reserved and soft spoken, he makes you feel hopeful and confident throughtout the whole process.

[Anonymous]

In my opinion, Dr. Chang has a more clinical style to his interactions. He is there to get a job done, not necessarily to hold your hand. But he always answered questions promptly, and would occasionally check in on me with a phone call. When my nurse was not able to address my questions, Dr. Chang would speak with me personally. He took my opinions seriously when I did not want to follow a recommendation. After three failed IUI cycles, he recommended we move to IVF. I asked him for three more IUI tries. He agreed - they were all BFN. I am now 19 weeks pregnant after my first IVF cycle. Good luck!