GWU Fertility Center
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Anonymous
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Agreed that the nurses are GREAT. Every single one knows me. Katherine indeed draws blood painlessly. I'm one of those neurotic patients that asks a million questions and sends studies from the internet to my doctor. Melissa and Dr. Frankfurter have every time answered patiently, with smiles. They really get what we're going through.
The stats bother me, though I know some of the reasons, because after all my goal is to get pregnant, regardless of the staff's compassion. That said, I have yet to read anything negative about the quality of the care at GW. My gut told me to go there. And I have no complaints about the care other than the obvious, I'm not pregnant. But no clinic has given me more than a 15% potential success rate. |
Anonymous
| My husband and I went to GWU for his sperm retrieval in hopes of soon doing ICSI, which is a form of IVF. We were lucky enough that my own RE from outside of GWU also is able to go there and do procedures through their clinic. DC is a long drive for us. My husband's urologist in DC works with GWU as well. Even having an outside RE that we absolutely LOVE, the staff there still knows both the RE and urologist very well and speaks very highly of both of them! The nurses and office staff there were so wonderful!! They really were very personable and encouraging and made sure that I felt welcomed and comfortable while my husband was having his procedure. I know SG may be a more well known or popular clinic, but after our experience so far with GWU, and the fact that they work with our local RE, I wouldn't even think about going anywhere else!! Costwise, we are a little lucky, my husband works in the state of Maryland so our health insurance through his employer is in network with GWU and IVF is covered, we just have to pay the $1,000 out of pocket maximum, MUCH better than the $17,000 it would have costed us w/o coverage! |
Anonymous
Maybe you two went thru it at diff times? B/c I know I myself did IUIs and IVF there in 2006 and had an experience similar to the first PP. Now, however, I am currently there going thru an FET, and it is like night and day! Love the email system they have set up with the nurse practitioners and mine resopnds within minutes every time. They also have renovated the front office area and it just physically looks much nicer, which is a mental and emotional boost. Also, had wonderful warm caring assistance from the financial lady. Overall, I feel like I am almost at a different clinic! It's kind of crazy. . . .some of this may also be due to my chance in attitude/outlook: we have adopted in the interim and I am much, much, much less stressed and more like "whatever happens, happens" about the whole FET, but still, I do think a lot has changed with GW (nurses, communication system, physical premises) in these 6 years! |
Anonymous
| I had an excellent experience with GW. Everyone was very responsive. It's unfortunate that Dr. Dayal is no longer there. She was great. |
Anonymous
I agree. I've had/am currently having a good experience at GW. I just wish I liked my nurse a little bit more. |
Anonymous
Who do you work with? I have found most of them to be great. |
Anonymous
| I had a great experience there. Mostly because they got me pregnant,on the first try, after two failed cycles at Shady Grove. |
Anonymous
| I also switched from SG to GW. The #1 reason I switched is I felt like GW individualized the protocols were I didn't get that sense at SG. I am having a much better response too - ER is on Saturday (SG canceled me)! However, there are a few down sides. the monitoring appts can take forever - some days I've been there an hour + while monitoring at SG was never more than 30 minutes on the worst day. I also got much more feedback at SG - they had screens so you could see the follicles, etc. It has been much harder to get a sense as to how I'm responding since my nurse (not thrilled with her) ONLY gives me dosage instructions. Maybe this is how GW operates but coming from SG I knew my e2 levels, size of follicles, etc. |
Anonymous
| I'm at GW and I simply asked my nurse to email me the info with instructions and she's been doing that. |
jindc
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Does anyone have updated views on GW? We were supposed to have our IVF class, but then the hurricane happened so we're scheduled for the upcoming Tuesday. Just looking for experiences.
We have to do IVF w/ ICSI (I'm 31, and just had my day-3 blood test on Wed with a follow up for Tuesday after our class). Anyone else attending or just starting there? |
Anonymous
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I recently switched to GW from Columbia, and have been so, SO happy. Dr. Frankfurter is fantastic - very interested in what your concerns and interests are, and he was incredibly thorough in reviewing my case history. He also talked through two different protocol options with me, explaining the pluses and minuses of each for me, and really guided my husband and I to make the right decision for us. Answers every question without talking down to you or making you feel like you are wasting his time, too, which was important for me.
I have also been very impressed with my nurse, Christy - she emails me very thorough emails at each step of the way, and is SO responsive. Usually I wait one hour, max to get an email back from her, unless it's late in the evening. Everything is written down, in an email, and every question is answered quickly. Everyone in the office has been organized, kind, and has treated me like an individual, not like a item on a factory conveyor belt. It's been NIGHT AND DAY - seriously. So thrilled with them. |
jindc
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Thanks for your reply 13:32....have you started your protocol with them?
I've been impressed, too - I think I've been emailing with Katherine - and she's very responsive. I haven't started anything yet, just waiting for the class and blood test consultation (which I'm not trying not to worry about) since our issues are currently only male factor. I saw their stats, and which the latest (2010) were pretty bad, it does seem that they don't turn anyone away which is why. I'm trying to stay positive and keep telling myself that if it's only male factor, we should be OK and give ourselves one or two attempts before we freak out. |
Anonymous
hmm, I am the 8/23 GW poster. I am thinking I just have a not great nurse  Sandra is mine and sometimes it takes days for her to reply (often only prompted by a 2nd followup email) and she only give me the bare minimum of instructions and always over the phone.
We are starting NCIVF (I am a really poor responder to stims) so hopefully my interaction will be minimal and then I can ask Dr Frankfurter if I can switch if we need another cycle. |
Anonymous
| I just finished an IVF cycle with them and though I have nothing to compare it to, except for other kinds of medical appts, I have found everyone incredibly caring and very responsive to any concerns I raised. I agree that with the phone calls for monitoring I'm only getting dosage instructions most of the time. It would be nice to have more feedback on my progress/status. Even the financial people were really helpful. IF is hard enough to deal with I really appreciated that I didn't have to do battle with a bureaucracy. Everything in my cycle ran really so smoothly. |
jindc
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I had the ivf class at GW today and it was helpful. The nurse was friendly and informative and the class was packed.
Later Dr G went overly blood work and I was cleared to start a cycle with lower doses of meds because my FSHand everything is normal. So, will start bcp at my final cycle of 2012 and hope to start in January once I switch to md ipa. I have been very impressed with GW so far am trying to remaine positive as we go on with them. |