I had a very good experience with Dr. Moon. I was not looking for a lot of hand-holding. I was looking for someone to get me pregnant at 42. Dr. Moon was very matter of fact about the odds and the odds were stacked against me. However, she monitored my meds like a hawk. She was supportive, but not over-promising throughout the process. And my twins are sleeping in the nursery right now.

Anonymous wrote:I'm at CCRM with Dr. Payson and he's amazing. Really such a nice guy. We left Shady Grove after a terrible experience. I have a super rare genetic disorder and Dr. Payson researched prior to my visit to learn more about it and checked with CCRM in CO and RGI to make sure that they were able to do it so I could have a clear answer during our initial visit. I feel fully confident that I'm in excellent hands there and everyone I've interacted with has been very helpful and has explained the process clearly. Especially the financial people, much better experience than at SG. It's pricey yeah but they do offer the Assure refund plan if you qualify. They don't take insurance yet so you'll have to submit any bills you get. I don't think they have a lot of patients yet, so they're able to give a lot of attention to the patients they do have. As an aside the space is beautiful, it doesn't feel like a medical office it's just really cozy. So I would highly recommended him and CCRM. If you have any specific questions let me know.

I am glad you had a good experience there. We didn’t and worst of all we didn’t have anything to show for either.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't have any experience with either doctor. But if cost is not a concern, I would definitely choose CCRM. The only thing SG does well is serve super easy cases (or the shared risk can be ok, again if you are an easy case). What is your history and diagnosis?

I am 36 DOR and hubby poor morphology. Two failed IUI’s and moving to IVF.
You are absolutely right CCRM is pricy that’s why I am seeking advice to ensure I am picking the right doctor.
I can’t seem to find any reviews about Dr. Payson who started the CCRM Virginia branch
Thank you all for sharing your experiences.

Please let us know who you pick in the end.

I went with CCRM Virginia and I am regretting it. Not sure if it is only because they just opened up or what. Dr Payson is very smart but we didn’t get anything that I can show for: he couldn’t even get us to the blast stage. Communication is horrendous here. Now I am on a quest to find a knowledgeable RE who knows his/ her stuff and is passed the training stage.

I liked Dr. Moon, though she didn't get us a baby (we just did IUI and stopped trying despite her encouragement to move on to IVF). I am not a fuzzy person and didn't want hand-holding, though she was compassionate during a missed miscarriage.

She was willing to talk about research and different protocols, though she didn't suggest them (I would come in with abstracts from different studies). It was totally unclear why IUI didn't work for us (all test results for me were consistently normal and I was 34 at the time--we were doing donor sperm because of severe MF) and I don't think another clinic would have been different/better.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP why did you choose Dr. Moon as your possible RE from SGF? They have a slew of doctors to choose from. Just curious. If you are looking for warm and fuzzy, there are other SGF doctors we can suggest.

My ob suggested me to see her.
I actually don’t care about warm and fuzzy, I want the best!
I want to do this once: I get extremely depressed and anxious on meds- my psychiatrist is working on it- we are self pay and to top it all off: I have DOR at 36!
I liked Dr. Moon she was to the point, didn’t waste time but during both IUI’s we did my eggs were ripened sooner than they thought. Every time they rushed me into insemination- that might have probably passed the window- my AMH was low .17 but no one tested my vitamin D supplement. After being on vitamin D supplement it has increased to .5 . I guess I felt like may be at SGF they don’t customize their protocol. SGF is convinient and I love my nurse. She didn’t recommend pgs testing for us but she wanted to transfer one embryo at a time. She guestimate she could get 1-3 embryos which I thought were low numbers and I wanted a little more aggressive treatment to push the limit may be?
I heard a lot about CCRM in Colorado and their success rate: when I heard they have a branch in Virginia I was happy to have a second opinion . Dr. Payson originally met with me and reviewed all previous procedures that I had provided with documents and test result and told me he would be able to get 5 embryos with an aggressive protocol and told me I may get hyperstimulated and sick- which I am fine with that too- as we discussed he said it would be temporarily and if we do the pgs testing - they call it ccs- he will transfer one if we opt not to do the testing he will transfer two. After the one day work up he said the same thing as Dr. Moon said possible 1-3 embryos and starting on a standard protocol and testing or no testing one transfer at a time although we are ok with possible twins.
I simply didn’t like the fact that he changed what he originally told us without giving me explanations of why he changed what he said. It almost liked he over sell it in the begining.

PP here who had Dr. Moon for years and then switched to GW. SGF doesn't really customize their protocol, esp in the beginning. They are hesitant to think outside the box. I had to advocate for myself to do additional testing that they didn't think was necessary. Not that the testing showed anything that needed to be fixed but I wanted to make sure I covered all my bases b/c so many FETS with PGS tested normal embryos failed and we all thought it would be easy considering I had gotten pregnant before. Unfortunately, it's not always as easy as a+b=pregnant which is so frustrating, esp when you're spending all this money and the medications do a number on you. I was told that it's an art, to artificial reproduction.

Anonymous wrote:OP why did you choose Dr. Moon as your possible RE from SGF? They have a slew of doctors to choose from. Just curious. If you are looking for warm and fuzzy, there are other SGF doctors we can suggest.

My ob suggested me to see her.
I actually don’t care about warm and fuzzy, I want the best!
I want to do this once: I get extremely depressed and anxious on meds- my psychiatrist is working on it- we are self pay and to top it all off: I have DOR at 36!
I liked Dr. Moon she was to the point, didn’t waste time but during both IUI’s we did my eggs were ripened sooner than they thought. Every time they rushed me into insemination- that might have probably passed the window- my AMH was low .17 but no one tested my vitamin D supplement. After being on vitamin D supplement it has increased to .5 . I guess I felt like may be at SGF they don’t customize their protocol. SGF is convinient and I love my nurse. She didn’t recommend pgs testing for us but she wanted to transfer one embryo at a time. She guestimate she could get 1-3 embryos which I thought were low numbers and I wanted a little more aggressive treatment to push the limit may be?
I heard a lot about CCRM in Colorado and their success rate: when I heard they have a branch in Virginia I was happy to have a second opinion . Dr. Payson originally met with me and reviewed all previous procedures that I had provided with documents and test result and told me he would be able to get 5 embryos with an aggressive protocol and told me I may get hyperstimulated and sick- which I am fine with that too- as we discussed he said it would be temporarily and if we do the pgs testing - they call it ccs- he will transfer one if we opt not to do the testing he will transfer two. After the one day work up he said the same thing as Dr. Moon said possible 1-3 embryos and starting on a standard protocol and testing or no testing one transfer at a time although we are ok with possible twins.
I simply didn’t like the fact that he changed what he originally told us without giving me explanations of why he changed what he said. It almost liked he over sell it in the begining.

I also saw Dr. Payson at Dominion. Not my primary doctor, but he did some of my monitoring and a transfer. He is very smart and very easy to talk to! I stuck with Dominion because of my previous success, but was very sad he left. He was definitely my favorite doctor!

I worked with Dr. Payson when he was at Dominion. I really liked him - I felt that he was caring, yet realistic - and even my husband felt comfortable with him (the only Dr. so far that my husband was comfortable with - we started out over at Shady Grove). We didn't get pregnant, but I was in my 40s with some other issues, so it was a long shot anyways. We're now thinking of working with him at CCRM for donor egg. I know that CCRM is more expensive and that the extra expertise might be an overkill for donor egg, but it's worth it to go with someone who my husband likes.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:wait so you had at least three normal PGS embryos and none of them worked?

I miscarried two (for reasons not related to the embryos), one didn't take, GC is currently pg with one, and one is still frozen.

NP - would you kindly share why you miscarried? There are some of us here who also keep miscarrying PSG normals without apparent reason. Any information you share might be helpful. Thank you and I wish you a happy outcome with GC.

Of course, although unfortunately I don't think my situation is going to help anyone else. In my case it was - they think, though they're not sure - an undiagnosed incompetent cervix the first time, followed by a much-delayed D&C that really did a number on my lining and that's likely what led to my follow-up issues (and why I'm using a GC now, after the one failed and several other canceled FETs). I'm so sorry to hear of your own miscarriages - losing a chromosomally normal embryo really just is insult on top of injury. I wish you luck as well!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:wait so you had at least three normal PGS embryos and none of them worked?

I miscarried two (for reasons not related to the embryos), one didn't take, GC is currently pg with one, and one is still frozen.

NP - would you kindly share why you miscarried? There are some of us here who also keep miscarrying PSG normals without apparent reason. Any information you share might be helpful. Thank you and I wish you a happy outcome with GC.

Anonymous wrote:wait so you had at least three normal PGS embryos and none of them worked?

I miscarried two (for reasons not related to the embryos), one didn't take, GC is currently pg with one, and one is still frozen.

Anonymous wrote:I went through 3(?) IVF cycles at Shady Grove and Dr. Moon did one of my retrievals. I didn't really like her at all. She seemed very disinterested and annoyed when I asked questions. Not a fan. I was seeing Dr. Widra as my regular RE, and while I did end up moving to another clinic (Cornell), I really did like Dr. Widra and would recommend him should you decide on SG.

That's funny. Dr. Moon is my regular doc at SGF, and I have no issues with her, though we've only met twice (I'm doing IUIs now, haven't gotten to IVF yet). However, I had Dr. Widra for one monitoring appointment this cycle and did not care for him. He was brusque and didn't tell me what he was seeing on ultrasound, just that my nurse would tell me when she called later. Usually the techs or NPs tell me the count and measurements in real time. He was just in and out, I assume he was busy.

OP why did you choose Dr. Moon as your possible RE from SGF? They have a slew of doctors to choose from. Just curious. If you are looking for warm and fuzzy, there are other SGF doctors we can suggest.

I went through 3(?) IVF cycles at Shady Grove and Dr. Moon did one of my retrievals. I didn't really like her at all. She seemed very disinterested and annoyed when I asked questions. Not a fan. I was seeing Dr. Widra as my regular RE, and while I did end up moving to another clinic (Cornell), I really did like Dr. Widra and would recommend him should you decide on SG.

I'm at CCRM with Dr. Payson and he's amazing. Really such a nice guy. We left Shady Grove after a terrible experience. I have a super rare genetic disorder and Dr. Payson researched prior to my visit to learn more about it and checked with CCRM in CO and RGI to make sure that they were able to do it so I could have a clear answer during our initial visit. I feel fully confident that I'm in excellent hands there and everyone I've interacted with has been very helpful and has explained the process clearly. Especially the financial people, much better experience than at SG. It's pricey yeah but they do offer the Assure refund plan if you qualify. They don't take insurance yet so you'll have to submit any bills you get. I don't think they have a lot of patients yet, so they're able to give a lot of attention to the patients they do have. As an aside the space is beautiful, it doesn't feel like a medical office it's just really cozy. So I would highly recommended him and CCRM. If you have any specific questions let me know.