We went to Dr. Durso, Then Dr. Saks at Columbia Fertility & then to Shady Grove. The first two were more warm and fuzzy and personalized, but, bottom line, Shady Grove got me pregnant (Dr. Chang) with two beautiful girls (not twins). This was after years of clomid, lots of injectible meds, IUI's, etc. SGFC has the highest success rates, and, in the end, that is what mattered the most to us. You won't be thinking about the waiting room when you're playing with your kids.

And which doctor you have at SG is pretty much irrelevant too--Dr. Chang didn't do either of my successful inseminations, they consult with each other on treatment plans, & it is the nurses you deal with the most anyway.

Hated SG. Chang was okay but the support staff were dreadful. The nurse & financial coordinator did not return calls. Insurance paperwork submitted to SG never got filed. The atrocious woman in the finance office (dawn aiello ? Something like that) actually had the nerve to tell us that we should name our baby (if we were to have one) Dawn after her because she was so crucial to the SG operation. That was after losing papers, not filing on time, and not returning calls. We lost at least two cycles waiting for her to do her job.
Switched to GIVF in Fairfax. A longer drive but totally worth it. Everyone there is kind, competent and efficient.

PP that is weird for a nurse to advertise herself as a possible known donor, and I had a similar experience after a m/c with an SG nurse. It seems to me they have some communication issues because they are so big. We switched to another practice and although still struggling I feel it is a better fit for us.

Anonymous wrote:Shady Grove is a well-oiled machine, BUT the staff can be pretty dumb--some I'm sure are great, I just seem to have the worst luck. I had one coordinator who couldn't seem to read my STD results--delays of a week as I kept insisting that I'd sent them to her--she also "didn't receive" my records from my prior RE--TWICE.

That sounds like my nurse. I breathed a sigh of relief when she went on holiday and others covered for her... until one of them kept hinting that she like to be a known donor if we needed another cycle (huh? don't they pay enough for nursing?) and another rang up to congratulate me on my pregnancy and give me meds advice after I had miscarried .

Shady Grove is a well-oiled machine, BUT the staff can be pretty dumb--some I'm sure are great, I just seem to have the worst luck. I had one coordinator who couldn't seem to read my STD results--delays of a week as I kept insisting that I'd sent them to her--she also "didn't receive" my records from my prior RE--TWICE.

Had a dumb nurse when I was doing IUIs--luckily, low consequences then as it wasn't going to work anyway. As far as I understand, that one was fired.

I had several cycles at SG and was not impressed. My notes were lost, I was mailed someone else's information (so much for confidentiality), was told to take tests I did not need (again, because I was muddled with another patient)... it was only because I queried everything that these mistakes came to light. We only stayed because we had FEs left and were not successful anyway. Will try elsewhere now, nowhere can be as bad as SG.

Another SG fan here as well. I do acknowledge that it's not a perfect place - the waiting room at K st can be pretty awful, but what more do you expect with a room full of people seeking fertility check-ups before they rush to work in the morning? I don't know what SG can realistically do about the waiting room experience. At the Sibley office it's much better simply because they get less traffic. SG has a huge roster of patients and you are not going to get an extremely personalized experience each time you are there. Also, in my experience the personal touch comes out more after you go back a number of times - and if you make a bit of effort to chat with the staff and nurses, etc, even the drs, they are very friendly in return.

I had my doubts and frustrations along the way. I felt at times - especially when my nurse or Dr was on vacation - that nobody was really looking out for me. But at the end of the day I have one healthy child and another so-far healthy pregnancy underway. My Dr made a couple judgments that I wasn't sure about at the time but resulted in both pregnancies. I credit that to his experience. At the end of the day, that's all that matters.

Another SG fan. Started with ICSI based in their recommendation. Ended up going to IVF and had to do several rounds (thank God for shared risk). Got DD on 3rd fresh cycle and froze 1 more which became our indentical twin sons. Doing all of this while my dad was dying from Alzheimer's and got nothing but support from our doc (Widra) and nurse (Jennifer). I still email them pics of the kids with updates and get great emails back. They were touchy feeley enough for me.

I have good things to say about Shady Grove...agree it is a well-oiled machine....but the nurses were compassionate and I like that they have a holistic/therapeutic component for those who choose to go that route. With their help, I have a 2 year old son. My younger friend who has PCOS (same diagnosis as me) but lives in Texas has been trying for 3 years with no luck and I was appalled when I heard about the medical treatment she was getting...just seemed much less sophisticated than Shady Grove's operation.

I went to washington fertility center at age 39 and was told I would NEVER conceive off my own eggs- it was horrible- they did one IUI (I had 4 m/c by then- preggo every time we TTC) and we had DD (but I refused to go back to them). Went to GVIF who took credit of my pregnancy- and for TTC were horrible- complete waste- had 4 IUIs and complete misconnects horrible communication. We then went to SG in FFx with Dr. Greenhouse (I had interviewed other major practices and drs by then)- we did do 3 more IUIs - I am a low responder- we decided to do an IVF- by this time we had spent so much money that we really had to face things - not a great thing for me in particular- I was a mess- Our first and only IVF attempt just went away (eggs were there- then gone so no IVF was possible). It was really strange but it wasn't miscoordination like I had experienced at GIVF for every single IUI attempt. Dr Greenhouse got me medicines ("samples" to get us through this last attempt- I was actually crying when I talked to Dr. G - I thought it was the end- he helped us try again) to get me through the next attempt knowing that through all IUIs and IVFs I had the most of *3* eggs produced. One was discarded due to being fragmented- the other two inside me- one was a M/C and one is my now 5 year old son.

So- frankly all IF places are machines but SG is well oiled and has particular terrific Dr's with a heart.

I was happy with Shady Grove probably because we got the result we desired, a healthy baby after a long road of trying. If you think Shady Grove's waiting room is bad think about other Doctors' offices. I love my Obgyn but i spend a lot of time in her waiting room. After spending time at Shady Grove I have to say the office is very well run, I don't recall waiting very long for any of my appointment ts with the exception of one day when I showed up 45 min late for monitoring (but that was my fault) . That is not to say it is a perfect place, no place is but I found that al my after hours calls were promptly returned, my doctor was efficient yet sensitive to my situation and we were successful.

Another positive vote for SG here! I am AMA (40- almost 41) and I am pregnant with my own eggs thanks to the wonderful folks there. I can't say enough good things about them right now!

Anonymous wrote:PP with high FSH, good luck to you, get back to us when you're successful, I stand by my opinion SGF sucks for AMA patients.

This has been the opposite of what I've seen. Four friends have conceived their children through SGFC and every one of them over 39 (1 39/ 3 40+). And I had my DD at 38 - also a SGFC baby.

I'm AMA and had success at SG. 8 months pregnant now at 41 (my own eggs) with 4 top notch blasts frozen.

I had a good experience there and said as much to others in recommending it, back when I was not successful (IUIs) and wasn't sure I would be.

I did have one bad experience out of dozens and dozens there, with a female RE. Would never condemn the whole clinic based on that. But I did complain. Overall I liked all else (for the most part) and found it was a good fit for me. It's just about personal fit.

I'd go back and recommend it but I always explain what it's like and how X, Y and Z could be downsides for the person.

Btw I think their lab is kickass.

PP with high FSH, good luck to you, get back to us when you're successful, I stand by my opinion SGF sucks for AMA patients.