Anyone with experience with Stanford REs?

[allisonrose]

My insurance approved me to go to Stanford Fertility and Reproductive Medicine Center. I called and made an appointment with a random RE. I was not impressed with her bedside manner. Anyone else going to/has gone to Stanford? Can anyone recommend an RE from their large practice?

Feel free to PM.

(Also if you're interested in learning the doctor's name that I'm not impressed with, PM please. I don't think it'd be nice for me to post the name.)

[Dea]

HI! I didn't go to Stanford, but I did use the RE clinic through Kaiser in Santa Clara and they were so amazing. They let me make the decisions and were really supportive. I did mostly deal with the Nurse practitioners but I liked the doctors also.
I hope this helps a little. If not, I'm sorry. I've had my share of bad doctors for other things and it's just not nice.

[allisonrose]

Unfortunately my HMO is very restrictive. Stanford was the one choice they gave me when they turned me down to go Fertility Physicians of Northern Californian (their "reasoning": out of my PCP's medical group). I live down towards the Monterey Bay area so everything is such a long drive for me.

[suzlywoozly]

I went to Stanford for my fifth attempt at IVF. I had been unsuccessful at another Bay Area clinic and was ready to give up. I have three friends that went to Dr. Lathi at Stanford and all three were successful. At my first consult I was kind of skeptical of the her... she was very quiet and I didn't get that warm and fuzzy feeling that I had with my other RE/clinic. She was willing to let us do a fresh cycle with PGD even though I had several frozen embryos (my other RE would not agree to this). I am so happy that we mafe the switch to her... we were successful on our first attempt with her and my son was born 5 weeks ago! We definitely needed to do PGD on our embryos and this turns out to be the reason I had so many miscarriages and failed cycles.

I'd be more than happy to answer any questions you have... send me a PM if you'd like.

[allisonrose]

Congratulations on your son!

You said that you weren't sure of her at first. Did she warm up with time? Or was she kind of cold?

The doctor I saw went into a long lecture about how I should eat healthy, exercise and lose weight. I told her that I didn't think my weight was a major factor since I weighed a good amount less when we first started. She went on to say that I should try to lose weight before getting pregnant because the weight will be harder to lose later and it puts me at an increased risk of gestational diabetes. She made me feel so awful about myself. I asked if she wanted to postpone treatments so I could lose weight and she said no need.

[suzlywoozly]

Thank you!

I don't think she was cold... I think she is very soft spoken and perhaps a little shy. She did warm up to me a lot once we started cycling. After my BFP and while I was still waiting for my first u/s appt, I started spotting. I called them right away that morning and she told me to come in for an u/s. I kind of felt stupid for bothering her with this but when I got there she was very understanding and calmed me down. I learned at that time I was pregnant with twins. Two u/s's later I learned that we had lost one of the twins. She was very sympathetic and at every appt after that she always asked how I was feeling and if I was alright.


I don't know what your diagnosis is but I wanted to mention that the embryologist and lab can make all the difference in the world. From my research I found that Stanford has an excellent lab and embryologists.

I am sorry you had such a bad experience with the RE. I am curious to know which RE you saw. I was slightly over weight before I started at Stanford. All of that extra weight was from all those infertility meds that I took when I was cycling at the other clinic. I mentioned my weight to Dr. L and she said anything to me about it.

Have you done IVF before? Do you mind me asking your diagnosis. The reason I ask is because if you have PCOS you are more likely to weigh a little more than normal.

It just so happens that Stanford called me the other day. Dr. Lathi asked the nurse to call me to followup with my pregnancy. I was pretty impressed that they took the time to do this.

[allisonrose]

I don't mind you asking. Unfortunately I have no diagnosis. All my tests have come back normal, my HSG was clear, ultrasound looked fine. Hubby's SA was good (although the volume was low because he felt horribly embarrassed giving the sample at the clinic).

The only thing we've done is a natural cycle IUI. I know - I'm just barely starting on the medical approach. I had really hoped this would happen naturally and am now realizing that for some unknown reason it just won't. The reason why I've gained a considerable amount of weight is because I tend to be an emotional eating which has not worked in my favor over the past two years.

The RE I saw mentioned PCOS as a possibility. I have acne and am overweight, but my cycles are regular, I have a BBT shift and get positive OPKs indicating ovulation every month, and my ovaries didn't look polycystic on the ultrasound. She ordered a 2 hour glucose tolerance test. I passed the glucose portion but my 2 hour insulin was high. So I guess I have to just wait and see what she says on that.

[allisonrose]

Man, I'm having such a hard time piecing things together with these people. The doctor gave me a prescription for Clomid and Ovidrel and told me to call on CD1. She also mentioned that there's an injection training class that they prefer patients to take but since I live so far away and have a rigid schedule that they could probably work something out for me. She mentioned I'd need a CD11 ultrasound while on Clomid and that if my GYN in the area can do it to save me a trip and some money, she was fine with that. The nurse gave me a fax number to fax my test results.

So I call on CD1 which of course lands on the weekend so I have to leave a message. I missed when the nurse called me back so her voice mail stated that I needed to take the injection training class which is also a patient orientation during which the nurses tell us patients how things work in the clinic and they need my test results which my PCP's office was supposed to fax on Friday. I call back and leave another message saying that my test results are already supposed to be there and what the doctor mentioned about the patient orientation.

I end up talking to a nurse this morning who tells me that the doctors don't realize how important the orientation class is. She tells me that she'll look for my test results and that I need to get a CD3 ultrasound to show that I have no cysts before going on Clomid. I'm confused by this because the only ultrasound the doctor talked about was CD11. She did an ultrasound during my visit on the 19th - about a week and a half ago. I decide that I'll have to talk to the doctor about this.

The nurse calls back and I missed the call. In her message, she said she could not find my test results and a different fax number to send them to. She also tells me that she put me on to see the doctor on Wednesday (CD5) to get the baseline ultrasound before I can go on Clomid. Why did the doctor give me a script if I can't take it yet?

[allisonrose]

Coming back to update this thread in case it might help someone else.
I did end up switching doctors. I spoke to Stanford's patient counselor (who's a really nice lady) and she recommended Dr Baker who is relatively new to Stanford - although not new to the field. I liked her and did a couple of Clomid cycles with her. We moved to injectables because my insurance limits the number of IUI cycles they will cover. The beginning of the cycle fell around the holidays and Dr Baker was out on vacation. I ended up seeing Dr Lathi for ultrasounds. I didn't find her as big on sharing informations as Dr Baker is but I just found out I'm pregnant so I'd highly recommend her as well.

[suzlywoozly]

Congratulations Allison!!! When are you due?

[kristenok18]

Congratulations!!!

[allisonrose]

Originally Posted by suzlywoozly

When are you due?

Sept 27 by O date

A little nervous but also really excited