Hi, new and a question or two (Chicago ladies?)

Mrs_Liberto

Hi all,

I think I might have posted here once or twice but it looks like I will be around much more regularly.

Backstory: Married October 2006, BCP ditched April 2007.  Probably around 36 cycles TTC, breaks here and there for emotional well being and to buy a house, etc. Surgery in April of this year for a kidney/bladder defect that was causing recurrent kidney infections and continually elevated creatinine levels.  (Gyn and Urologist both thought the creatinine levels might have been contributing to T-TTC). Clean bill of health after surgery (creatinine levels are normal now) and now five months of TTC with no luck. My temp dropped this morning and AF should be here by morning. Happy Thanksgiving, right?

So, now we're moving on to an RE in January.

 I have three options in the Chicagoland area to choose from and I don't quite know how to go about picking. I've pulled up ASRM stats, etc. All three have physicians who are board certified RE's. I live about an hour from work so the commute time between work/home/RE is a challenge, among other things. I can give specific names if it would help, but I'd love some insight. They're all in the north Chicago burbs, and if anyone has personal recs they'd like to share for that area, too, I'm all ears.

Option A: Two female RE's and close to my office. Recommended by a coworker.

Option B: Giant clinic, several locations--the closest one is about 17 miles from either my house or office. Male and female RE's. No personal recommendations but it's on the US News & World Report list of best RE's (I think that's what it was?) Yelp reviews seem to indicate it's a baby factory without much personal attention, but they offer counseling services and holistic services at no extra cost to their patients. 

Option C: Two male RE's and close to my house. Recommended by a fellow Bumpie. Great stats on IVF success rates, etc. 

Any words of wisdom? TIA.

kmkaull2

Hi,

I am currently cycling with Dr. Feinberg at FCI, Highland Park.  She is wonderful--very warm and friendly.  The office is big and always very busy.  For the most part, the nurses are nice.  I have to say, they are on the ball.

 HP IVF is well-regarded.  

 I'm not done stimming yet, but thus far, I would recommend Dr. Feinberg to you.  :-)

Mrs_Liberto

KM, thanks for the tip! FCI was one of the facilities I was looking at-- the one where all the yelp reviews seem to imply that it's large and impersonal-- so it's great to hear a personal experience that was good.

tootlebug

okay this is totally my opinion bc you will get all kinds of comments if you post enough on this subject: i had a horrible experience with FCI and would never recommend it to anyone.  they operate like their patients are cattle and it's one big cattle call.  they give you the hard sell on IVF and dont take an academic approach.  sorry - i just had a really bad experince with FCI.  i went to the location downtown - id find it hard to believe it would be that much different in other locations but maybe.  i suppose it's different for everyone but seems that the people ive met IRL that have been their also didnt have good experiences. 

i went downtown to Northwestern.  ....i think dr. conf!no is one of the best REs out there. he has a very long wait time fyi. that probably doesnt help you though bc it seems you need someone in the north burbs?

Crispity

Welcome! I went to FCI in Buffalo Grove for all of my IUI's and my first IVF. I went to Dr. Rapisarda, and I liked him a lot. I was very happy with FCI right up until my IVF. The BG office is very small and personal, and the staff really cares about you. The nurses are super nice and very patient in dealing with lots of panicky phone calls (I tend to make those). Dr. Rapisarda did not push IVF at all, and we truly exhausted all of our options before moving on to IVF.

I was not very happy with FCI for our IVF cycle. It was great that I could do my monitoring in the BG office, and it was nice to feel like all of the staff was really pulling for me. BUT, when it comes to the egg retrieval and the transfer, you get whatever doctor is on call, and it is very assembly line. I was particularly unhappy with my transfer, because they took me over an hour late (with a very full bladder!), and the doctor (not Dr. Rapisarda) spent less than two minutes in the room with us once he finally arrived. They also didn't give me a picture of my embies, event though I asked for one before the transfer. I had a particularly bad outcome from that cycle (see siggy), so that obviously taints my opinion, but I didn't like the assembly line approach.

Your third option sounds like Advanced Fertility Centers of Chicago. I am going there now and highly recommend them. Excellent success rate, and I really like Dr Sherbahn. His style may be off-putting to some (he is not one to sugarcoat things), but it is EXACTLY what I want and need right now. He will tell you exactly what your chances of success are, and he makes sure all of your questions are answered. His office is also run very efficiently, everything is right on time, and the nurses are very nice. I just did my first cycle with them and got a BFP (so far, so good!). So - I highly recommend them.

Good luck to you! 

kthappy76

Ticker warning

I spent seven mos each at N Shore (Borkowski) and FCI (Feinberg) and based on my experiences with cycling, surgeries, staff and RE's would not reco either. Then I went to Advanced Fertility for IVF and after another surgery to do what the previous two should have done already, we got pg twice. I reco them highly. They have the best success rates in the area, and when you go you see why. They are just a superior run clinic. I also went to Pulling Down the Moon for acu and other services and reco them as well. Feel free to check out my blog or e-mail/page me w/?'s. GL!