Pittsburgh area ladies come in

Uptowngirl2009 · August 2013

Are there any Pgh area ladies here who have seen REs? I'm looking for recommendations. DH came home and said, "I'm ready to have kids" and he told me to call and find out more information about testing and possibly schedule an appointment. I've been looking at some things on my own but thought maybe someone here would have a personal recommendation. Feel free to PM me if you don't want to post it here! Thanks!

musac15 · August 2013

I've been seeing Dr. Sanfillpo at Magee. Although I love him, and think he's a good doctor, I've had some bad experiences in his office with front end staff, as well as nurses. It's not irritating enough to go to another RE, but if I had it to do over, I would have went elsewhere.

For instance - the lady that checks me out once made me go to the waiting room to call the "nurse line" to make a follow up appointment. Literally, the nurse that answered was looking at me when she answered the call.

The other major issue was the three hour wait time for my saline sono - literally, three hours of sitting in the ultrasound room waiting for the doctor to do his portion of the test. Apparently they were overbooked for the day. Everyone was very apologetic, but still..I was ready to walk out of the room when the Dr. finally came in. I actually had already gotten dressed and everything.

I do believe their success rate at Magee, in regards to IVF, is lower than the other options around the city.

Good luck!

Uptowngirl2009 · August 2013

Thanks @musac15!

carcrashheart · August 2013

I didn't realize you were a pgh girl! I tried the RE in penn hills (forget the name-but they aren't connected with a hospital) but I didn't like them. They wanted me to go straight to iui or ivf and wouldn't do just clomid. It had been 9 months and 1 loss for us at that point so I felt we weren't a good match for their point of view on treatment. I had an appt with sanfalippo that I never made it to before moving and ended up pregnant with an RE in WV. Now that we are back in pgh I have been thinking about which RE to utilize if we pursue #2.

Is sanfalippo ok with doing clomid/femara and trigger shot combos before moving to iui's?

MRads · August 2013

@jennahack did I tag right? She can chime in. I can try to find my PM from Pgh girls when I came to the year mark and was researching REs.

Uptowngirl2009 · August 2013

This is great information, girls! Thanks! I'm not exactly a Pgh girl (I live about an hour and a half east of Pittsburgh) but I don't think there are any REs in the area. I'm going to call some local places first and find out but I also don't want to waste my time when a local doctor might have to refer me to another doctor who will redo all the testing anyways.

MRads · August 2013

Hmmm, are you close to Latrobe or Greensburg? I would imagine there is an RE out there.

Uptowngirl2009 · August 2013

@MRads yes that is closer for me that Pittsburgh. I never thought of checking there. I'll go do some searching now!

Uptowngirl2009 · August 2013

Every time I try searching different towns nearby, the only results it really gives me are doctors from Pittsburgh. I did see that one of the doctors affiliated with Magee supposedly is also affiliated with an OB/GYN office about a half hour away so I'm going to call there first and find out.

musac15 · August 2013

carcrashheart said:

Is sanfalippo ok with doing clomid/femara and trigger shot combos before moving to iui's?

For me, with my possible endo and narrow cervix, he did not want to do an IUI at all. His first suggestion was IVF, and his second suggestion after IVF was doing some kind of stimulation shots (I'm not sure of the name). He said I wasn't a candidate for clomid, because I ovulate on my own. Lastly, he suggested a lap to officially diagnose and clean up the endo.

He did lay out all possible options, and was great with explaining everything - pros/cons, etc. I really do like him...his office just needs to get their sh*t together.

ErinNicole0105 · August 2013

I also see Dr. Sanfilippo at Magee. I really like having him as my RE although I have also had some problems with the staff. But it was stuff that was easily remedied. I can't speak for any experience with IVF as I haven't tried it yet.

Good luck finding someone!

MRads · August 2013

I went back through my messages. One recommendation was Dr. Kauma at the Jones Institute. Another was (Dr. Gallagher, but I'm not sure where. If you want more information, I can get you in touch with the people who recommended them, bc they don't post here much anymore. Both of those dr are through West Penn, so if you have Highmark insurance you might want to consider them. If you have upmc insurance definitely stick with a upmc doctor, bc it is anyone's guess what is going to happen in the next few years with the insurance and doctor/hospital disputes.

waterfall213 · August 2013

**waves hi to the other Pittsburgh gals!**

carcrashheart · August 2013

MRads said:
I went back through my messages. One recommendation was Dr. Kauma at the Jones Institute. Another was (Dr. Gallagher, but I'm not sure where. If you want more information, I can get you in touch with the people who recommended them, bc they don't post here much anymore. Both of those dr are through West Penn, so if you have Highmark insurance you might want to consider them. If you have upmc insurance definitely stick with a upmc doctor, bc it is anyone's guess what is going to happen in the next few years with the insurance and doctor/hospital disputes.

Save this info for me! Who were the old posters? That's exactly what I can't mesh with-an RE that won't try clomid (actually femara in my case) with me. I do O on my own but apparently it's not good enough. I know that what worked for #1 won't necessarily work for hypothetical #2 but I know we would like to start there before moving forward. I had a feeling I wouldn't mesh with sanfalippo. I've also heard that he has less tha stellar bedside manners. I may have been spoiled by my WV RE. He was really great and so was his staff. I could go back there-at least now I would qualify for the vouchers for lodging due to distance. I still carry in my waller the RX paper the nurse used to write down my instructions after the u/s showed maturing follies (when to trigger, TI 2x, progesterone to start 2-3 days later). My mom thinks I should frame it with a picture from our first u/s to keep in our room. Heh. It might not be a bad idea.

JLyn821 · August 2013

I saw/see Sanfillippo at Magee. I love him. He's definitely a lay all the options out type of doctor. Unlike some other ladies, I've never had any issues with their staff. In fact, I tend to talk with them more. The only issue I've had is with one of the med assistants who draws blood. She sucks! My arm hurts for hours after. The rest of the med assistants are good, though.

Because of my DH's less than stellar SA, Sanfillippo suggested we move to Clomid + IUI right away. I hadn't been Oing on my own at the time. Once we did our first IUI, I started Oing on my own again. Sanfillippo will give you a ton of options, but he was very upfront with me at my first appointment. He flat out told me that it's his job to get me pregnant. DH and I always liked how aggressive he was, too. We liked that he didn't want to just sugar-coat the whole thing. He wanted to get me pg.

Even now, after my BFP, the office has been wonderful. They brought me in for two beta draws. I also have an u/s next week and the following week. Once they get confirmation that everything is OK, only then will I be released to my OB.

I have had a great experience with this office.

Uptowngirl2009 · August 2013

@MRads, thank you! I didn't think about the insurance issue. We don't get Pittsburgh news stations where I live but when I was home at my parents' house this weekend, I saw tons of commercials about the UPMC/Highmark feud. I couldn't believe it!

Thanks for all your help, ladies!

rccola1981 · August 2013

I'm not a PGH lady, but many of my IRL friends are since I went to college out there. One of them went to Magee for her RE but I don't know which. She was impressed enough that she thought I should go there and drive 4-5 hours for everything.

carcrashheart · August 2013

I think sanfalippo/wakim are the only RE's at Magee

JLyn821 · August 2013

carcrashheart said:

I think sanfalippo/wakim are the only RE's at Magee

There are a couple more in that office. The only other one I can think of off the top of my head is Menke.

Uptowngirl2009 · August 2013

Wakim is the one that comes over to my doctor's office every once in a while. That really helped me make my decision to stay with my GYN for testing because if it's something that can't be handled there they can refer me to Wakim.

Pittsburgh area ladies come in

Re: Pittsburgh area ladies come in

Choose Another Board

Search Boards