Thank you

We wanted to tell Dr. D how much we appreciate everything that he did for us. We've been trying to conceive for 8 years, have done all of the tests and have no diagnosis. We came to Dominion because they offer natural cycle IVF and after doing 5 IUIs at Shady Grove and then taking a much needed break, we wanted to try natural cycle IVF. It was our first attempt at Dominion and we were blessed to hear that we were pregnant! After 2 weeks of rising HCG levels, I came in for one last test. The HCG number had not risen the last time, so when I came to the office, Dr. D did a sono "just to see what was going on".

He discovered that the pregnancy was ectopic - in my fallopian tube. This was not a viable pregnancy, so now after years of trying to conceive, I had to end it. I took the methotrexate which didn't work the first time, so I had another injection the following week. The staff understood my emotions and were very compassionate at each visit.

I felt perfectly normal physically until one evening I got terrible cramps. My cramps are usually pretty bad, but this was a sharp, sooting pain that stunned me. The nurses made it pretty clear that if I had pain to call the nurse's line right away. Alex was on call and she was so good to me. I could hear the concern in her voice as she recommended that I go to the emergency room and she called Dr. D. As we waited in the ER, Dr. D showed up to see how we were doing and to get us checked in. He got us admitted right away and explained what was going on. It was so comforting to have him there since he knew our whole history. I was surprised and impressed that he met us at the hospital that night, but that was just the beginning.

After my x-rays were taken at 1 a.m., he called me to tell me the results and to let me know they were going to surgically remove the cells from the fallopian tube to stop the pain and prevent it from bursting. The surgery was scheduled for 6 a.m. and when they brought me in they told me that Dr. D was performing the surgery! He assured me that he was going to do everything he could to save the tube (which he did) and I felt confident that things would go well (which they did). While I was in recovery, he spoke to my husband directly to tell him that everything went well and to answer any of his questions.

Given that Dr. D has performed the ultrasound monitoring for almost every one of my many visits to Dominion and does the same for all of his patients, I was floored that he would make the time to personally take such good care of me for my surgery.

The first natural cycle IVF I tried resulted in a pregnancy (even though it floated up to my fallopian tube and attached in the wrong place). I am definitely going to try again and am happy to trust Dominion with the procedure. Thanks Dr. D for taking such good care of us during a very difficult time. We appreciate all that you do!