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| Monterey Bay IVF Staff with a precious bundle of joy! |
Dear Blog Readers,
We get many letters from our infertility patients, both from those who are successful and from those who are not. I thought that perhaps sharing a few with you might allow you to see a little of what goes on before, after and during a patient's treatment path with us at Monterey Bay IVF.
FAVORITE LETTERS...
Secondary Infertility leads to success and a precious sibling...
Dear Dr. Ramirez,
I have thanked you a thousand times in my head and I’m finally sitting down to write you a proper note, although no words can truly express how grateful we are to you for this precious little boy. J will have his first birthday next week and he has already brought so much love and joy to our family. He is so sweet and so happy. He has completed our family and was the missing piece we prayed for and longed for. We will always be thankful for you and the attention and care you provided every step of the way in our journey that led us to him. Thank you, thank you, for the wonderful blessing you have given our family!
Sincerely, A. & J. B.
A Miracle Baby For An Older Mom:
Dr. Ramirez, Lisa, Karen, Elvira, Juana and Melissa,
Emily Ann was born on October 22, 2011 and since then she has been growing by leaps and bounds! She weighed 7 pounds, 14 ounces at birth and is now pushing towards 20 pounds and is close to 29 inches long! I can't thank you enough for helping make my dream of becoming a mother come true. Even though other clinics turned me down because of my age, you did not and now I cannot imagine life without her...and it is thanks to you.
As you know I show horses competitively...so arena dust covers this baby! We've lost track of how many ropings, sortings and gymkhanas she has hauled "her" horse (stuffed lovey) Henry to. In April, she braved an all-day branding in sweltering heat surrounded by long-horned cattle--and kept on smiling! She is a mellow soul and happy traveler.
Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
Love Mom and Emily.
South Korean Success With PGD:
Dear Dr. Ramirez,
Hello! This is Anna and Doyoung from South Korea. We hope you guys are fine. Our boy, Seojin who you help us give him a birth has become 8 months old already. Thank you so much for your kind and delicate care. Our IVF journey to U.S.A. could be successful thanks to you guys. Our entire family is so happy because of our son.
Dr. Ramirez and scientist Lisa, you guys did great job. Keep up good working and give a lot of family happiness. Karen, Elvira and Juana...we miss you guys and beautiful Monterey.
Sincerely, Anna and Doyoung
A triple blessing:
Dr. Ramirez,
The girls are all home and continue to do well! Caroline and Lauren were discharged within days of each other following an essentially uneventful 9 weeks in the NICU. Natalie faced more challenges because of her smaller size, but she was discharged one day after my due date and we have every reason to believe that her future will be one of good health!
Choosing IVF has been the best decision that we've ever made--every moment with them has been a joy. Thank you so much for our three beautiful daughters.
Take care, A. & J.
A Letter From Serbia:
Dear Dr. Ramirez,
I would like to apologise at the very beginning for not writing this letter much earlier, due to various circumstances. I know that you will understand and will forgive me for this.
This is a letter in which I would like to tell you everything I couldn’t tell you in the past months, because of our language barrier. What made it much easier for me, was the fact that I could almost understand everything you were saying, and also the fact that the face can sometimes speak more than words. I was upset every time when I came to your clinic because I couldn’t take part in conversations in which I yearned to tell you all what a big heart you all had, how kind, patient, gentle you all were, and more than anything else-how very professional you all were. I’ve been telling all my friends and family how amazing you were and what an incredible joy it was to a patient of the doctor that you trust endlessly and who did his best to help you reach our common goal.
In Serbia, I am sad to say, that is often not the main priority, the focus very often shifts to the material side of the problem, not the “outcome”, doctors can be quite cruel and inaccessible, so it will come as now wonder that Slobodan and I are so enchanted with you.
I would like to extend my deepest gratitude to you for:
• The initial phone conversation with Slobodan from Belgrade, when we heard a calm and encouraging voice and only guessed everything that we were lucky to see for real later.
• For the first time we met you, when you confirmed everything that we believed was true – that we are in the right hands of the man with enormous experience and even bigger success, the man who emits positive energy and cannot but be trusted immediately, the man who finds it very important to respect his patient.
• For the kind staff that you have. Special thanks to Elvira, the lady with the most engaging smile, who was like a member of our own family and who always helped us unselfishly. She was always there for me when I needed her most, she knew and understood all my fears, sorrows and strange reactions, and even though we couldn’t communicate with words; our looks helped us communicate perfectly well. I want to thank her for her patience, understanding and all the love and warmth she gave us (I could go on about Elvira for days, and everyone who knows her will understand what I am talking about). I also want to thank Juana, who was always ready to talk to my husband, she has so much positive energy, she is communicative and funny, that’s why I was so sorry I couldn’t take part in all the funny conversations they had, since humour and laughter is also in my nature. Thanks to Karen and Melissa, for all the professional help and advice, for warmth and moral support that they have given us. And also a big thank- you to your cordial wife on her support. She can best understand what we went through, and although we were not lucky to have been seeing her more often, when we did see her, it was always to our greatest pleasure, particularly because her origins also go back to the Balkans.
• Thank you for your attempts and wishes to make us become parents, for all your suggestions, plans and the programme that were always in our best interest, for all the financial considerations that helped us save a great deal of money. Thank you for always suggesting cooperation that protected our interests.
• Thank you for looking after my health while trying to make our wish come true. Now I can tell you that I am more than satisfied with the treatment I got, that I went through everything without a single serious symptom or complaint. Had I known all this in advance, I would have been more relaxed at the very beginning of the procedure. Now I know that there was no need to panic or to be afraid when I trust you and your decisions 200%.
• Thank you for praying for me, though I didn’t understand your words, I know for certain that our prayers were identical, honest and came from our hearts. For me, they had an extremely important significance, since I felt at times that I was distancing myself from God and you kept giving me back this hope and reminding me that God is always with us and is waiting for us to talk to him.
I don’t know if I managed to express all my feelings and if I managed to thank you all, but with this letter, I wanted you to know that we are more than happy with the service we got from you, that we are not disappointed but rather sure that you did your best to make this thing work and that we just lacked that little bit of luck. Nevertheless, we returned home satisfied that we were lucky enough to have been in beautiful California, it is only now that we realize what a magical place it was. We are happy to have met you and made new friends, and most importantly, happy because of “our babies” who are waiting for us there.
There are many reasons for us to be happy and satisfied and many reasons that make us look forward to our going back to California. I hope that everything will be just fine and that the conditions will be ideal for us to return in May, as planned.
Until then, many regards and kisses to you and all your staff!
Yours, Jelena Avramovic from far away Serbia
A Letter From A Patient Who Used A Surrogate & Had A Healthy Baby:
Dear Dr. Ramirez and the entire staff at Monterey Bay IVF,
Words cannot even begin to express, nor do they seem sufficient enough to convey our level of gratitude for all that you have done for our family. Our appreciation extends way beyond how thankful we are for the many years of experience you have acquired in this field, and your incredibly high level of expertise. Your staff truly is a testament to what kind of miracles can result when you combine teamwork, compassion, and an exceptionally high level of patient care. I don\'t think you will ever truly realize what a large part each and every one of you played in assisting us to begin to fill the void our hearts were left with, and the tremendous joy that we have once again found. Thank you so much for helping make our dreams a reality. It is still so hard to comprehend how such an unbelievably miraculous member was added to our family who will now experience with us all that this wonderful world has to offer: as we continue on this amazing journey we call life.
Please don't ever stop doing such amazing work and caring as much as you do.You have brought joy to so many families.
In appreciation, The "W" family
A Letter From A Patient Who Failed Two IVF Cycles:
Dr. Ramirez, Karen, Elvira, Melissa & O.R. Staff,
We thank you all for your care and dedication in helping us through these two IVF cycles. There are no words to express our heartfelt gratitude for your support during the good and not so good times in the process. Although the treatments did not result in the desired outcome, we do appreciate your hard work and solidarity.
We know you did a remarkable job and it was a pleasure to interact with the entire staff. For now, our plans are to have fun! Later on, we will revisit our goals and options. If we decide to give IVF a try again, we will surely contact your office! :) May God Bless You, with great respect, E. & W. O.
A Letter From A Patient Who Had Triplets:
Dear Dr. Ramirez and Staff,
Thank you so much for helping K. and I achieve our dreams of being parents! We are thrilled to be pregnant with triplets & praise God for y'all! Thank you for all of the time you spent with us, the ease in scheduling appointments, and your help in filing insurance claims. We will stay in touch and keep you posted on our three little blessings. May God continue to bless your practice! L. & K. G.
