Coming off Tamoxifen early to become pregnant?

Tamox-in-Toronto

Been on tamoxifen for 1.5 years. BRCA+, diagnosed in April 2011 with stage 2B. Mastectomy, chemo (FEC and Tax) and radiation.

I was diagnosed six weeks before our wedding at age 35, just as we were trying to conceive. I went into temporary menopause for 10 months after chemo. After I started tamoxifen, my period returned! First every other month, now every month. My period is very light, but its a period nonetheless.

As I am now 38, and my ovarian reserve took a massive hit from chemo, and I need to have a full hysto because I am BRCA positive, I feel tremendous pressure to try to have a baby now.

My oncologist gives me dodgy answers about whether it is safe to go off tamoxifen early. It seems one needs to be on tamoxifen for 2 or 3 years to realize a benefit. So, I am considering going off tamoxifen in January 2014 and ttc. But I will also admit, I am afraid of going off tamoxifen early and worried about the effect pregnancy could have on recurrence. My ovarian reserve is super low now (.6), but my FSH is good at 8. I know that my fertility window is rapidly closing and I don't have the luxury of time. My oncologist also has told me that new research shows that women should be on tamoxifen for 10 years, not just 5.

Has anyone faced these issues? I really appreciate anyone else's experience. I just don't know what to do!

Moderators

Hi Tamox-in-Toronto, and welcome to BCO.

Until members post with suggestions, the main Breastcancer.org site has a section called "Ask The Expert Conferences" that includes a similar case to yours answered by an expert, and we think you might find it interesting. Here is the link: http://www.breastcancer.org/treatment/planning/ask_expert/2006_04/question_07

We hope you find it helpful.

---The Mods

xirlo

Hi Tamox-in-Toronto.

I recently had a very detailed discussion with my oncologist about this. (Incidentally I was also diagnosed weeks before my wedding as well so I am facing the same questions!) It is an area of study where it appears the mode of thinking is changing now. Have you seen this study? It is quite recent.

http://jco.ascopubs.org/content/31/1/73.abstract

I have this article as well as a less technical version which I can send you if you are interested. Here's a video with the lead author of the paper:

http://ecancer.org/video/1338/pregnancy-following-oestrogen-receptor-positive-breast-cancer-is-safe.php

Some women in this study didn't even wait 2 years on tamoxifen and went ahead and got pregnant. That group did not have an increased recurrence rate than women who didn't have children in that time. The older mode of thinking was that the hormones during pregnancy would feed any ER+ cancer cells while tamoxifen would block these from developing. This study suggests that pregnancy does not promote a cancer recurrence.

The highest probability of recurrence is within 2 years of the diagnosis. Tamoxifen will have its greatest benefit in those years then. I think its a good idea to wait out that two years and concentrate on your health then. But in reality, there's a quality of life as well. My oncologist more or less said if I wanted to try to get pregnant, I should go off tamoxifen for three months and start trying. I am a bit apprehensive about that (less than 1 year out from diagnosis!) so I think I will wait my two years. Perhaps you could ask your oncologist if he's seen this article and talked to his colleagues about it? (thats what mine did before revising his opinion on it)

Also about the 5 yr vs 10 yrs on tamoxifen. If you look closely at that study, the benefit from the added 5 years was very small. However, I guess that any added benefit is worth it for women who tolerate tamoxifen well.  

These are such tough questions but I think the studies are looking very optimistic for us women who are still looking to have families after BC. Please feel free to get in touch with me to talk about this more, I have thought/researched this topic a lot. 

I wish you all the best in your decision making and the future!

Take care.

Tamox-in-Toronto

Hello Xirlo,

Thank you so much for your post - it is very useful and I really appreciate your comments/thoughts. I am sorry to hear that you were also diagnosed shortly before your wedding - I sympathize completely with what an awful time that was for you.

I wish you all the best in your recovery and best wishes to one day have a family of your own.

I sent you a private comment with my email - I would really appreciate if you could send me the information that you have on the subject of fertility after cancer. I am really struggling with this issue right now.

Cheers,

Tamox-in-Toronto

rozem

tamox in toronto ( im in toronto too!) there is another thread on the young bc  board "coming off tamox early to have a baby" that has over 200 posts, maybe you could jump in there and ask your questions

KC71579

I came off of Tamoxifen 19 months in with my team's blessing. Oncologist told me it could take a full year to get pregnant after Tamoxifen. It took us 9 months to get pregnant, and I am now 32 weeks along with our baby girl and perfectly healthy so far Good luck!

Tamox-in-Toronto

Hi KC71579,



Thank you so much for sharing your experience. Wishing you and your beautiful baby good health! I was wondering if you did chemo?

Are you planning to go back on Tamox after delivering?



I feel that oncologist's have varying opinions on coming off Tamox early but it sea the new research is demonstrating that pregnancy after breast cancer is not as unsafe as was once thought and in fact does not increase risk of recurrence.



I am encouraged by hearing your story. I desparately want to come off tamox early and conceive, just need to get a little more comfortable with the mess of information out there and get my husband a lot more comfortable with the risk.



Thanks!



Tamox-in-Toronto

KC71579

I didn't have chemo. I had 33 rounds of radiation and then Tamoxifen. It is my plan to go back on Tamoxifen but it will be discussed in June at my next appointment after delivery. I was also diagnosed 5 months before my wedding back in 2010 so these concerns about getting pregnant were on the table from the start. My suggestion is to find a doctor that supports you in wanting a family. My oncologist once told me it was my job to live my life, and her job to worry about my cancer. I have been to two high risk perinatologists, both of which told me emphatically that breast cancer recurrence is not increased at all with pregnancy and in fact, I am being treated as a normal patient. Lastly, breastfeeding lowers estrogen levels in the body. It isn't my choice to breastfeed, but it was presented as an option as well :-)

Rebex

Hi ladies,

I am a frequent reader but have never chimed in so to speak. I feel at a lost and hoping for some advice and support.



I am 32 years old and diagnosed 5 weeks ago with stage 1, estrogen/progesterone positive, HER2 negative breast cancer, no nodes were involved. I am also BRCA 2 positive. I am currently 4 weeks post op from a bilateral mastectomy.



Yesterday we met with my Oncologist who advised us that 3 rounds of chemo would be the best course of action followed by 5-10 years of Tamoxifen.



We were hoping to get pregnant within the next month (by IVF) before I was diagnosed so we asked about fertility. The Oncologist told me I have a 70% chance of recurrence if I get pregnant due to being an estrogen positive cancer and recommended I freeze the embryos and obtain a surrogate. I asked about stopping the Tamoxifen after 2 years to achieve a pregnancy and she said she didn't recommend it seeing as I am BRCA positive.



We are devastated. We had our hearts on adding to our family and of course I want nothing more than the carry my own baby.



Does anyone have any insight? Is there anyone who is in the same situation and could share their experience?

Tamox-in-Toronto

Hello Rebex,



Firstly, let me say that I am sorry for what you are going through and I understand the emotional roller coaster. I am also BRCA 2 and I was diagnosed with stage 2B IDC at 35, exactly 2 years ago. It was six week before our wedding and we were trying to conceive at the time. I had a bi lateral mastectomy, 6 rounds of chemo (FEC-D) and 5 weeks of rads.



We were able to slip in one round of IVF before my mastectomy, with the future hope of a baby through surrogacy, but unfortunately none of our embryos worked out. So I completely sympathize with what you are going through - not only dealing with cancer, but also fertility and the complexities of BRCA.



My advice to you based on my experience is to deal with one thing at a time. Fortunately you caught your cancer early and your long term prognosis with stage 1 is excellent. Even my stage 2B diagnosis left me with over 90% odds of survival in 10 years provided I complete the recommended treatment regimin, and your odds are even better.



Chemo can be difficult, but you will get through it. You need to focus your energy on getting through this next phase of your treatment, then worry about fertility.



I can share with you from my experience, that oncologists will differ in their opinions, and you should consider a second and even third opinion with regard to not only your treatment but also your fertility. Not sure where you are in Ontario, but in Toronto there are 2 "fertility specialits" for oncology patients: Dr. Greenblatt at Mount Sinai and Dr. Glass at Sunnybrook/Women's. We've dealt with both, and I highly recommend Dr. Glass (and to avoid Greenblatt like the plague). Dr. Glass is very experienced, up to date on research, and has a very kind bedside manner - she will educate you and help you in any way she can.



Your oncologist sounds like mine - very against becoming pregnant after cancer. However, many women have and there is research (new research) to suggest that pregnancy after breast cancer does not increase risk of recurrence. Another oncologist may have different information and I'd strongly suggest that you get 2nd or 3 rd opinions on your fertility. Even if you decide you can't bear the risk of carrying yourself, you can use a surrogate if you continue to produce eggs, or use donor eggs, or adopt.



We tried our embryos with a surrogate and it didn't work out, but later this year after I have been on Tamox for a full 2 years, I will go off and we will try to get pregnant, either myself or through a surrogate. I want to get pregnant myself, my husband wants to use a surrogate - we'll sort it out later. We are also looking into adoption as there are many wonderful children who need a loving home.



As for your BRCA, I'm not sure why your oncologist mentioned you cannot have a baby because of carrying the gene, except that there is a 50-50 chance of passing the gene onto your baby. You can do pre- implantation genetic diagnosis to select embryos that are not carriers, or if BRCA is kinder to men in your family, select male embryos (you cannot obviously select sex for any other reason than a sex-linked disease in Ontario).



I hope this is helpful. Stay strong and remember that your fertility window is not necessarily closed - just delayed.



I do have a couple of articles on women getting pregnant after breast cancer I can sen you if you are interested.



Cheers,



Tamox-in-Toronto

Rebex

Hi Tamox-in-Toronto,



Thank you so much for your response!! I don't have anyone that I can really talk through different scenarios with where they can offer advice so I appreciate you taking the time to offer your help.



I am so sorry you are going through something similar and I hope you get your miracle this year :-) while We are very thankful that we have a 7 year old beautiful daughter we dream of giving her a sibling one day and answering her every wish.



I guess the Oncologist telling us we can never get pregnant and to start thinking of a surrogate really caught us off guard. Of course I have accepted we cannot continue with our planned IVF cycle next month but I thought a couple years down the road we can visit it again especially after reading that so many woman have been successfully doing so.



I am in Kitchener so Toronto isn't far. I have been thinking of getting another opinion so I will take your advice and call Dr. Glass.



I would appreciate if you would send me those articles you have - Thank you!!!



One step at a time...I really have to remember that! i am not a patient person lol. I have a tendency of wanting to take it all on and solve everything as fast as I can. All this waiting right now is killing me.



Good luck with everything!

Youngwithbc

Hi there.. I'm really surprised your oncologist would say 70% chance of recurrence? Where did they get that statistic? I am in Toronto as well, and from the discussions I've had with my oncologist (who is highly involved with research and stays up to date with current studies), there aren't great studies out there supporting pregnancy increasing your risk of recurrence, and in fact, the studies show that it does not increase your risk. I agree about not worrying about it for right now (although easier said than done, I am in the same boat, and it's on my mind at a lot!).. but definitely get some other opinions, both from a fertility specialist, and perhaps an oncologist at princess margaret, and see what their take is. I'll be interested to see what you hear. Definitely don't lose hope!

Also, Tamox-in-Toronto... I'm interested to know why you said to avoid Dr. Greenblatt? I saw her before starting treatment and felt she was quite smart and experienced. She was also highly recommended by my family doctor, whose opinion I trust a lot. So it's possible people have different experiences. Hoping you can share what you didn't like though! I didn't actually go through the procedure with her, just met her for a consultation and an ultrasound.

Rebex

Hi Youngwithbc,



The oncologist said there was a 70% recurrence rate and that because it's estrogen positive breast cancer the pregnancy will feed it to grow.



This is all so confusing! I have calls out for more opinions

Youngwithbc

I'm still surprised they would say 70% or any definitive number for that matter, because there isn't evidence out there to support that. Here is a study that specifically looked at ER positive women who got pregnant and the impact on their survival. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23169515  Maybe ask your onc where they got their number from? I'm interested to hear what your other sources say, I have a feeling there might be some conflicting opinions.. in your favour! Definitely don't give up hope.

Rebex

Thanks Youngwithbc :-)



I spoke with the nurse navigator today at different facility. She also said the information I have received doesn't sound accurate. She is going to get me in to speak to the 'breast oncologist' next week at that hospital. They specialize in high risk breast cancer patients. I asked about discontinuing the Tamoxifen after two years of taking it to be able to achieve a pregnancy then continuing it again afterwards and she said "it's hard to get an Oncologist to agree with that". I guess we will see next week.

In the meantime, starting the process tomorrow to freeze some embryos and hopefully the fertility physician will be able to answer more questions.



Thank you for the link! I plan on doing as much research as possible and present at my appointments.

Tamox-in-Toronto

Hi Rebex:

Below, please find 4 studies which demonstrate that pregnancy after bc does not increase risk of recurrance. I also have 3 more studies in pdf, but cannot attach them here. I'll send you a private message and see if that works.

2 years ago, my oncologist at PMH was against pregnancy after bc. Today, she is of the opinion that the safest course of action is to remain on tamoxifen for 5 or 10 years and then consider pregnancy,  however the largest benefit of tamoxifen is in the first 2-3 years. She says that if some women have a strong desire to try and have a family, they generally can consider temporarily going off tamoxifen after 2-3 years, have their baby, and go back on tamoxifen for the balance of their 5 or 10 year course.

My experience is that the 'old' school of thought was that in hormone recepter positive bc, pregnancy after diagnosis would fuel recurrence because pregnancy causes sharp and prolonged rise in hormones. However, this was not based on science but deductive reasoning and medical hunches. The new studies actually demonstrate the opposite - in these studies, pregnancy after bc, even in hormone positive bc women, did not increase risk of recurrance, and in some cases provided a protective benefit.

What I'm not clear on is the safety of IVF drugs after hormone positive bc....I know that they can control circulating levels of estrogen with Letrozole during IVF but I am not aware that any studies have been done to examine the safety of IVF after bc...may be risky...

Rebex, I really hope this information will help you have a more detailed evidence-based discussion with your oncologist, and help you come to a decision about what is right for you and your family. It is frustrating that we as patients need to navigate the information and try to get to the right information.

I wish you all the best in your recovery and if you have any more questions, please don't hesitate to ask.

http://m.jco.ascopubs.org/content/early/2012/11/16/JCO.2012.44.2285.abstract

http://www.bmj.com/content/334/7586/194

http://jco.ascopubs.org/content/31/1/73.abstract

http://ecancer.org/video/1338/pregnancy-following-oestrogen-receptor-positive-breast-cancer-is-safe.php

Cheers,

Tamox-in-Toronto

Tamox-in-Toronto

Hello Young with bc,

I will share my experience with Dr. Greenblatt:

Dr. Greenblatt was also highly recommended by my family doctor. She is really the one most family physicians turn to for fertility issues in cancer patients. Our initial meetings with her went well - she saw us right away, seemed very knowledgable, seemed kind and compassionate. We did a round of IVF before I started treatments and froze embies. However, a year later when it came time to use a surrogate and try to have a baby with our frozen embies, she was a nightmare. I waited over 4 months for an appointment, only to be seen 2 hours late and then rushed through our appointment. She even got up after 5 minutes and said she had other patients to see and to make another appointment to see her to get my questions answered. I was in tears. Her nurse even apologized for her behaviour. I then had to wait another 4 months for another appointment. She also told me that after chemo my "ovaries were done" (her words), and there was no chance of ever conceiving again. I again left her office in tears. None of our embryos survived thaw. We went to another fertility clinic, and discovered there was a problem with my husband which was likely why our embryos didn't survive. It was a simple test she could have done to identify the problem and it could have been dealt with using ICSI. I also have a second opinion that my ovaries are working and I may be able to conceive. I find her harsh, rude, not at all thourough, and her mistake may have caused us to miss our only opportunity to have a baby. This is totally unacceptable to me, especially since we paid almost $15000 to go through IVF. It is infuriating. Her nurse suggested I make another appointment to discuss the problems I was having...but I would have waited 6 months for that appointment...totally and utterly objectionable. All while time to have a baby is not on my side because of my age...I wasted 2 years waiting for appointments with her to make things happen.

I have spoken to other patients who have had the experience of her being very accomodating at the beginning, but once they were through treatment had a similar experience of neglect, insensitivity, rudeness and appointments months out and months in between.

Anyway, this is my experience with her.

I find CREATE the opposite...they share your sense of urgency and will do what they can to help you.

Cheers,

Tamox-in-Toronto

slg76

Hello everyone,

I can relate to the hard decisions you are trying to make right now.  I was dx at 33 y/o while pregnant with my first child.  Because of the pregnancy I could not do any fertility preservation.  Thank goodness my 3 year old daughter and I are both healthy right now.  I am currently on my first cycle of fertility meds to try for baby #2. 

I consulted three oncologist regarding this issue as well as a family member who is also an oncologist.  The advise certainly varied between them!  The best advise I can give is to find a doctor who you trust and then inform yourself by reading the most recent research! Also, make sure that when you doctor gives you advise it is based on science and not on thier own eithical beliefs.  You can make ethical decisions for yourself!  I am a scientist and I am thrilled to see the women on this thread arming themselves with real research data!

I agree with some of the other posts in saying that reserach shows that pregnancy after cancer does NOT increase your risk of recurrence. Of course as a mom I will say that the effects of a recurrence are bigger when you have children to take care of. I have never seen anything like a 70% risk and my cancer is also estrogen pos. 

As far as tamoxifen goes...there is no good data to support the safety or risk of coming off early.  As I understand it there is a slightly increased risk of recurrence but it is slight.  The data I have seen says that 10 years provides no measureable increase in protection over 5 years of treatment.  Also, the protection seems to be cummulative so while it would be ideal to do 5 consecutive years of tamoxifen, you still get a benefit if you take a break during the treatment.  That said, I stayed on tamoxifen for a year and a half and then came off.  I will go back on tamoxifen after i (hopefully) have another child and will finish five years of treatment.  

My onc. specialized in pregnancy and cancer.  She gave me the thumbs up after one year of tamoxifen to have another baby or even two.  She does insist that I go back on tamoxifen after I finish having children and breast feeding.  

This is such a personal decision and the data can be very confusing.  In the end I decided that I needed to be responsible about my own health but could not let my cancer dictate the course of the rest of my life.  

I work with a fertility doctor that specialized in post-cancer patients.  I'm so lucky!  She feels that while IVF drugs do raise hormone levels above the physiological range, the spike is temporary and thus not likely to cause a recurrence risk.  Oral fertility meds, especially letrazole, keep estrogen levels down near a physiological level and are even less of a risk.  I think at this point no study about the safety of fertility meds has been published.  My doctor just concluded a study but the data won't be available for another year or so.  

Mandy85

Hello everyone, my husband and I are going throught the same thing. I was dx with BC in 2011, while planing our wedding. Finsihed my radiation and now on Tamoxifen for 20 months. Last talk to my Oncogoloist about our chance of pregency after tamoxifen, my onc NP told us becuase I am in menopause the chance of me getting pregnant is low because I will had no eggs for it. So now we decided to come off early for a baby and finish it later. She did a blood test and find that I am in perimenopause. Now need to talk to fertility speicailist for it. My onc NP told us that if we decided to come off early, we need to wait a year before trying for a baby.

Thanks you for the articles, will read them later.

slg76

Hi Mandy, welcome!

My fertility went to pot during my treatment.  I was pregnant when diagnosed and with my daughter we only tried for 3 months before we concieved.  I didn't have a period for two years while doing radiation then tamoxifen.  I took 18 months of tamoxifen and have been off now for 9 months or so. My period returned but I don't ovulate on my own anymore and I have very low ovarian reserve (not many eggs left).  Technically my blood work thinks I'm walking the line of menopause too.  I'm working with a fertility specialist who says that she has seen people in worse fertlity situations than me get pregnant.  I didn't resond to oral fertility meds and now I'm working on moving on to injectables. My fertility specialist thinks we have a fairly good chance of getting pregnant on injectables and that injectables give us a better chance than IVF since our problem is low egg number. 

I'm wondering why you were told to wait a year?  Because of recurrence?  Tamoxifen can't be taken while pregnant but it only stays in your system for a few weeks after you stop taking it. In my non-medical opinion you may want to ask another doctor or two about that.  If your fertility window is closing it may not be a good idea to wait an extra year. 

As far as I know there are not any long-term follow ups with woman who did fertility treatment after bc. But there are some short-term surveys done which indicate that the fertiltiy treatment did not increase recurrence risk.  Estrogen levels can get high during fertility treatment but it is only for a short period of time.  I am using letrizole during injectable treatments to help keep my estrogen levels lower, my doctor says this minimizes any risk there might be and does not inhibit the growth of follicles in the ovaries.  

Interestingly, just yesterday my fertility doctor told me that recently she has had two post-cancer patients get pregnant.  The injectable cycles did not work but after the treatment cycles the woman became pregnant naturally.  She believes the meds may "prime the pump" and cause future success.

Good luck all!  I love checking in here and remembering that I'm not alone in this mess!

Mandy85

Hi slg76, my onc NP told me to wait a year for the med to wear off from my body if I am to to get pregnant. My onc first told me that I can wait for couple months before trying for a baby, but then his NP told me a year. So it confuss my husband and I, but we believe her since they are medical people while we aren't.

Sorry to hear that you don't ovulate anymore, for me, we don't know yet. I am schedule to see a specialist this month. We'll see what the specialist will tell us, a year or just couple of months to wait.

Good luck to you too.

Yea, me too, love coming here to read and get support from everyone. Knowing that I am not alone in this mess.

slg76

Hi Mandy. Good to hear back from you.  I'm always to happy when new people find our little group.

I don't ovulate on my own anymore but I do take a medication every month that forces my body to ovulate.  I still have a decent shot at getting pregnant.  I have to say that I sometimes feel guilty talking about my fertility problems so much because I do have a beautiful daughter that just turned 3.  We would love to give her a sibling but we are blessed just to have her. 

hmmmm, I hope you do get more opinions about how long you need to wait.  My fertility doctor who specializes in cancer patients had me wait 3 weeks.  The half life of tamoxifen is only 5-7 days.  If you aren't familiar that means that it takes 5-7 days for your body to get rid of half of the medication.  So for a generic example, if you start with 100 units: after one week you would have 50 units left, after two weeks you would have 25 units left, three weeks would be 12.5 units and so on.  I'm NOT a doctor but I am a scientist and trust me; you should NOT believe everything a doctor tells you.  Please do your own reserch and ask lots of questions.  After all, nobody is as invested in your life and health as you are!!!

Exciting that you will be moving on to a possible pregnancy soon!  Will this be your first child?

Mandy85

Hi slg76,Yea, I plan to do more of my own research. So my husband and I went to the GYN to check why I am experincing bleeding after 18 months. Next week we'll be going to see a fertility specialist to see the opion about pregancy. So back to our apointment yesterday, my OBGYN told me that I can still get pregnant after the medicine. Told me to wait 3 years and then go for a baby. He said it's pretty much to me and my husband. They did a in office biopsy on me to see what is wrong, affraid that it might be cancer due to taking Tamoxifen.

So we will not be able to know until next month to go back for the follow up. Also I need to do a ultrasound for it too. It's just too much to think, but we are opitmastic about it.  I think I am still ovulate, we don't know it yet. My OBGYN didn't said much about druge for me yet. But did mention about IUD for me. Which my husband and I decline that option. Don't like it.  

All I know is that my onc NP said it will take a year to get out of my body. I really don't know what I should believe, she said I might not be able to have children after the treatment, and than the OBGYN said I can still get pregnant. I really need to research more of it. I might go asks a second opinion.

Slg76, I know what you mean, you are bless with one child but sometime you feel you want another child. So this only one is not along. I really hope you will success in achieving your dream of having a second child.

Yes, this will be my first child.

Mandy

Vhatcher77

Hello bc warriors!

I am 36, diagnosed at 33, completed the whole run, chemo, radiation and surgery. I have been on tamoxifen for almost two years. My husband and I never had children and tried fertility before treatment with no success. We went from diagnosis, to fertility clinic and my eggs did not stimulate well. The md said it could have been my norm, related to the stress I was under or an indirect effect of the cancer. Regardless it has been a hope of my husband and I to get pregnant.



My oncologist has been very supportive of trying and did suggest that we wait at least two years, then after a month or two we can start trying. My two year mark on tamoxifen is in December. I am anxious to get started but also worried about the risks. It is good to read the research that all of you have posted about being pregnant not increasing your risks but each individual deals with their own inner demons on making the right choices about what we are comfortable with taking risks on. In my opinion I feel that I will not have contributed to my life without experiencing loving someone else that came from me.



I felt so compelled to write to all of you because reading your blogs have inspired me to move forward with my decision to try and become a mom. Cancer will not win for any of us and I thank you all for your words of encouragement and information. I wish you all luck in your fertility and pray that we are all blessed with good news.



Virginia

velo

Hi - I've posted in the other thread but I thought I would chime in here. I note that Tamox-in-Toronto mentions spending 15k on IVF, so I thought information on Fertile Future might help Rebex, also in Ontario. (and any other Canadians)

http://fertilefuture.ca/

Check which IVF clinics are on the list. I got a significant discount on the price of IVF (which unfortunately for me did not result in any embryos) due to being a cancer patient.

Tamox-in-Toronto, have you had a hysterectomy yet? I've heard so many stories where doctors were wrong. 

Virginia - have your periods resumed after chemotherapy? 

karma1330

Does anyone know how expensive is to freeze your eggs? is there any financial assistance for cancer survivors?

Thanks.

slg76

I have seen a lot of programs that offer discounted or free egg freezing for cancer patients who have not yet started chemo.  Sorry I don't have details since I didn't use any of them.  Egg freezing wasn't an option for me but I have a friend who is due in two weeks with her first child from an embryo that she froze before treatment. 

EricaB

I used fertile hope. They paid for all the meds and a few other things. It would have been 10k plus meds. With fertile hope, it was 6700 for everything. Unfortunately, it didn't work for me. Hoping to take a few months off of tamoxifen after a year to try again.

Teema

Hello ladies,

It is my first time on this forum and I have found it very helpful. Particularly the discussion on coming off tamoxifen and pregnancy after breast cancer. I live in Leeds, UK and I am 35 and I was recently diagnosed with invasive breast cancer, stage 1, grade 2 with no lymph node involvement, the cancer was ER+, Pr+ and HER+. Prior to the diagnosis, I was thinking of getting pregnant.

I had an appointment with a fertility specialist to discuss my options before the treatment starts and she was very unhelpful. She was an hour late for the appointment and it was hurried and I felt like an inconvenience. It felt like she could not wait to get the appointment over with. The whole exercise felt as if it was just a tick box exercise for her, as it is part of the treatment plan to offer fertility advice to younger women going through cancer treatment in the UK. She discussed the option of freezing my eggs and she pretty much suggested getting pregnant after breast cancer was not a good idea. I found her very negative and unhelpful.

Needless to say, I am very encouraged by the content of the discussion on this forum as it has provided me with some useful information which I can use in my discussion with the oncologist. I have an appointment with him/her tomorrow 17/10/13 to discuss the treatment plan but I was told previously that it would include tamoxifen, radiotherapy and possibly chemo and Herceptin. I was very worried about the risks associated with pregnancy after treatment for breast cancer and I also wanted more information on whether it would be advisable to come off tamoxiifen to try to conceive.

I know there will always be a slight risk but I was very encouraged with the stories shared on this forum and the information on the links that Tamox-in-Toronto provided, so thank you!

I wish all you ladies out there going through treatment for cancer or dealing with the aftermath, luck and I hope there will be many more who continue to provide inspiration to others in a similar position.

Thanks,

Teema

slg76

Hi Teema, Welcome! I love seeing all the new names here recently! I'm sorry about your diagnosis and sorry that your apt with the fertility specialist didn't go well. So disappointing. I'm glad that you have some information to know that you DO have some options to consider. I hope that your oncologist will be much more supportive and helpful. Let us know what he/she says. I, and all of us I'm sure, are here to support you not only about pregnancy but also through your treatment should you find us helpful. Hang in there and know that things WILL get better.

Teema

Hello slg76

Thanks for the reply. The appointment with my Oncologist was very positive. She was very understanding and she suggested that I should go for fertility preservation. She also said they could also give me mediation that could reduce the effect of chemo on my ovaries which I found reassuring.

I started the IVF cycle and hopefully have 1 more week to go before the egg collection, if everything goes well. I'm a bit worried though because I found a lump at the back of my neck. I'm hoping it's nothing to worry about but I'm now very paranoid. I don't think I can handle any more bad news at this point.