Deciding about fertility preservation

justbreathe1

How did you decide about fertility preservation? Did you feeeze eggs. My cancer is ER + and PR +. I know they say the amount of hormones used to stimulate eggs is safe but is still worried me. Am I alone? Am I silly? Another option is the lupron shot. Did anyone have success? It's hard to figure out if you want kids or not but don't want to mess upy chances. Thanks

Moderators

Welcome to the BCO Forum where you'll find many willing to assist and tell of their own experiences. Feedback from here is useful to take to your next Doctor's appointment but only the doctor can give your specific case a professional opinion. Knowledge is power though and there is a wealth of knowledge here, and you are not alone here.

All the best with whatever decision you make, and keep us posted. Forum slow at the moment but people will find your question.

The Moderators

josgirl

Justbreathe,

I am about a year out now from diagnosis but remember the onslaught of required decisions all too well.  And for us younger women the trauma of the diagnosis includes the possibility of an impact on our fertility.  For me, I chose fertility preservation.  As you can see I am also ER and PR +.  I did the lupron shot.  I got my period back about 6 months after chemo but it was an agonizing wait and it doesn't necessarily mean I can have children naturally although it is better than not having it.  I chose the preservation because (with Fertile Hope's financial help) it just seemed too good to pass up.  However, I do not have a strong religious objection which would have complicated my decision.  For what it is worth the whole preservation process was the easiest part of the BC journey.  I thought giving myself injections would be impossible but I did it and the surgery was easy.  Just about one week of really bad bloating! And now being a year out (and 1.5 years out before I can even try to get pregnant since I am on Tamoxifan) I am very happy I did the preservation.  Hearing that I may never be able to have more children (I have one 2.5 yr old toddler) was a significant blow - one that I think I mourned in line with the threat to my life.  And now I find myself thinking of foster parenting and adoption as an equal alternative to having more biological children.    When my onc originally suggested adoption or surrogacy it felt like a kick in the gut.  Over time.....

 In terms of the drugs themselves, my fertility doc put me on a different cocktail than 'normal' infertility patients as to not give me additional estrogen.  I did the fertility preservation in between my lumpectomy and chemo so was about 9 weeks between lumpec and chemo (about as long as they usually want to wait but they understoodf my reasons).  If you do decide to pursue the fertility preservation google Fertile Hope (part of the livestrong org) for financial support - they were awesome!  The worst part of the lupron shot for me was the actual shot (holy crap a big needle) but the side effects were tolerable - hot flashes, irritability, and who knows if that was all lupron....certainly nothing else going on in my life  

Regardless, there are a lot of decisions with this journey that you can't go back and redo and you just have to do your research, ask (I learned so much here), and ultimately go with your gut. This part of the journey is tough and making all these decisions that you will live with for the rest of your life is PRESSURE.  But the fertility preservation for me was something that made me feel like I was keeping a part of myself intact that cancer couldn't touch. Please PM me if you have questions...

Viceroy

I decided to freeze my eggs before starting chemotherapy.  The egg retrieval process was somewhat painful and it took about a week to recover from it, but overall it wasn't as hard as I expected.  Giving myself shots was much easier than I expected.  I was a little disappointed that only 4 eggs made it to the bank but there isn't much that can be done about that now.

I started chemo the day after the egg retrieval, which wasn't my best decision.  It would have been better to wait a week or so.

mrskingcpa

I decided to freeze embryos before chemo.  Originally I wasn't going to since I'm taking goserelin for a few years but I decided that this was like an insurance policy.  I was actually trying to get pregnant when I was diagnosed.  I used Walgreens Heartbeat program to pay for my stimulation drugs.  I even have pictures of my little embryos on my phone and I look at them on hard days.