Fertility Treatments

So last Thursday I went a fertility doctor to figure out my options for the future. I needed to see a fertility specialist because I have a tumor on my last ovary. This tumor is not supposed to be cancerous and I am going to get a surgery to get the tumor removed. My doctor told me he wanted me to see a specialist before he did the surgery in case he had to take out my ovary. I had my left ovary removed when I had my first surgery back in October. If I lose my last ovary I will go into “forced menopause”, I think it’s called that, and I won’t be able to have kids.

The appointment was just supposed to be a consultation and my mom and I were going to get information on my options. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to go through with the treatments. I was nervous and scared and I didn’t mind the idea of adopting my kids.

However, when I got there my fertility specialist just started talking to me like I was going through with the procedure. My mom really wanted me to do it and they both made a really good point. I can always just go through it so I have that option later down the road. I started preparing myself for everything I would need to do and I became more comfortable with the idea.

My doctor went over the basics of what the procedure would be like and everything I will need to do. The whole process is 2 weeks and I will need to take medicine during those weeks that will increase my hormone and estrogen level. On the 36^th hour of the last day, I will go into the hospital and prepare for surgery. The surgery will be very minor and my anesthesia will be light. It will feel like I am in a twilight. I have never had any teeth pulled, but I think it is the same feeling when they put you to sleep. While I’m asleep, they will go and get as many eggs as they can and then freeze them. The whole process takes up to 45mins. So it will be a very quick, easy procedure.

After I talked with the doctor, I spoke with two nurses that will be helping me with the medicine and surgery for the whole two weeks. First they explained to me how to use my medicine. I have two shots I have to do BY MYSELF and one pill I have to take orally. The shots have to be given at night in the belly and I can take the pill anytime that I want. I have to also come into the doctor’s office three days a week early in the morning to get an ultrasound and blood work done.

I had to get a lot of blood work done at my appointment when I went as well. They had to check to make sure I didn’t have a lot of diseases and wasn’t pregnant and things like that. I always warn nurses before they poke me that I am a hard stick. They normally need to get a specialist to put an IV in or get blood. The nurses never listen, and I don’t if it’s a pride reason or what but they always think they can do it. They tell me how they have been doing this for a while and they should be able to handle it. Well five pokes later they finally listen to me and get someone who specializes in this area. The same thing happened that day and I had to get poked 5 times before they found a good veinL.

This day was so stressful because my doctor wanted me to start this procedure the very next day. When he did an exam on me he looked to see how many eggs my ovary had released and there were 16. You need 8 eggs for one baby. Each month your ovaries release a certain amount of eggs. 16 was very low, but I only had one ovary and my doctor thinks chemo messed up some of my eggs. He was very happy with this number because he was expecting it to be much lower.

I was way too nervous and felt like I was being pressured into starting the next day and I did not like it all. I wasn’t even sure if I wanted to freeze my eggs yet. The appointment had gone from a consultation to you are freezing your eggs to you are starting tomorrow all in the matter of seconds and I was beyond scared. After much talking, I was able to get everyone on the page of me starting next week! I am not sure how many eggs I will have but I need at least 8.

I am very fortunate because most of this stuff is being paid for by two different companies. Both Livestrong and Walmart have programs where they donate the medicine that is needed to people who have been effected by cancer. These companies will also pay for my surgery and when I am ready to have kids, there is a good chance they will pay for the surgery to put the fertilized eggs back inside of me. My family is very lucky because this process is very expensive. I am not sure how much my medicines or the initial surgeries cost, but to keep your eggs frozen it is $570 every year. I will have to start paying for this in 2018 until I am finished with them. The surgery to put your eggs back in is around 15k. So it is a lot and very stressful.

I will post more when I start my treatments and keep everyone updated on my experience!