Fertile Myrtle

I try not to tell lots of people this but here goes...getting pregnant with WBC was very easy.  I prepared myself before we started trying to conceive.  I got off the pill, exercised and lost weight, and used an app to track my cycle.  So the first month we tried, we were successful.

So one of  the first questions I asked my cancer team was about my fertility.  How would treatment affect my fertility?  Back when I was in la-la land thinking that a couple of shots of radiation would be all I would need to fix this stupid cancer, I wasn't thinking about fertility.  Because concentrated radiation doesn't affect fertility.  At least that's what I read when I researched fertility and radiation. 

Then they dropped the bomb...

There is a 30-40 percent chance chemo will send me into menopause.  If that happens, I will not be able to conceive.  They suggested I see a fertility doctor about harvesting my eggs.  My head was spinning.  I'm trying to process the fact that I need to have another surgery and additional treatment.  Now I have to decide about our future family and I have to decide as soon as possible.

The next week, we met with the Fertility Doc.  He was very understanding - he explained how pregnancy happens and says one thing that has stuck with me: Even if you don't go into menopause, you will likely have your fertility affected in some way. 

So now we're faced with making a decision.  Do we chance it and hope that we can conceive naturally?  Do we move forward with "fertility preservation"?  Insurance does not cover this.  We will have to come up with the money out of pocket.  And it's due up front.  No financing, no payment plan.  My mom had already told me she could try to come up with the money to help us.  The silver lining?  There's a program through LiveStrong that will help pay for the medications.  We just have to pay the doctor's fees - which are greatly discounted because I'm a cancer patient.

This is our back-up plan.  Our insurance.  It still won't be cheap, but we have the option to do IVF later if we need to.  Unless I'm still semi Fertile Myrtle.  And if that's the case and we are able to conceive, then we can donate the embryos to couples who need them. 

Since I know nothing about fertility issues, I'm trying to play catch up every time I have an appointment.  The plan as of today is this - I just started my new cycle, and normally I would start the pill.  But because I'm having surgery, they don't want to put me on the pill because I'll be on bed rest and that could cause blood clots.  Now I just have to call them a week or so after surgery and then I'll go in to meet with the doctor and start some ovulation-suppression meds. 

So that's the latest on the journey...