Hi all :-) I have just joined so will explain my story.

Me & husband ttc for 4 years, just had very first app in fertility hospital. We have to self fund due to no Nhs availability in north yorks. I have blocked tubes n hydrosalping. (I'm not the best speller!) Iv had one lap 2 years ago but new hospital want to do another and poss removal of tubes. Big decision on taking away that tiny bit of hope I have each month! All in all I'm feeling excited and hopeful to get things moving. If anyone has any advice / what to expect then it will be appreciated. Roughly how long does one ivf cycle take? Husband all ok no issues there.

Thank you

[Louiemac73]

I was told about 5 weeks for a cycle and I'm waiting to start now.

With regards your tubes, unless you really have to have them taken for medical reasons, I'd not do it as my friend who was told she would never conceive without IVF has a 17 month old boy now after a natural conception!

[leah77]

Hi Hannah,

I haven't actually written on this site yet, but read ur post and felt strongly about getting back to u. I had both my tubes removed in 2008 following 2 consecutive ectopics and it took 3 long years of 4 IVF cycles before we finally conceived our little miracle girl. It's taking me a long time however to term coming 2 terms with the loss of my tubes. I know there was no choice really given my medical condition. But the questions I still pose are, could they not have at least saved part of my tubes? And.... why didn't they perform a biopsy to help ascertain the source of the problem b4 our inevitable journey into IVF? In the end, I happened to hear about a clinic in Athens called the Serum Clinic where they diagnosed that I had had undetected Chlamydia in my DNA which had no doubt caused the ectopics pregnancies and my failure to conceive through IVF because of residual scarring in my womb. After the diagnosis we went to Athens to have a simple procedure performed which gave me a much better chance for conception thru IVF in the future. Lo and behold, 4 months later after our 4th round of IVF, I got pregnant with our little girl.... now just over 2 years old! We have no doubt in our mind that we wouldn't be here today if it wasn't for that all important diagnosis. I'm not saying that Chlamydia has caused ur particular problem, but what I am saying is that there is always a medical explanation! I think our UK doctors are all too eager 2 plod ahead with treatment before properly investigating things. They would also want u 2 believe that having your tubes cut out and going into IVF is straightforward and simple. But believe me, it's not. I feel so happy and blessed 2 be a mother and a family at last, but I still feel deeply scarred as a result of becoming sterile. If you would like to know the name of my Greek consultant and any more details, medical or whatever, don't hesitate to get back. I just wanted to relay our story before u might choose to act rashly based on the 'better' judgement of your doctors. Take care and good luck, whatever your decision....

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Hi Leah77, thank you for your reply, unfortunately my tubal damage was due to chlamydia, been 17 & in love with a boy who wasn't, 10 years later I'm married good job stable home and in this situation! It kills me. What was the procedure you had in Greece? Did you not know that you had infection? My dr says that ivf is the last saloution for me and that when I have my next lap they will do what they can to restore my tubes rather than remove them, I have to make the decision that if there not restorable to co sieve naturally then they will take them. I fully accept my right tube is fully blocked and damaged exaesivly but when I had the dye test in my last lap the fluid did go through but they said it was with excess pressure and very slow, it still gives me hope each month, but by not having it removed it drops my ivf chance to just 15% xx