Cancer and IVF

[Han01]

Hello, just reaching out to see if anyone is in a similar situation to me. Last November, after TTC for a year my Husband was referred to a specialist following results showing that he had a low sperm count. After having a routine ultrasound he received a shock diagnosis of testicular cancer. Luckily it was stage 1, he had a orchidectomy and a round of chemo in January 2018. We have been told that after receiving chemotherapy we are unable to have children naturally and IVF/ICSI is our only option. We are both in our early 30s, trying to get through this and due to start IVF in the next few months.

[Orla9298]

No experience sorry, but I just wanted to say you are doing the right thing looking for support, it really does help getting in touch with people who have had similar experiences.

Will you be using donor sperm or are they going to try to retrieve some?

I wish you lots of luck for your journey xxx

[Han01 in reply to Orla9298]

Thankyou. We had sperm frozen before treatment so hoping there’s a good one in there somewhere! Xx

[Anya80]

Hi Han, thank you for your post, I’m sorry what has happened to you both although you might not need sympathy at all, but I think I might know how you feel as myself and my husband going through some similar situation hence thought I’ll share with you my experiences ..,last summer we have been TTC no2 (we have 3yr old son from fresh IVF) so we attempted FET as were lucky enough to have some frozen embryos stored. After abandoned first cycle we got thorough and had our transfer late Sept, and guess what we have got BFP, we have been over the moon. Meantime my husband suffered nasty cold, but as autumn come quickly we said that’s normal at that time of the year. we have been enjoying ourselves planning life in 4 soon, planning Christmas etc. we were so happy but the worst was just a corner from us. Unexpectedly my husband felt worse having high fever could not get it down it was 5wks by then when he still was fighting cold, eventually gp sent him to hospital on pneumonia suspicion. This already was stressing me as I just got back from business trip and started lightly spotting. My husband ended up in hospital and after checking him thorough bad news came, white blood cells abnormal. We were devastated, but worst was still to be waiting for us, in a space of two weeks my husband condition worsened this badly so urgent surgery had to be arranged on his intestines, and shocking news was disclosed-cancer! That was life saving surgery! Suddenly our life turned not one but thousands of corners, this news broken our hearts, meantime I’ve undergone 7wks scan and baby heartbeat was found despite me bleeding that was some light for our dark moments at time but not for long...I’ve miscarried and at 11wks learned I’ve lost our baby which stopped growing at 7+1wks. I had DC done the same day as my husband started his first chemo...,nonetheless of what has happened we still haven’t changed our minds as to whether TTC second baby should be reconsidered, we still in the same plans, we want give our son sibling. It’s tough we both sometimes are upset that this all happened to us in such short space of time but again we need to live our life and we did not accept to wait until things are changed for my husband we know that would be to late-we both in late 30. My husband is my hero, we had discussion what will be if...but we just hopeful,my husband wants second baby and he said to me as long as I’m fine he will support me, I was concerned wanted wait but he reassured me that no time we need do things as we would’ve been shroud cancer not be in our life. So here we are will try again FET, next month or later in autumn.

I hope you will take the right decision and if you decide to go ivf route good luck with the treatment I hope it will go smoothly for you both. Life is tough but who said it will be easy, we can only be hopeful that after dark moments in life the sun arise too at some point and dreams can come true xxx

[Han01 in reply to Anya80]

Hi Anya, thankyou so much for taking the time to respond. It sounds like you’ve had a really tough time and I hope you both pull through it together. We can’t let cancer rule our lives. The last part of your message was so lovely x

[Anya80 in reply to Han01]

Thank you Han, and same to you. One could say that TTC is enough to be trouble in life, but here we go TTC and cancer this is a challenge. We are not sure yet how this affected our life and only time will tell, but for now we are stronger then ever and we don’t waste our time over silly things (don’t get me wrong we still arguing haha but that’s important too) , not any more. I think we realised from this tough time how much we wanted to care of ourselves and protect our little family our little son, after all we are blessed to have him and we know we have to be so thankful from what we received up to now.

[Laura3101]

Hi, My story isn’t quite the same as it is me who was the one diagnosed with cancer in 2016. I was diagnosed with a rare type of appendix cancer and I am currently on a watch and wait treatment with yearly scans to check on spread of cells etc before they do any surgery as I will need around 8 organs removing most likely and this will include the uterus. We had no children so were told to go straight for ivf as we didn’t know when I would need to have surgery. Our 2nd round worked and we have a beautiful 7 month baby girl and luckily so far I haven’t needed any other treatment yet. We are thankful every day and I wish you luck in your journey x

[Han01 in reply to Laura3101]

Thankyou Laura. Congrats on your ivf success! Did you need any chemo? Wishing you all the luck for the future xx

[Laura3101 in reply to Han01]

Hi, no chemotherapy for me as the type I have doesn’t respond well to chemo. It’s actually called pseudomyxoma it’s easier to google it than explain it ha ha x

[Babyjoshua]

Sorry to hear about what happen to your husband and I am happy that everything when we'll with him however if the doctor advise you guys to do ivf I think you all should try it before it's too late. Good luck on your guys decision.

[Caza2009]

Hey, my story is pretty much the same as yours - OH diagnosed with testicular cancer which has left him with azoospermia. After PESA, they managed to retrieve enough sperm for 3 rounds of IVF (with ICSI).

The whole thing was a massive shock and it took us a while to get our heads round everything but I’m so grateful that my OH is ok (albeit regular checkups) and we can now look to the future.

Try to stay as positive as you can and just take it one day at a time.

It’s a lot to have to deal with and take in, but one good thing that’s come out of it for us is that our relationship is even stronger than before.

Wishing you the best of luck on your journey. This place is incredible for advice and support and if you ever have any questions, feel free to message me.

Sending you loads of love 💕 xxx

[Han01 in reply to Caza2009]

Thankyou so much for your response x

Your situation and feelings sound really similar to ours. It’s been so overwhelming and sometimes we’re just angry to be honest that it’s happened, but I totally agree that it makes your relationship so much stronger! So far we are both postive. And thankyou, I may get in touch if I need any IVF advice. Wishing you lots of luck in your journey too xx

[Caza2009 in reply to Han01]

It’s so much to take in and we both definitely had an angry phase, but we’ve come to terms with everything and doing the best we can.

Sending you loads of love 💕 xx