Longhaul international trip during IVF? Doable?

[Bella000]

Hello, hope everyone is doing well and coping okay. I need to travel to Japan as my sister is expecting a baby in September and ideally she wants me there (a little bit difficult emotionally but that's a different story!!). But we just found out that we need IVF to conceive and our next appointment is 30th August. We thought perhaps we just travel after our appt then and fly to Japan and stay there for a couple of weeks before we begin IVF hopefully on NHS. But we are struggling to find good flights and also juggle with work schedule.

I wonder how doable it is to travel internationally during IVF? Is it possible to be abroad during certain stages of the treatment - e.g., when I'm on certain medication? When do I need to be available to visit a clinic with short notice - is it when I am on FSH meds? Also, how long did it take for everyone to start IVF on NHS after the initial consultation? Was it a couple of weeks, or months?

If it's possible we might delay our travel and schedule it during our treatment - I feel awful to miss my sister's being a mum but I find this really challenging and stressful to plan this trip whilst I go through my own journey and do not know how we might move on to IVF and what exactly it involves and when. I've been wanting to be a mum for over 3 years now (had to wait for so long to get an initial NHS appt due to a number of relocations) so am also finding it difficult with a thought of potentially missing an NHS appointment given because we might be abroad. I know in a grand scheme of things delaying the start of IVF by a month or so wouldn't make any difference but it feels like a big difference to me.

Sorry my thoughts are a bit all over the place but I hope it makes sense. Thank you so much for reading this through and I hope you have all the support you need. x

[Queg]

Hi Bella, I don't know you or your coping abilities, I don't generally advise people, and with those caveats I think international travel in the two weeks in between the first appointment and starting the procedure, or between the first appointment and some of the preliminary scanning procedures could work. However trying to juggle international travel once the round has started is not practical. There are follow up scans, and treatments and in my case bloods that need to align with your menstrual cycle. They will call you for a first scan then depending on what they see it could be a no go, you may need some meds or treatments and wait a month, or conversely you might start right away. You won't know until the scan. Some of the medication needs to be kept refridgerated and can cost over a grand. I have read on here some on the NHS have called for their first scan to be told been told no appointments and wait another month for their next period. My experience with the NHS was a year ago so not valid today and course the wait time depends on the location. I went private in the end so cannot comment on the NHS further, but I hope I have given you some insight. Good luck.

[DianeArnold Partner Nurse Fertility Network UK]

Hi Bella. I really feel you need to concentrate on one or the other. IVF as you will realise is a complicated procedure. You could do Stimson and scans while on the move, but you could come up with delays as you go through it, just the same as being in the UK. If anyone w ants to recommend a clinic please do so by DM so as not to advertise. You need to get clear what the NHS. would agree to, in case it affects funding. Good luck with whatever you decide. Diane

[minnesota_girl]

Hi Bella, everyone must choose what's right for them, but my advice (which I followed during IVF even though my family live in America and it meant missing many birth milestones with my own sister) is to put yourself first. Be a bit selfish during this process because it can ask a lot of you, and there are a lot of appointments and rollercoaster of emotions, strict medication timings and it can be exhausting. I shared that I was going through IVF and my family understood even though I did get guilt trips a bit about not visiting - I unfortunately still haven't met my nephew in the flesh because of my own long journey 😔. But I knew I needed to put my needs during this time first.

💕💕

[Bella000 in reply to minnesota_girl]

Thanks so much for sharing - it really helped me reading that I wasn't the only one who wanted to put myself first. My partner (who is incredibly supportive most of the time) said I really should travel as otherwise we never know when we can next. Which is 100% true but I wondered why I needed to go in the first place when I didn't even want to go (why would you - it's so far and expensive and going through all those uncertainty around fertility itself is stressful enough on top of increasing cost of living . Sending you lots of love and very best wishes - I really do hope you'll get your little one and your nephew soon enough xxxx

[Mlove12]

If you mean you apt is 30th aug and then your going in September, you’ll be absolutely fine. Will probs be a month or so wait for bloods regarding your cycle and gather more info before you start procedure. However if you mean travel then after whilst doing IVF, that would be trickier. I would recommend that from your tablets/injections start you will need to be at home for minimum 5-6 weeks. Hope it all works out x

[scotchegg]

It will probably be a few months after your initial consultation, depending on how busy they are, and you could tell them what dates you'll be away. However once they book you in to start treatment you can't really go anywhere. Everything is timed so precisely, you may need more appointments than planned, and some need to be booked in with very little notice. Also travelling with meds etc, especially injectables, would be a pain.

[Poppygarden]

Hello, sending you lots of luck for your journey. I would call the clinic and ask them what to expect from the first appointment. I waited about 3 months from my first appointment to start. Additionally I then needed to wait until day 21 before I started down regulation. In my opinion you could travel during down regulation but not after your baseline scan. Xxx

[Bella000]

Thanks so much everyone - I really appreciate the time and care you took to write a response for me. It's quite disheartening to hear there'll be another wait period but we decided we'd travel before we start anything so we can focus on IVF when it comes to it. My consultant is helpful but her secretary isn't always, so asking lots of questions over the phone including what's going to happen after the next appointment isn't really an option for us. I also thought I'd probably regret not going to see my sister when she's becoming a mum, as I'd love to have her around when it's my turn (although it's unlikely - but that's a different story). I still find it very difficult with a thought of traveling so far away spending so much money (especially before IVF!!) to see my sister being a mum - it's wonderful news really but also makes me upset wondering why I don't have a little one (yet!). Anyway, thank you all so ever much again, sending you all lots of love and hugs xxx

[Hopewhite in reply to Bella000]

hi Bella , I hope you’re well. Like the others have mentioned already if you’re with NHS it will depend on location and hospital availability, in our case 1st appointment (call) was when they told us we’d need to do IVF (Feb 2023), then we had some blood tests like 2 weeks after, whilst waiting for the funding application ( we heard back like late March) , then it took until late April to hear back from them regarding all consent forms, we got lucky because the consent appointment was a call which was done whilst we were abroad on holidays in early May. Everything moved super fast from there, we came back a week after had more blood tests on the Thursday, my period was on the Saturday and was booked for first scan and start of stims on the Tuesday. In my case stims were only one week, when I came back the week after (Tuesday) they booked me for egg collection for that Friday. And transfer was 5 days after that and then you have the 2ww (which is like 11 days) till next appointment . If you’re still at the stage waiting for funding and consent forms, then it will probably be 5-7 weeks, but I’d say in my experience after we had the consent call it all moved very quickly mainly because my period aligned to those dates and the clinic had availability. They had warned me to call and if they didn’t have availability I’d be put in priority list for the following month. I hope that helps a little bit with a rough timeline example. Regarding your sister it would be lovely if you could be there, hopefully the timeline aligns well and you can go before, but equally you could plan a trip very soon after, once you feel you’re at a treatment stage where you are comfortable travelling. Im sure once you’re there and meet the baby it will give you lots of joy xx. I just had a nephew born last week (also long haul flight) the treatment sort of got in the way, but we are planning to go very soon xx

Best of luck in your journey, I hope the stars align for you xx