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KimH's avatar
KimH
Member
10 years ago

Off to Melbourne for the day to see Dr Kate Stern

Hi all

I'm off to see Dr Kate Stern next Tuesday for her opinion.

Lots of questions for her!

Should I change from Zoladex to Tamoxifen, and if so, will I produce eggs for harvest?

What is her opinion on babies after BC? Is surrogacy easier in Vic than NSW?

What are her stats on defrosting eggs to make embryos to be implanted in a surrogate?

ETC ETC ETC :)

 

Will let you know how I go xx

 

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  • Peartree's avatar
    Peartree
    Member
    10 years ago

    Hi! Thanks for posting. A friend of mine, had chemo at 35 and she had 3 pregnancies (a few with issues) but which resulted in a healthy baby (though her funeral is tomorrow).

    I did an egg harvest at 41 having been told 2 years earlier I was too old, and they managed to get 24 eggs. I was advised to wait 3 years before using them and now a contradictory opinion at the same hosp to wait 5 (ideally).  I was on tamoxifen and zoladex. I have the option to break  treatment. Pregnancy does not seem to increase risk but breaking treatment may. I will 46/47 if I follow with the recommended plan, but I'm responding to your post as it's all odds and sometimes we beat them and other times we don't. I'm still crossing my fingers, life sorts out enough to jump at the chance and I wish you well with your attempt :-)

  • KimH's avatar
    KimH
    Member
    10 years ago

    Well I like Dr Stern. She's going to write to my oncologist and discuss two months of tamoxifen and no Zoladex during that time to assess my ovarian function, and potentially one more round of egg collection. She will get his opinion on my level of risk, and also recommend another oncologist in Melbourne who can give a second (potentially the same) opinion. She debunked my last fertility specialist's assessment that I have no good eggs left because of chemo. I have an 80% chance that there will be some ovarian function, just not much time left to work that out because menopause is brought on earlier 7-10 years than I would have because of the chemo.
    Then regardless, I'm having my eggs transferred to Melbourne to turn into embryos and refrozen before they find a surrogate in Canada or USA. I'm having a phone appointment with her to discuss on 18th September :)