29 Year Old - Chances of Pregnancy after Chemo?

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Hi, new to this forum. I was diagnosed on 4th September with Grade 3 breast cancer progesterone and oestrogen +. Had a mastectomy 3 weeks ago and my lymph nodes have been shown to be clear. My support worker and doctor has said that I can go ahead with fertility treatment before starting chemo. I haven’t met up with my Oncologist yet as she won’t chat with me until i have done my fertility treatment. I am on the third day of my period and ready for fertility - went to the IVF clinic today and they did a scan and found a cyst on my ovary. The cyst is normal, but stops me from having and treatment today. The options they gave me were 1> to give me a hormones for one week to prolong the period in its beginning stages and hope that the cyst reduces in size after which they drain it and start the treatment from that point. 2> Or i can wait for three weeks and go for another scan. If there is a cyst there they can suppress it and start the treatment as normal with the next period.

The trouble is all i really want to is start the chemo, i’ve never really had to think about starting a family. My boyfriend wants me to go through fertility treatment, but i am not sure i want to wait that long and its making me feel a bit guilty about the situation. I know i’ve got all this chemo coming up and i don’t want any more hormones or operations for me than is necessary.

Can anyone give me some advice in this situation. Will i be able to conceive after chemo? Has anyone any stories about that? Is there any point point waiting so long for the IVF when there’s no guarantees? My boyfriend is worried we won’t be able to have any children - how much of a chance to do i have in the future? Also would zoladex help me? I heard it is not that well researched yet and can even cause infertility.

Sorry to go on about this. I have to make a decision by this Monday and any advice would be really appreciated.

Thanks x

PS My boyfriend is as selfish as i’ve made him out to be here!! Haha!

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Dear Hattie One,

Welcome to the forum- I am sure you will soon get a lot of support from the other users of this forum.

Meanwhile I have attached the links to some BCC publication on Fertility issues and Younger women which may be useful.

breastcancercare.org.uk/healthcare-professionals/publications/younger-women/*/changeTemplate/PublicationDisplay/publicationId/84/

breastcancercare.org.uk/healthcare-professionals/publications/younger-women/*/changeTemplate/PublicationDisplay/publicationId/87/

breastcancercare.org.uk/healthcare-professionals/publications/younger-women/*/changeTemplate/PublicationDisplay/publicationId/80/

Kindest regards

Janet
BCC Facilitator

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Hi there,

Sorry you’re going through all of this - everything after diagnosis feels like a huge potentially life changing decision, and quite often our doctors and oncologists can’t give us the answers!
And I’m affraid I can’t give you the answer either, however thought i’d let you know what I did;
I was diagnosed when i had just turned 27 (am now 30) with triple negative bc, so was encouraged to have ivf becasue of my age and as hormones were unlikely to effect me.

From what I remember, it didn’t take a huge amount of time, just a few weeks, and mine was very sucessful resulting in 13 embryo’s for freezing - i guess its been sugested that your age puts you in good stead too.

Also, i had already had the cancer removed, as you have, whcih i think encourages doctors as with clear nodes and no mass its assumed that its ok to postpone chemo. Now i can’t speak for your case, but i was told that my chemo ect was adjuvent, as in they assumed they had removed it all, but becasue of my age and the potential agressiveness, they were treating me v agressively but expected me to be clear before treatment begun. So what Im saying is although delaying chemo feels like a tough decision, the doctors consider everything and offer it to those who they beleive it will pose no further risk to.

It seems to me that you aren’t sure what you want, and who would be at 29?! i just turned 30 (feel about 22!) and still dont know if i’ll ever use my ivf, its soooooo hard to make these decisions so dont feel alone!! I’m sure there is some support available for you, do you have a macmillan counsellor at your hospital? a breast care nurse? a nurse in the ivf department? you need a professional to help you, and it may only take a quick chat from them to help you decide. i know time is ticking, but try squeeze in a chat!

as harsh as it sounds, it really is your decision so dont let your boyfriend pressure you; this sounds even harsher, but remember if you do want those embryos 10 yrs down the line and you aren’t together, you’ll need his consent otherwise they wont be used! this is something i thought hard about, as i felt it wierd tying my boyfirend in to children with me at just 27… of course im assuming you have been offered embryo freezing, not egg?

finally, my periods returned a few or so months after chemo. they were initially very light, and now are lighter but longer, but def regular and def there! ive not tried for pregnancy and dont plan to for a while, but am assuming all is working as it should. I was told that at 27 chances of normal business resuming was high, but it decreases the closer you get and then past 30; this is a question your docs should be able to answer, but as always, they wont commit to anything! just ask them for a ‘high/low’ chance prediction…

wish i could be of help more, sorry! but i say try speak to the docs again, and remember they probably wouldnt be offering it to you if they didnt think you had the time to complete the ivf. worse case scenaro, i guess you could always start the treatment, and if you feel uncomfortable about postponing chemo you could stop it and go ahead with chemo…? maybe ask the ivf docs if thats possible, as it may reassure you to know that if you feel the clock ticking you can always bail on the ivf.

good luck and hang in there! im back on this forum as its been 3 years now since i was in your situation, and i woke up suddenly remembering all about my treatment and felt like coming back to this forum - so i guess the message there is that before you know it you’ll be on the other side of treatment and barely thinking about it :slight_smile: the one thing that got me through everything was i had this whole ‘do what i feel’ attitude, and it worked! you can only really go with your gut feeling so try tap into that… and that goes for everything from what to do each day and what to eat - just do what your body feels like! i wish you all the best and every success with you treatment xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

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p.s
when i had chemo, i did go through a full blown menopause, but came out of it! so for future reference, if you decide against ivf, a menopause isnt necessarily permanent, lots of women have it during chemo! and sorry i dont know anything about the drug you mentioned… good luck! x

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Hi,

I’m in a similar situation to you but just got married and were planning on trying to have kids soon. Same options really, start chemo or delay to have IVF. Personally we’ve decided to not go for IVF for many reasons really. These were our reasons, I’m sure they won’t be the same for you but I just thought I’d let you know.

  1. We didn’t want to delay chemo
  2. I have got node involvement and don’t know if it has spread yet and my fertility specialist said that if there are any stray cancer cells about the body, there’s always a chance of introducing cancer cells to the ovaries during the procedure
  3. Being 29, age is on our side and with gnrh analogues (zoladex I think) the ovaries can be protected a bit and fertility afterwards should be of a similar level to that of someone in their mid-late 30’s. There’s been a lot of research in Germany recently I believe.
  4. For us it didn’t sit right freezing embryo’s to be used in 5-10 yrs, I’m not saying this is wrong, but for us it didn’t feel right.
  5. IVF is available after treatment if needed
  6. This didn’t influence our decision but we’d have to pay for it as we’re under 30 but it’ll be free after 30.
  7. If we can’t have kids afterwards, as much as I dream of having our own babies, there are lots of kiddies out there who need homes and someone to love them so we plan to adopt.

I know it’s a hard decision and I was lucky my husband was supportive of what I wanted. He was keen for me to get on with chemo so we can get on with life afterwards. Plus if you decided just to freeze eggs, it’s not as successful as embryos.

I’m happy to chat if you want to bat ideas around with someone. My nurses have told me of patients they know who have gone on to have kids after treatment.

Take Care
Em x

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Hiya

All id say is it is YOUR body thats affected by cancer- not his and its your life that could be risked by delaying chemo to have IVF.

I am 32 and have just completed my chemo. MY periods were never late, didnt change and i am still ovulating.
Your age is on your side.

Zolodex is used at my trust and they think its a good way to protect your ovaries.

I do however slightly regret not having eggs taken out but since my ONC states that any pregnancy can trigger my cancer to return- her words, not mine- whats the use of eggs if i cant carry the baby??

Hope you make the right decision at a bloody difficult time

S

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I am 36, was pregnant when diagnosed but miscarried at 7 weeks (post-mastectomy but unrelated to treatment). I was offered fertility treatment and have just gone through ivf - only one egg was found and I’ll find out tomorrow if it has fertilized. I am being given gonapeptyl depot to suppress ovaries in the hope I won’t need my one egg and will still be fertile at the other end of treatment. Chemo starts 1 week today.

What I’m saying is that fertility treatment is, in my opinion, an insurance policy not a guarantee. If you’re unsure ask for ovary suppression instead/as well. It may give you more chance than having nothing but chemo.

It is a tricky decision, very personal.

Ps. Everything I have read has shown no evidence that pregnancy after treatment causes any increase in BC survival rates or miscarriages. I am prepared to take the chance, but again, a very personal decision.
Flora xxxx