I was 22 when i was diagnosed with breast cancer, due to a vast genetic history in my family, i caught the cancer extremely early, so early infact it was stage 1 grade 1 and was treated with a double mastectomy, zoladex and tamoxifen.
We have been trying for a baby for 3 years, ive had 3 miscarriages and im wondering now if we should go down the IVF route. I am obviously a bit anxious about having IVF because of my history but it was a long time ago and i have no breast tissue left at all.
Has anyone else been through something similar, gone on to have IVF and been fine? My BC nurse has warned me that there is a risk which i know i need to consider, but has said the longer im cancer free the better.
I am desperate to become a mum, and the past few years have been such a slog; but having been pregnant in the past and if i do have iIVF it will be 9 years post breast cancer, im swaying more to giving IVF a go.
Anyones help regarding this would be very much appreciated, stuck between a rock and a hard place, so to speak!
I totally understand how you feel. I had BC four years ago, surgery, IVF (embryo storage), chemo and radiation. Was told to wait two years and in July 2015 my medical team gave me the go ahead to start trying. I’ve also got underactive thyroid so had to adjust my meds for that and then we started trying in the sept, ovulation sticks, callenders the works. Fast forward four months and by the end of Jan and still no pregnancy, I was referred to IVF and sent for a scan to check and old fibroid wouldn’t interfere with treatment, only to be told by the very shocked technician I was around 5 weeks pregnant. Can you imagine how I was?! I was also on my own… I immediately got an GP appointment and saw him and had blood taken given my history and medical issues he was very doom and gloom, suggested I come back every 48hrs for bloods to check hgc was rising. On the third result if I hadn’t heard from them everything was fine and I’d get my routine midwife appointment at 8 weeks. The day past where we expected to hear, without contact and so there I was at work… when out of the blue my gp called and asked me to go to the early pregnancy unit. He thought I was in the early stages of a missed miscarriage. In the scan we were told our baby’s heartbeat was intermittent and to go home and wait for two weeks to see if it developed - 50:50. We returned and we’re given the devestating news that the heartbeat has stopped. Due to my health I was given an assisted miscarriage - which went wrong at home and I hemmoraged resulting in emergency surgery.
Again the same thing happened in August last year - two miscarriages within 6 months of each other to the day. I saw a private fertility doctor which we paid for to have the reoccurring miscarriage clinic. Bloods came back fine.
And we started trying again. I called ivf and have opted to go down this route. However I don’t currently meet the weight criteria. So I’ve got 10kg to lose by May (from Feb) if I meet it I’ll start the treatment in June. My BMI is over 30 and the health board in our area won’t take you unless your 30 or under. So check that out when you decide what you want to do.
They also explained that they put you on hrt to stop your cycle before they do the transfer. (presuming you’ve done embryo storage here?) depending on what your ER reading for eastrogen is they will advise the level of risk. Lucky mine was low. The fact I didn’t have any reoccurrences with pregnancies is a positive in there eyes, so everyone is fairly relaxed about risks. But your oncologist will along with any other Drs you still see need to sign it off.
In meantime Drs suggested we keep trying naturally which we have. So you can imagine my delight four days ago when I didn’t get my period. I thought finally I’ve got pregnant again. It’s been four days of tears, tandtrums, meltdowns, three different brands of pregnancy tests (7 in total) 1 in morning 1 in afternoon and nothing no double lines… To say I’m freaking out is an understatement. I’ve never been this late before without being pregnant. So now I’m spiralling - wondering have I kicked back in to menopause with limited warning (my Cycle has gone from 25 days to 22 since Jan and I went through it on tax-d but my fertility did come back)? Or is my hgc low again and that another miscarriage is imminent? One things for sure is that unless I get my period, I’m not going to know until I can get to my gp on Monday and have blood tests done to try and see what’s going on.
I’m angry that it’s bad enough having to go through Breast Cancer at a young age, dealing with a horrific miscarriage and then a second. So I can’t imagine how you felt about your third. Your the first person I’ve come across on the forum who’s in the same position as me. So thank you for sharing your story. I’d say go for the IVF consultation get all the facts. That’s what we did and it helped. Good luck x