I was wondering if there is someone out there who might be able to help me and perhaps point me in the right direction. my sister has just been diagnosed with bc and treatment is a lumpectomy (done last week) and then 7 weeks radiotherapy and 2 years hormone injections running in parallel with 5 years of tamoxifen tablets. She is still waiting to hear if she will also need chemo based on an Oncotype DX test.
She is most concerned about possible fertility issues in the future and will likely be 43 when treatment is finished. She has asked me to see if there is anyone out there in a similar situation that could point her in the right direction in terms of fertility preservation. Has anyone ever done embryo preservation? She is very worried about treatment starting and not having looked at all the options. ~Is there anyone out there who might be able to share their experiences?
Apologies that i am not posting and not her but she is in Dubai with limited internet access.
Thanks so much
Thanks so much and would be so grateful for any help.
I’m not quite in the same position, as I am only 35, and my lump was triple negative, so no hormone treatment. However I am having chemo and was worried about fertility. I managed to go through an IVF cycle between surgery and chemo, and they harvested and froze 7 of my eggs.
I have heard that there are concerns about the effect of the IVF hormones on hormone positive cancers, so it may not be possible for her. She may be able to discuss it with her oncologist.
There have been a couple of threads on fertility, I think under the Younger Women section.
Hopefully someone with a similar experience will comment soon.
sorry to hear about your sister’s dx. She is very lucky to have a great sister. My two sisters helped me through last year after i was diagnosed aged 36. I had a lumpectomy, chemo, radiotherapy and now tamoxifen for 5 years. I started a thread last year called fertility and have bumped it up for you. There are lots of different posts from various people you may find useful.
Also have a scroll through the younger womens section of this forum. Its halfway down on the left hand side.
My wife (35 at time of diagnosis) had lumpectomy followed by second op to have full lymph clearance. She is now underway in her FEC chemo which is to be followed by rads and tamox for 2-5 years (depending ononcologist). Because of necessity for chemo we were offered IVF treatment to produce embryos should the chemo give her fertility issues. As we are in Scotland this was a free medical option although don’t know situation in rest of UK. We managed to store 7 embryos which we hope never to have to use, but are there just in case.
The egg harvesting occured about 4 weeks after lymph op due to complications in her reactions to the op(s). I think egg harvesting would normally have been around two weeks after op. She started chemo two weeks after egg harvesting. So she has taken a fair battering over the last few months. Our fertility doctor and oncologist wanted a clear two weeks between the egg op and chemo to make sure that any sickness could be attributed to either the egg op or the chemo, so they would know what the cause was.
I truely hope your sister finds the right solution for her and everything is a success. I also wish you all the best as this must be hard for you too.