In part three of our "So You Want to Freeze your Eggs" series, Vanessa Torres shares with us what happened when she completed the initial steps and finally went in for a formal "tour" of her reproductive bits...
I’ve officially completed all the preliminary steps for assessing whether I’m a good candidate for freezing my eggs. And there’s good news all around, but let’s go over the details of this step of the process first.
The first thing I had to do was stop taking my birth control pill for about thirty days prior to my exam, which was necessary to get my body to go through at least one ovulation cycle prior to the exam.
As someone who’s been on the pill continuously for the last twelve years, I was a little concerned that my body might throw itself out of whack without its usual dose of regulated hormones. Luckily I noticed no differences in appetites or moods, and I had no unusual cramping or physical discomfort that I wouldn’t have experienced during a regulated menstrual cycle anyway.
The actual fertility assessment consists of two parts: the physical exam and accompanying lab work. For the physical exam, I went to a local fertility clinic associated with Extend Fertility, the organization I’m using to go through this process, but that mostly specializes in facilitating in-vitro fertilization or difficult pregnancies.
In other words, their clientele is mostly women and couples who are trying to conceive or carry a high risk pregnancy to term. It was clear from the moment I walked into the office reception area/waiting room that I was the ‘one of these things is not like the others’ in the room.
The couples who sat around me seemed to emit an aura of tangible stress. I felt more than one pair of eyes narrow on me as I tapped away on my laptop and laughed quietly at some co-worker banter. (Hey, I’m a working girl, and actually did have to work online while I was there.) Though I didn’t exactly take a survey, it appeared that the fellow patients I saw throughout my visit were anywhere from 5 to 10 years older than me, and all but one had a male partner present with them. I mention this only to bring home the point that a single, young woman trying to extend her fertility is still a bit unusual even for a fertility clinic.
The OB-GYN I met with immediately confirmed that assessment as he reviewed my file.
“You’re thirty-one?” he asked. I nodded. “Thank god. You're the youngest woman we've had in here. We keep asking for women in early to mid-thirties, but keep getting women who are 42 wanting to freeze their eggs before it's 'too late'..." He shook his head, then flipped to next page and smiled. "It's great that you're thinking about this now."
Buoyed by his enthusiasm for my proactive approach, I relaxed as we went over the rest of my medical history. He then led me out of his office and down the hall to an exam room where a nurse was already waiting. Inside was the usual exam table in a half reclined position and a large piece of equipment with a display monitor and, most interestingly, a white plastic ‘wand’ that looked rather like the grip handle of a large cooking utensil. It was covered with a ‘latex protector’ (basically a condom) and had the requisite bluish gel on the inside of the tip. The doctor explained the wand would be used to conduct a vaginal ultrasound.
Both doctor and nurse left the room briefly to allow me to change into my exam gown, and then he continued to explain each step of the process as he was went along. He directed my attention to the monitor, and I’m only half joking when I say he gave me a ‘tour’ of my uterus and ovaries, pausing only to utter measurements for the nurse to record.
"Uterine lining looks beautiful.” He clicked a button that took a snapshot. “And there's the left ovary...” He clicked another button that displayed a ruler-like graphic over the small blur I could see on the screen.
“…and the right ovary with a follicle…and there's the egg right there..." And there it was. An unmistakable black sphere, more defined than the blur of the left ovary—an egg, just waiting to be fertilized. “If you were trying to get pregnant, I'd be telling you to have sex every other day right now..."
I thought silently to myself, “Holy shit, I’m fertile!” My surprise at ovulating normally after twelve years on the pill aside, I was pleased to learn that all the parts down there appeared to be in working order.
The fact that my uterine lining was ‘beautiful’ as the doc put it, meant that I likely won’t have to worry about luteal phase defect, a condition where the lining of the uterus has difficulty thickening and therefore sustaining a pregnancy.
The fact the size of my ovaries were in normal range and that I was clearly ovulating meant that not only could I likely get pregnant on my own, but that I was also a good candidate for fertility extension. Given the appropriate course of drugs, including FSH (follicle stimulating hormone), my ovaries will likely produce numerous ‘harvestable’ eggs that can then be frozen for use at my discretion.
With the physical exam completed, all that was left was a series of lab tests, some of which would need to be done on the third day of my next cycle—or the third full day of my next period. I was given a list of multiple, convenient locations around town where I could have the labs done along with paperwork for three separate sets of tests. The first and second were to record various hormone levels and the third was an infectious disease screening for a spectrum of STDs, including HIV, that the clinic requires before administering any IVF drugs.
All my hormone levels came back within normal range and I’m free of infectious diseases. In short, I’m apparently a specimen of reproductive health. I’ve been given the green light to schedule my round of FSH injections that will be followed, after approximately 10-15 days, with the egg extraction.
There are still a few factors to consider, however, and I found that speaking with a fertility counselor was extremely helpful in planning out the next steps. First off, the counselor explained that if I choose to move forward, I will essentially be enrolling in an experimental study as the FDA still considers the whole procedure under investigation.
She also said that they encourage women to choose a timeframe that is as ‘stress free’ as possible.
“It’s not that there’s a proven effect on the number of eggs you can produce, but a lot of women who don’t produce as many eggs as we’d like…well, they can start to look back and wonder,'Maybe if I’d been less stressed, more rested, etc.’ and they start to play a blame game. The bottom line is that we understand it is a lot of money, a true investment, and if you want to try to go through it only once, it’s best to pick a low stress time to do it.”
Her mention of money was the perfect segue to the next factor under review. I am ultimately still on the fence as to whether I want to go through with the rest of the process. It IS a lot of money. While my exam and accompanying lab work only cost me $185 (thanks to the health benefits I have through my full-time employer), the rest of the process will run approximately $12-18k out of pocket, the majority of which I will need to finance.
Perhaps even more important is the fact that I still don’t believe having children of my own is something I ‘require’ in my life. I’m not ruling it out, but it’s just not on my list of top priorities. This means that I could be freezing eggs I’m not even sure I want to use, eggs that I may ultimately throw away. Is it really worth spending that kind of money just to keep all of my options open? Or is it even more worthwhile to just be comfortable with a little reproductive ambiguity?
As a woman with many roles and aspirations, I’m accustomed to reconciling the choices I’ve made with the roads not taken. This is just one more path. I’m glad I’ve followed it down so far, but I think I may ultimately be willing to leave it behind.
Regardless, I feel much more in control of my body and my general and reproductive health than I did even just a few months ago. That alone has been more than worth the time and money I’ve invested thus far. I would definitely recommend investigating this process to any woman still undecided on the question of children or who may already know they would like to have children later in life.
For more information, see part 1 and part 2 of this series, or visit ExtendFertility.com
Image via SherryEtal on DeviantART