Online CPR Certification Blog

When you are diagnosed with cancer, everything in life becomes very overwhelming. In most cases, options for fertility preservation are usually overlooked during doctor visits, diagnosis and when planning for the treatment. It is important you understand that most of the chemotherapies used for breast cancer treatment can seriously affect fertility.

For a woman who is closer to menopause, there is a high likelihood of going into menopause and staying there for good. For a 40 years old woman, there is a chance of between 50 and 60 percent of getting into permanent menopause when the treatments are availed.

Here are some options that a woman thinking about getting children later should consider:

Freezing of the egg and embryo

Freezing the embryos or egg of the woman is the best and most effective option for fertility prevention. The woman has a personal choice to make on whether they want the embryos or eggs to be freezed and a couple of factors can influence this such as religious or personal views and relationship status. Freezing of the embryo and egg is done by using injectable fertility medications that make the ovaries to produce more eggs. A short surgical procedure is used to remove the eggs from her body. The eggs may be fertilized using frozen sperm and even though this is quite expensive, there is some financial assistance programs, which can help lessen the costs involved.

Ovarian tissue freezing

In this experimental technique, pieces of ovaries of the women are removed in a short surgical procedure which is then frozen for use later on. In case a woman experiences premature menopause or the cancer treatment leads to infertility, the doctor can thaw the frozen ovarian tissue and then put back to the body and this technique ideal for young women with no much time of freezing the embryos or eggs.

Ovarian suppression

This is an experimental technique where a woman gets medication that shuts her ovaries down temporarily. This has a potential of making them much more resistant to damages caused by chemotherapy. There are mixed study findings on the effectiveness of this technique, but it is an option worthy considering as well.

Third party reproduction

There is still a possibility of a woman using the embryos or eggs of donors to carry a pregnancy. In this case, the baby isn’t going to share her genes. This is recommended when it isn’t safe for the woman to carry the pregnancy in which case they look for a surrogate or gestational carrier.

Consider adoption

Adopting a child is still another way in which you can become a parent as well and an adoption agency can help you get your parenting needs sorted out.

It is a good idea that conversations about parenthood and fertility are discussed early and before chemotherapy has started so that all the options available are evaluated. Discuss with your oncologists about these issues in order to make up your mind.