Cancer Treatment Now Includes Fertility Planning

[maddezmom]

Wednesday, February 22, 2012


Young women facing cancer treatments have fertility-preservation options to consider. Egg freezing is a newer technique, and expensive, but some programs are free of charge. Embryo freezing is more advanced but requires legal safeguards.

(WOMENSENEWS)--A young woman raised her hand at the end of a seminar for young cancer survivors.

It was last spring, during an I[2]Y (or "I'm Too Young for This!&quot meeting, and the seminar was on post-cancer family planning.

She said she received radiation to her abdomen during treatment for cancer in her teens and, as a result, was being told that her eggs were most likely not viable, though she is well within child-bearing age. She was upset that fertility issues were not discussed with her and her family at the time of her treatment.

Until recently, standard cancer treatments have not included female fertility preservation as a joint concern.

If cancer was discovered, regardless of the patient's age, it was treated as quickly and as aggressively as deemed necessary (chemotherapy, surgery, and radiation being the primary tools), and that was that; fertility was not generally a part of the conversation.

more: http://www.womensenews.org/story/medicine/120221/cancer-treatment-now-includes-fertility-planning

[ArcticFox]

1. But Insurance coverage is not there

The doctors we've seen all agree that egg or embryo freezing, and inducing ovarian shut-down during chemo gives the best chance of preserving fertility.

Insurance company, though, acts as if it's never heard of such a thing. No coverage for any of that. So, it's really only for those who can come up with $10,000.