# considering egg sharing



## rosielee (Jan 27, 2006)

hi, we have been told our best chance of conceiving is through ivf. where we live isnt funded by our pct. and sadly we are not flushed  
ive always wanted to donate my eggs before i new about my problems, so we are seriously considering doing an egg share scheme. i have emailed the lister and woking nuffield, could anyone advise us on the process, costs, requirements, and how long it takes etc. also anyone had good or bad experiences of clinics in the south.
many thanks
love and best wishes
rosina xx


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## fluffyhelen9999 (May 13, 2005)

Hiya,

I can tell you about the Lister as that is where I am at the moment.  For egg sharing you have to fit a certain criteria, e.g. you have to be 35 or below, BMI of 30 or less, No heridtory diseases etc etc...  
If you fit this, then you will be offered a consultation and counciling session, if all is ok, then you can pretty much start after all your blood tests etc have been done.
At the Lister you get the IVF and the drugs / tests, consultation etc for free...  you do however have to pay the £103 hfea fee and if you need ICSI it is an extra £1080...
I egg shared there first in 2003 and was very lucky as I got pg with my son.  I went back there this year and tried again but unfortunately my cycle was cancelled 4 days into stims as my body hadn't shut down properly to the DR's and was trying to ovulate naturally.  
I think overall it is a good clinic and they do have a good success rate.  they are however a very busy clinic and i found after my most recent cancelled cycle it was very hard actually getting to speak to a doctor...  the nurses seem to get left to do most things and they just don't have the knowledge of a doctor iykwim.
Apart from this, I would recommend them... i think you just have to be quite tough with them and if your not happy with something, then insist on speaking to someone 'higher'.
There's only 3 nurses that deal with egg sharers and they seem to have quite a high turnover of nurses who are normally foreign...  they are all nice, but I'd just be a bit cautious on taking advice from the newer ones.
Anyway, best of luck with whatever you do decide!  please feel free to ask me any more questions.
Helen x


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## Leanne (Jan 24, 2004)

I egg shared at the lister back in 2004 and can highly recommend them. Not many clinics give egg sharers free drugs, consultations and scans like the lister do. Our whole cycle cost just £103 for the hfea licence.

We had our consultation and my gp carried out most of the tests. Some take a while to come back and you need to have the hiv one retested after 12 weeks. I was matched with a recipient straight away and 6 months later was pregnant with twins  

L xx


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## rosielee (Jan 27, 2006)

thanks for some great info helen and leanne,
all of which very useful, am waiting to hear back from lister and nuffield. am feeling quite excited to be honest, we have been ttc for 8 years now, and havent even got as far as ivf yet. but noew i finally feel like we might be getting the ball rolling abit. still got another cycle of iui to come but dont hold out much hope. my gynae told me in nov we need to have ivf as chances of iui are too slim for us, because of my endo.  but he said we was entitled to 2 more goes of iui, im blabbing on now arent i, sorry.

so anyway, keep the advice or suggestions coming. we live on the isle of wight so need to compare travel with success rate and how many time you need to visit in one cycle etc
thanks again helen and leanne for tqaking time to read and reply
love rosina xx


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## Leanne (Jan 24, 2004)

Wow Rosina, i have been a member of this site for nearly 3 years and you are the first person i have come across that is from the Isle of Wight. I live in Haylands, where abouts are you?

I found the train journey up to the lister a bit of hassle but its the dreaded ferry that makes it 100 times worse. Well worth it in the end. The lister knew how far we had travelled and offered us lunch when we arrived, thats good service for you!!! It was all worth it though and we will be using the lister again in the near future.

Hope to keep in touch, would be fantastic to have support and friendship with someone who lives so close  

L xx


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## rosielee (Jan 27, 2006)

hi leanne, the i.o.w hey small place. eveyone knows everything, yet i dont know you lol.
congrats on success of 1st ivf, they look gorgeous. am hoping and praying it will work for us at some point.
it sounds like they take alot of things into consideration at the lister, we are waiting for a reply from email to lister and woking nuffield. only wish our pct would take a few things into consideration!!    im seriously considering writing to county press to see how many other couples suffer at the hands of this rule, and if companies would sponser infertile couples on the island, the publicity they would recieve would be great im sure. .......... by the way, i am very drunk and am rewriting every other word cos of mistakes, so this may not be such a fantastic idea when i look again tomorrow lol.
would you recommend egg sharing for a ist time ivf couple? and what made you consider it? 
many thanks for replkying and look forward to seeing you on here again,
love and best wishes for the future
rosina xx


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## Leanne (Jan 24, 2004)

Hi Rosina,

Your spelling is fantastic for being drunk and the spellchecker isnt working either. You obviosly handle your alcohol much better than me  

I have often thought of approaching the County Press. If you are serious i will be right behind you. Maybe we could get big ads put on all the Southern Vectis buses  

I really do recommend the lister, the counselling we got for egg sharing was excellent, all the nurses are so lovely and everyone treats you like a real person. I have no regrets about egg sharing. I do think its a good idea to egg share first time as if a problem does arise you may not be able to egg share on later cycles. The lister can take a while to get back to you as they are so busy, thats their only fault. If you want a peek at their info pack i could always dig mine out for you if you fancy a read over coffee one day.

Anyway, must get in the bath, just got back from a swim!

L xx


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## rosielee (Jan 27, 2006)

omg, ive just read ,my post, i was soooo drunk. i dont even remember posting lmao    was the rebillion in me after failed iui and going without wine for 6 weeks. think i may have overdone it abit. 
spoke with dh about everything quite abit lately, and im feeling good about finally making a decision and contacting clinics. still waiting to hear back from them. 
we have decided to contact the clinic we choose in september time. we have the i.o.w festie in june........... are you going leanne? and v festival in august. so we are going to enjoy our summer before committing 100% to ivf when we are abit fitter and more relaxed from the sunshine    which has been wonderful today,  
thanks for comments on lister helen and leanne, to be honest im swaying towards that clinic anyway from what ive read on net. 

lol to southern vectis, could you imagine     id never get there when it comes to being a mum!! think ill stick to dh driving me around. to all who read this .............. NEVER rely on southern vecits!!!  
do you know anything about the woking nuffield got lost again, blabbing on   sorry, 
hows your treatment going helen?? hope all is well, thinking of you
love and best wishes
rosina xx


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## Leanne (Jan 24, 2004)

Hey Rosina,

Hope you are over your hangover now    I think we all need a few drinks too many when things dont turn out the way we hoped. We were going to be going to the festival but dh decided to sell our tickets on ebay and make a profit   We did the same as you, had a really good summer before we started treatment, went on holiday and really let our hair down. We looked into the Woking Nuffield but decided against it. Cant remember why now, possibly because of the cost of drugs. The Lister has a sattelite clinic in Sussex where you can have your scans so it isnt quite as far to go. We didnt use it as i like any excuse to go to London and hit the shops   . I do recommend getting a rail card as you get your train fares so much cheaper. Unfortunately it doesnt get the ferries any cheaper. We could always go halves on a canoe  

L xx


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## Sally W (Sep 19, 2005)

I egg shared at the Nuffield, and can only say what a positive experiance it was.  I was very lucky and fell pg first time, but the treatment was so personal and prompt that i was never left waiting around.  I had to pay for DH's SA, HFEA forms and one other charge, all in all it cost around £400-500....The longest waiting period we had was for one of the blood tests to come back, which should have taken 6 wks but was actually only around 3 1/2.  You then have to wait to be matched to a recipient, and they found one for me within 1wk, so i started in that monthly cycle, all in all i think it was around 2 months from the first meeting to starting the drugs, i was very impressed.  The staff are lovely, i saw Mr Riddle, who was very thorough.  They do had similar conditions for taking people onto the scheme, age previous children etc, but as long as you fal into that category you should be fine.
They apparently have the second best rate of success in the country, and as you can see i am now waiting to have twins by my first cycle.
Good luck in whatever route you decide to take...If i can be any more help let me know.
Sallyx


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## rosielee (Jan 27, 2006)

hi......... again  
what happens when you 1st contact the clinic after you have chose one? if i phoned, how long before i get my 1st appointment roughly, and also when does the ball start rolling? also, could i pop to my dr and ask for blood tests to be done now, or would that be pointless until nearer the time?
should i contact them now if i want to start ivf at about oct/nov time, or do i wait until nearer the time?
i know a fair bit about the treatment etc, well.......... i think i do lol. but it just feels like unknown territory, which im sure it is for everyone. wish i could prepare my head a little bit more. sorry if that doesnt make sense, must be my blonde hair effecting my brain  
thanks again, 
and thanks sally, i have recieved info pack from nuffield, will be going over it all with dh when we are both in frame of mind to consider all the options. its always great to hear feedback, so keep them coming girls lol
bye for now
love and best wishes
rosina xx


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## Leanne (Jan 24, 2004)

Hi again Rosina,

I contacted the Lister in the March and had an appointment for our initial consultation in April. It then took 5 months to have all the tests done before we actually got started and i had to be on the contraceptive pill for 2 months. Some of the tests needed take ages to come back (i think it was the cystic fibrosis one) Also, you will need the hiv one repeated after 12 weeks so there really is no harm in having your consultation asap so that you can start having all the tests done. My gp did some of them, the clinic did the rest (they do not charge for this) You dont pay for your consultation either. They like your test results to be no older than 6 months old so sounds like you will be safe to start the ball rolling  

L xx


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