# My Egg Share Journey & Progress



## watn1 (Mar 14, 2008)

Hi all  ,

   I thought i would start a new topic on my Egg Sharing progress. I had lots and lots of questions at the start most of which were answered on various forums (mainly this one)

I thought documenting my journey from start to finish may be of help to someone at some point throughout their journey in the near future.

It is obviously new & i will no doubt have a lot to ad at later dates but this will give people a general idea of time scales, costs, appointments & more within time.

I was originally going to have all my tests done with my GP before making any appointment with a Clinic however because i have recently moved address it is proving harder then i thought just to register with a new doctor!

It's been 3 weeks just to get a form to fill in! It eventually arrived today so i called up and asked hos long it will take to get an appointment but was told i need a "welcome check" with a nurse of which cannot be untill end of April...  

So, i bid the bullet and thought i may aswell just go straight to the clinic as my AF is due in 3 weeks & it will just be on time to have my FSH checked!

Called Midlands Fertility Services today and spoke to a very nice lady who runs the egg-share program I have booked an appointment for the 3rd Week in April (the earliest they had) for my initial consultation she went through the cost which were:

Consult £135
If i pay for my test at the consult they will be £160 instead of £190
Sperm retreval £890
ICSI £1215
Drugs are included

That is that for the moment.. Just got to sit back and wait.....


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## watn1 (Mar 14, 2008)

Hi All,
    Well i had a little shick yesterday the receptionist at my Dr's called and said i could now make an appointment if i wanted to 

Even though i have booked my 1st consult i thought i'd take advantage and go along and see what my doc's say about the whole egg share process.

He didn't know the inn's and out's and didn't even know what test's i needed to do to qualify & did not even know whether i would be able to get NHS funding. Great help he was!  
All he could tell me was my BMI was good   

Anywho it's a good job i had a prepared list!  
He wrote me out a Blood test form and just filled them all in under other 
God knows what i'll get! 
Blood tests are booked in for tomorrow at 9:55 back at my doctors with the specialist that they have on site which save's a trip to the hospital i suppose. I know my old docs you had to get referred & wait so at least that is one good thing.

I am not sure how long they would take to come back but i will check tomorrow.
I am having HIV, Hepatitis B&C, Syphilis, Haemoglobin, Cystic Fibrosis  which is all i think i need bar FSH which can be done in approx 15 days time. This is either going to go one way or the other A:it may speed things up if they are quick with the result B:Slow everything right down & it may turn out it was quicker to have them done at the clinic!

Phew.. Thats it for now    for good results.


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## TWEETY29 (Jan 23, 2008)

hi watn,

Just want to wish you luck on your journey. i am thinking of egg sharing too so it will be good to check your progress and see how things go.

take care.

tweety


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## veng (Mar 10, 2008)

hi 
i hope you don't mind if i ask some questions 
i have my 1st consult 16th april and we are going to ask about egg sharing ,what BMI do i have to be to be ok to egg share im 31 this summer ,will they do tests on me to see if i make enough eggs before they ok the egg sharing?


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## watn1 (Mar 14, 2008)

TWEETY29 - Thank You i will try and keep this upto date as much as i can 

Veng - I am too waiting on my inital appointment so i am quite unsure as to what they do. BMI varies between which clinic i'm sure most clinic are under 30ish.

They also do some initial screening tests which i have had completed at my GP for Free but i know i will have to have them again at the clinic I had them done before hand just so i had something less to think of. There is e egg share thread if you would like to come and join us? There are a few of us who are waiting to start treatment & it will be great for when we are all going through it together
Here's the Link: 
http://www.fertilityfriends.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=121966.0

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Well Also a little update for me. My Test results came back from my GP  I must say i was very impressed they got them back within 6 days WOW! 
HIV - Negative
Hep C - Negative
Hep C - Negative
CF Gene - Awaiting
FSH - 3.4! How they got this i will never know i told them not to test it as i was not on my cycle but they went and done it anyway 
& i learnt that i am low on iron so need to take some supliments for 3 months 
So all is good on that angle. Just got to wait for my appointment. We got all the forms through the post today and filled them in and sent them back. They stated that DP will have his bloods taken on this visit & then we can book a planning meeting. So it could be all Go GO GO very soon


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## watn1 (Mar 14, 2008)

Thought i would update this with details of my 1st appointment.
Well today went very well & i feel very postive and am buzzing about the whole egg sharing process.

I got there are 3:30 & left at 5:15 my appointment was with one of the nurses and it was very detailed and helpful.
She just asked what we knew about the treatment we needed and went through the forms we had previously filled in.
She then discussed the egg shre with us & how we felt and how we'd feel about if it didn't work for us and whether it worked for the other couple... It was like a counciling session & everthing else all in one go. 

She was impressed by how much we both knew & that we knew all the inns and outs of the treatment etc.

I am very happy that she accepted all my results and i don't have to have them done again  & i also had my FSH done today too so that is all out of the way i am just waiting for the CF test which will be done in about a week or so.

DP today had his bloods taken to have his male & female  hormone levels checked which is how they will be able to judge as to whether he is still producing sperm under his vasectomy (all very complex) 

Next Steps:
Consult for DP's PESA 5/5/08 I will also have a scan of my ovaries on this day (my FSH results will be known by then too)
PESA will be booked approx 2 weeks later sperm then frozen untill my eggs are collected
After this ready to start the ball rolling  

Between the 2 weeks of the PESA being done a match will be "provisionally" obtained and if DP's sperm is retrieved ok then the match will be set & we will be read to start on CD21 in maybe June. I doubt everything will be read for Ma as they will need to find a match & we have to be in sync i presume.

I have been told i will also need to have a clamidia test done but i have a smear booked in for 22nd so i may as the nurse if she will do one then.

I would recommend to anyone to pop to your GP and see if you can have all of our tests done with them while you are waiting for referral/1st appointment. Our HIV and Hep tests were very quick but CF takes about 6 weeks.

Nurse i seen told me to start thinking about what type of person/people i will be willing to donate with and also to think about whether i would like to leave a letter for any child born out of my donation. She also asked me to think about how & if i will tell my own child how they were brought into the worls & that they may have a sibling somewhere out there "potentially a twin i guess"

There certainly is a lot to consider & just doing it because of the money is NOT the right reason i don't think. Anyone considering sharing needs to be 100% sure that you could cope with the mental & emotional sides of things and the nurses are very good at making you understand that even if we consider the egg as a cell that we flush everymonth it really is not te case.

When i said that the nurse said to me "That is like a male saying it was just sex on a one night stand and didn't think it would make that girl pregnant" She said and look how he would be frowned upon. Huh I never quite thought of it like that.

I also mentioned about the baby having the lady who is carrying it will have her blood running through he/she only to find that is not true either.

I was also pressed about if it works for them & not me etc... But i will still stick by my origianal comments which were that there is nothing to say that particular egg that worked for her would work for me.

Who ever thought this was going to become such an emotional roller coaster...


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