# Hospital able to thaw and fertilise Frozen eggs from old slow freeze method?



## Gaia2014 (Aug 27, 2013)

Dear all,

I am about to turn 42 and have recently discovered my tubes are diseased. I had breast cancer at the age of 35 and had my eggs frozen just before all  my treatment. I was unable to freeze embryos as I have only been married for 3 years.  Thankfully I am in remission but am looking for a clinic/ hospital in or around London who know how to thaw my eggs from the old slow freeze method (currently clinics use vitrification which is a newer more successful technique). These eggs are extremely precious as egg stimulation is dangerous for me to do as my cancer was highly hormone positive.

Any advice or information would be REALLY appreciated!!!!
Love and blessings to you all for good health and new healthy little ones!


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## mierran (Apr 24, 2009)

Hi ,
Glad you are in remission now.

It doesn't i'm afraid depend so much on finding a clinic able to thaw your eggs it is more dependant on how your eggs were frozen in the first place. With the old mdthod ice crystals commonly formed in eggs which are large cells with a thin cell membrane . These ice crystals damage the membrane on freezing but this damage isn't visible till thawing.

I would say a clinic that is experienced in using frozen eggs whether slow freeze or vitrified is your best chance but unfortunately survival ates for eggs frozen by slow freeze is low.

Good luck and it just takes one egg to be one embryo to give you that baby.

X x


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## Steph2012 (Mar 16, 2012)

Gaia

I had eggs frozen in 2007 using the old freezing method at Midland Fertility Services up near Birmingham. we're close to starting a cycle to use them and will probably go back there but we've had conversations with ARGC on Upper Wimpole St and they were more than happy to have the eggs transferred to London. Also, when we first started on this journey I saw Melanie Davies at UCL, she was lovely and told me she'd just delivered a baby made from old method frozen eggs. Would love to hear how you get on. Whisking you all the luck in the world. X


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## Steph2012 (Mar 16, 2012)

P.s. Melanie Davies works at CRGH


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## Chickabooo (May 22, 2012)

I also have 5 eggs frozen in 2006 with the old method which I am just in the process of transferring to ARGC and plan to attempt to defrost them in December to use along with a fresh cycle. I would also love to know how others get on with their frozen eggs. I had mine frozen because I was still single at the time and reaching 35.
Best of luck.
C x


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## Steph2012 (Mar 16, 2012)

Chickaboo

sounds like we were in the same boat.....I had eggs frozen in 2007 at age 35, had just come out of a serious relationship and knew it would be a while before I was in a position to make babies so had some eggs frozen. Would love to hear how you get on with ARGC. 

Gaia - it's right that the new quick freeze vitrification has better thawing rates but there's still a decent chance of eggs slow frozen thawing without damage - the expectation is somewhere between 50-60%. So it's lower but not low.

Xx


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## Chickabooo (May 22, 2012)

Hi Steph,

Yes it does look like we are in a similar position. Good luck with this months cycle, fingers crossed.
I must admit I don't hold out much hope for my frozen eggs. I have been lead to believe the chance of a pregnancy from them is less than 5 per cent and wouldn't be surprised if none survived the thaw from what I've read. I certainly wasn't aware of this at the time I froze them!!!  ARGC didn't seem that interested in them and have always told me I had a much better chance with a fresh cycle of which we have had two with no success yet. But of course there is no harm in trying and you never know but don't want to get my hopes up. It would be amazing to have a baby from something I did so long ago. I always hoped I would never need them.
I will be on the ARGC boards from the end of November if my cycle goes ahead that month.

C x


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## Gaia2014 (Aug 27, 2013)

Dear all, 

Sounds like we should have a forum for frozen eggs!!!! Thank you all for getting back to me I had no idea until I just looked. I really hope we all get pregnant at the same time!!!! Good luck to you all and keep in touch.

Seems as if a lot of you are transferring eggs to different clinics from where you had the eggs frozen. Is this recommended? I have been told its best to keep the eggs at the hospital they were originally frozen in as to not disturb them. Also the original lab will be familiar with thawing in the old methods. I too had planned to move to ARGC or CRM but was told best to keep them at Barts as they will be familiar with the process. I am particularly worried as I feel it is too dangerous for me to do egg stimulation ever again due to my cancer having been highly hormonal. (If the hormones are created naturally in the body this is fine but NOT injected.) Therefore these frozen eggs are crucial to me.

Any information would be greatly received!!!!! big hugs to you all xxxxxxx


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## Steph2012 (Mar 16, 2012)

Gaia - understand how precious your eggs are to you!! 
I don't really have a lot of info as to whether its fine to transfer them to another clinic. Although I think ARGC are fab (they got me my elusive BFP!) and they've said they would be happy to thaw etc (but they didn't seem particularly enthusiastic about it), my gut feel is that I should thaw / cycle at the clinic where they were frozen given that they have experience in the thaw and they've given me a fair degree of confidence when I've been back to talk about using them in the near future. But I could be falling for the sales pitch............who knows?! It's a tricky one. I remember that my clinic was one of the few that were freezing eggs at that time so it kinda makes sense to me that if they've been involved in the process for so many years, they have the best chance of getting them through the thawing process.
Re: injectable hormones and IVF - is it worth thinking about natural IVF? Think it is possible to do it without any stims at all.

Anyway, lets hope our frosties are fabulous! x


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## Chickabooo (May 22, 2012)

Hi everyone,

Gaia, you may well be right about not transferring them. The only reason I am transferring is because I want to do a fresh cycle at the same time and ARGC have better success rates than the clinic that froze my eggs for IVF cycles so I want to stick with them. I actually don't know if they have much experience in defrosting and after reading this thread I may get in touch and ask them! In fact I'm going to do it now!

I don't know much about natural IVF but I hope it's something that may work for you. It's always good to have a back up plan I think as I find it takes some stress away from the current situation.

Hoping everyone's dreams come true.

C x


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