My IVF Breast Cancer Diary: Cancer Treatment off the Bell Curve and Functional Genomics begins in October 2004, when I began my quest to make a sibling for my 3 year old son. I was 40 years old at the time.
My first fertility treatment resulted in a diagnosis of ‘prematurely aged eggs’. My doctor, the most highly lauded in New York City, land of aged women having children, strongly urged me to seek an egg donor.
I could not accept his advice. I could not accept this failure of my body. I rejected the idea of my husband having children with another woman. I thought of it this way because I was only focused on the embryo and I forgot that it is the raising of the child that is the most important thing not the creation. I pursued treatment from other doctors even though those doctors also told me the chances of harvesting good eggs were minimal. I participated in a study that gave large quantities of DHEA for several months before extraction. I went through two more rounds of fertility treatments before ALL of the doctors and my husband pushed me to an egg donor.
My story has a happy ending. In addition to my 9 year old son, I also have 4 year old twins. They look like me, act like me, eat like me and are mine so completely that unless a doctor asks about the pregnancy, I never think about their origins. I am certain that my children are the same souls entrusted to me regardless of whether it was my egg or that of another woman.
I have collated my diary with a multitude of aspirations. It is my hope that women who are considering fertility treatment and hormone replacement therapy will take either an estrogen metabolism test or a genetic detoxification status test prior to beginning treatment. Armed with knowledge about your estrogen metabolism and your ability to process estrogen-based pharmaceuticals, you will be able to make better decisions about your plans for children.
For those women who take the test and find they do have an impaired estrogen metabolism, I urge you not to pursue fertility treatments. I promise you that egg donation and adoption will result in a life filled with children if that is what you seek. The embryo origins are of little consequence compared to the awe-inspiring gift of raising healthy, well-adjusted children.
Another hope I have is that those women who have already engaged in fertility treatment or hormone replacement therapy will test their estrogen metabolism test or a genetic detoxification status test so you can take immediate action to correct your metabolic function and hopefully save yourself from breast cancer or other hormonal cancers.
Finally, to my fellow sisters in the breast cancer adventure, I urge you to pursue these tests, find a doctor whom you trust who can prescribe supplements, diet, exercise and lifestyle recommendations that will lower your recurrence risk.
My website, www.ivfbreastcancer.com, contains the most recent information on studies and testing that I have been able to research.
Please join me in spreading this information, so fewer women join the breast cancer adventure.
Babs Riley, May 2010
