The Gift of Hope and Life: With Gratitude to EMD Serono

When you hear the words “you have cancer,” your life changes in a heartbeat.How serious is this? What ’s my chance of surviving? Which treatment should I choose? When will it start? Will it cause pain? How will it affect my body and my mind? How will treatment impact my life emotionally, financially and socially? How could it impact my significant other? Who do I need to tell about my diagnosis? W ill I be able to keep working?And, for the 150,000 American men and women under age 45 who are diagnosed with cancer and who may want to have a family, they also have to consider,will this treatment prevent me from having kids someday?For 40-80% of women, and 30-75% of men diagnosed in their reproductive years, the answer is: MAYBE. The chemotherapy, radiation, surgery or other treatment they undergo puts them at increased risk for compromised fertility. Moreover, time is often critical and treatment might need to start within days or weeks, and all of a sudden, you are faced with making big, life-altering decisions —and locating reproductive specialists, getting immediate appointments, transferring your hefty medical records and pretty much moving mountains to give yourself the best chance at the life and the children you want someday.Even after jumping through initial hoops, fertility preservation isn ’t easy or cheap. On average, women pay between $7,500 and $10,000 to freeze eggs or embryos, and this often doesn’t include costs of stimulation medication, long-term st...
Source: LIVESTRONG Blog - Category: Cancer & Oncology Authors: Source Type: blogs