Look
to New Beginnings
By
Gail Sexton Anderson
 Couples
wrestling with infertility are likely to find
the holiday season anything but joyful. Now is
the time to look to new beginnings. The new year
is a great time to take the first steps toward
a donor cycle.
You
may have been thinking about going forward with
a donor cycle but needed more time to adjust to
the idea. Not many couples dive into a donor cycle
fearlessly when their reproductive endocrinologist
first suggests this avenue of treatment. But life
is comprised of seasons and is the new year may
be a good time to move on in treatment.
You
may now be at the point where a donor ivf cycle
seems like an attractive opportunity to be pregnant
and give birth to chance to build your family.
It might have seemed unthinkable six months or
a year ago but now, as the new year awaits, this
could be the most exciting opportunity of your
lives. Many couples have made that leap and are
delighted to be enjoying their children this Christmas.
Kim
and Jason had been through every fertility treatment
available. Kim was at the end of her rope: she
hated every doctor in the greater Los Angeles
area but decided to try one more IVF program with
a donor egg. In the beginning, she had her doubts
about this new group of doctors too, but with
Jason’s support, she gave donor IVF a chance.
Along the way Kim and I had many conversations;
some good but mostly bad. Kim didn’t trust
anyone at this point in her treatment. She had
been disappointed too many times. But, with lots
of encouragement from, the doctors, nurses, her
husband and The Donor Source, Kim’s efforts
to conceive were successful. She now has beautiful
twin girls that are her heart’s delight.
Kim changed overnight from a women struggling
with despair to an advocate for egg donation.
In my last conversation with Kim, she shed tears
of joy. She can now leave the anger and pain behind
her. In fact, she and Jason are considering a
frozen cycle in the spring to broaden their beautiful
family.
Donor cycles can have their ups and downs, but
I have found that many couples trust in a higher
power and do their best to maintain a sense of
humor. If a donor should prove to be an ineligible
donor for some unforeseen reason, the couple often
finds a new donor who they feel a deeper connection
with and end up feeling that their second donor
is the one they were destined to cycle with. Liz
and Eric were head over heels for Heather. She
looked so much like Liz they couldn’t wait
to start the cycle. When the agency where Heather
was registered informed Liz and Eric that Heather
was getting married and didn’t want to do
another cycle, they were devastated.
I
worked with them for weeks to find a new donor
even though it took Liz a long time to let go
of the fantasy she had built in her mind of what
this future child would be like if she worked
with Heather. She pleaded with the agency to beg
Heather to reconsider but, it was not to be.
In
time, Liz came to realize that, although Heather
looked a great deal like her, one of our donors
was more similar to Liz in her personality. Liz
loved what Ali had to say about her life goals:
Their likes and dreams mirrored each other far
more closely than Heather. Liz went forward with
Ali and is thrilled this holiday season to be
celebrating their first Christmas with baby Austin
who, by the way, looks just like his dad.
I
encourage you this holiday season to look forward,
not back. The donors I’ve mentioned gave
a little of themselves so that the couples could
experience the joy that children bring. This holiday
season, spend time looking outside yourselves,
realizing the blessings you have as you give to
others. Do something outside your comfort zone;
spend time in a homeless shelter or soup kitchen.
Gather needed items and deliver them to Katrina
victims. As hard as it may be to turn your focus
outward during a frustrating and difficult season
in your life, it may be the best way for you to
get through the holidays. Then, look ahead as
the new year dawns and you plan for a brighter
future.
Gail
Sexton Anderson
The Donor Source
www.thedonorsource.com
Wrap-up
of the FDA seminars
By
Wendy D. Latash, Ph.D.
 As
many of our readers know, The Donor Source, along
with the Apothecary Shops of Arizona and Ferring
Pharmaceuticals, hosted seminars this past month
on “The FDA Regulations:
Is Your Practice Ready?” The seminars
were presented on November 9th in Long Beach and
November 10th in San Francisco by Wendy Latash,
PhD, Director of Advisory Services for Jade Tree
Solutions. Attendees told us the information was
valuable and useful for their specific situations.
We would also like to thank those who were able
to attend the seminars—you made them a resounding
success!
For those who were not able to attend and as a
final reminder for those that did, we asked Dr.
Latash to write a synopsis of what happened at
the seminars as well as what kinds of questions
were asked.
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