falling pregant after husband's cancer

[guest123]

my husband is out of chemo almost 8 months now and his bloods are creeping up to their normal levels. My question is, can we try & fall pregant because since his daignosis we dont want to waste time starting a family. We put away sperm at diagnosis, but I have heard men fathering children after some chemos with no problem. I just dont know how long after is safe enough to assume. Any of you been through this or going through planning a family around cancer?


Any advice or links would be greatly appreciated!


Thank you!

Penny

[Molly]

Hi Penny,

First of all, welcome. I'm sorry that you have to be here at all, but I'm glad that you found us.

As for getting pregnant, unfortunately, because many of us here are young (and I'm assuming tha you are too, since you're talking about getting pregnant ), doctors have a tendency to forget to bring up the fertility issue, since most patients they deal with are already out of childbearing years. That said, I'm so glad to hear that your hubby banked some sperm before treatment, just incase.

I would suggest that you speak with your doc about it...and also speak with someone with some fertility expertise (ie. specialist). The drugs that your husband was given will make a difference. Since he is the one that was on chemo and not you, I would think you wouldn't have to wait as long (as if it were you), but I may be wrong. I'll shoot this question off to a surgical oncologist friend of mine and see what he says. Can you tell me what treament he was on?

[guest123]

My husband was on FOLFOX 6 for 6 months and finished 8 months ago. He never missed a cycle and his dose was never reduced which probabbly explains why his blood is taking longer to bounce back. Please ask your surgical oncologist eg God willing we will be able to have children but can the chemo be toxic to sperm that it could affect the baby's health. I know from a gyne that sperm are regenerated every 90 days or 3 months so how many cycles would one have to wait.


thank you all so much,

penny

[Molly]

Hey Penny-

I shot him a note and let him know about Folfox6. I'll let you know what he says as soon as I hear from him.

[Hannah]

Obviously there are tons of issues to think about and deal with - there is a great organization called Fertile Hope that deals with fertility issues of all types. They have tons of information on their website, http://www.FertileHope.org.

Good luck to you, your husband, and your future children!
Hannah

[Dana]

Penny,

First of all follow Molly's advice and speak to a fertility doctoc.
My personal experience is that my husband underwent one cycle of chemo and radiation for cancer. The doctor adviced us at that time not to have any children for at least 2 years (it wasn't our intention anyway as we had just had a daughter born at 28 weeks and had no intention of having more).
This was 1997. In 1999 I "accidently" got pregnant and we had a wonderful healthy boy just after New Year's Eve 2000.

Talk to your doctor and I'm sure all will be ok. 10 years have gone by and so much has been done.

Good luck and hugs

Dana