Cancer Treatment and Women’s Fertility – How Surrogacy Can Help You?

It’s obvious nowadays why same-sex couples and single men may consider going for a surrogacy process to help start or build their families. However, there are a lot of reasons opposite-sex couples or single women may also require the help of the surrogacy process using a Gestational Surrogate Mother. Some reasons why opposite-sex couples and Intended Parents take the assistance of our surrogacy agency in San Diego, CA, include:

• Womb issues, such as extensive fibroids or uterine scarring
• Underlying health conditions, including kidney or heart problems that can make pregnancy harmful
• A hysterectomy to treat cancer of the ovaries, cervix, or uterus
• Previous pregnancy complications, including severe pre-eclampsia and cervical incompetence

Before commencing any cancer treatment or surgery, it’s important to consult with your doctor. This will let you know how the treatment or surgery suggested to you can affect your fertility. If you haven’t discussed these issues prior to treatment or surgery, you need to bring them up as early as possible when the treatment begins or after the surgery. Don’t presume that your nurse or physician will ask you about your fertility concerns or voluntarily suggest the surrogacy process as an option.

Women can be considered infertile if:

• Hormones needed for ovulation are disrupted
• The ovaries are devoid of healthy eggs
• A fertilized egg can’t grow in the womb
• Other parts of the reproductive system are damaged, preventing eggs from being released, fertilized, or implanted
• A tumor or other issue might put pressure on the womb or ovaries and prevent them from functioning properly.
• Something occurs that won’t allow carrying a fetus (a baby growing in the womb) to full term. It results in a miscarriage.

In most cases, cancer treatments or surgeries may be more likely to interfere with the reproductive process. These treatments may affect your ability to get pregnant than the type of cancer itself. Moreover, different types of cancer treatments and surgeries may have different effects. These may require you to seek the surrogacy process using a Gestational Surrogate Mother. Generally, the risk of infertility varies based on:

• The treatment dose
• The type and extent of surgery
• The age and development stage of the patient, for instance, before or after puberty, pre or post-menopause, etc.
• The type of treatment received (chemotherapy, hormone therapy, immunotherapy, targeted therapy, radiation therapy, stem cell transplant)

Surgeries that may affect your fertility and prompt for surrogacy process

You may require surgery for a tumor that’s inside or close to a reproductive organ, like an ovary or uterine tube, or the womb or cervix. There may also be a need for surgery if the tumor is near the abdominal or pelvic organs. This includes the rectum, colon, or anus.

These surgeries can also affect your ability to get pregnant and prompt you to seek adoption or surrogacy process and Surrogate Mother services. As the best surrogacy agency in San Diego, California, we have helped countless Intended Parents complete their families through gestational surrogacy.

Here are the surgeries that can affect a woman’s ability to have children:

Hysterectomy

A hysterectomy is a surgical operation that removes a woman’s uterus. The uterus serves as a house for an unborn child (fetus). Hence, it will be impossible for a woman to conceive after removing her uterus. For women diagnosed with cancer, removal of the uterus can take place for:

• Cervical cancer
• Endometrial (uterine) cancer
• Usually for other types of cancer that can affect the female reproductive system.

Oophorectomy

An oophorectomy is the surgical removal of a woman’s ovaries. It can take place together with a hysterectomy. Ovaries are the part of a female reproductive system that produces and releases eggs. Hence, women cannot conceive without them. For women living with cancer, an oophorectomy is carried out for ovarian cancer as well as for other cancers that impact the female reproductive system. If it’s highly unlikely that cancer will recur, the surgery may try to leave one ovary to protect the eggs. This might still enable the woman to get pregnant. Saving at least one of the ovaries can preserve the hormones that help prevent symptoms of menopause, such as vaginal dryness and hot flashes. If achieving pregnancy by natural means is not possible, then you can always consult our surrogacy agency in San Diego, CA to learn your family building options through the gestational surrogacy process.

Trachelectomy

A trachelectomy is a surgical operation that doctors perform to remove the cervix (lowest region of the womb). Since this procedure does not involve the removal of the uterus, a woman can still carry a pregnancy after the surgery.

These surgeries may be performed through a cut made in the belly or transvaginally. A partial” or “total” hysterectomy refers to the removal of the womb alone (partial) or complete removal of all the female reproductive organs (total).

Some women who are more likely to have breast, ovarian, and uterine cancers or a genetic cancer syndrome may decide to undergo a total or partial hysterectomy in order to help prevent the onset of the cancers.

Other types of surgery carried out to remove tumors in the pelvic or abdomen may also lead to scarring in and near reproductive organs. These are known as adhesions. Tumors can also block the Fallopian tubes, ovaries, or womb, stopping the eggs from journeying to meet the sperm. This implies that the eggs cannot undergo fertilization and implant in the womb.

Conclusion

Our team evaluates every detail to find a peaceful solution to make your dream of becoming a Parent come true while going through cancer treatment. Want to know more, how cancer affects your fertility, and how surrogacy can help you complete your family using a Surrogate Mother? Please reach out to the Physician’s Surrogacy agency, San Diego, California, and schedule a complimentary consultation.