Infertility on the brain

He responded positively: 'you are healthy, do not smoke and so there is no reason why you shouldn't have children - we need to investigate.'

I was referred to a gynaecologist in Coventry. Again I was put through a series of tests and, much to his amazement, so was my husband.

Getting results
I was expecting a similar response to that which I had had eight years before. So imagine my horror when I was told: 'you have an excessive amount of prolactin in the bloodstream, and this is most likely caused by a brain tumour.'

How I drove home from that consultation I'll never know. I was in a total spin. I had been reassured that, if it was a tumour, it would not be malignant. But they didn't know that my boss's husband had just died from a brain tumour the week before.

I went for a brain scan and, yes, I did have a tumour or pituitary adenoma (prolactinomas, the most common form of pituitary tumour, cause amenorrhoea - loss of periods - and infertility). I was prescribed a drug to shrink the tumour. An operation to remove it was considered too risky because it was so close to my retina.

The drug eventually worked and at the age of 40 I started to have periods again. I was so fortunate. I had at most four periods when they stopped because I was pregnant.

Trouble-free pregnancy
I sailed through pregnancy without sickness. I was offered all the tests because of my age but refused an amniocentesis, as I could not get rid of the life that was now growing in me even if it was not 'perfect'. In January 1999 I gave birth to our son Alexander, 8lb 5oz.