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Dino's fertility story: part two
December 2002: Stage one
So, we'd opted for fertility treatment, using another woman's eggs. We went to the clinic and the consultant talked us through the procedure. It sounded quite complicated, but much less invasive and painful than I had feared. The unknown donor would suffer more. Most donors in the UK are IVF patients who 'share' their eggs in return for cheaper treatment. It would cost us around £4000 to £5000. The success rate was around 40 percent. We were willing to have three attempts.
We had to get on the waiting list. How long? "Around eight or nine months," the consultant said. That didn't sound too bad - I'd heard that most people had to wait over a year. So that was it. We had signed up for Donor Egg IVF.
A couple of weeks later we had a counselling session. It's one of the pre-requisites of being accepted for treatment. We talked about how much we'd thought about our decision, how we both felt about it and possible problems in the future. Would the child be able to seek out its genetic mother one day? Could the mother look for him/her? Do we tell the child from an early age? Do we tell other people? All of these things have to be considered.
Stage Two: Another plan
After the counselling session I tried to find out as much as I could about donor egg treatment, mainly via the Internet. On one support board someone mentioned how in Spain the waiting lists are much shorter and DE is cheaper. They included the web address of a clinic. I had a look. They had a branch in Seville.
We have a holiday home in the South of Spain. Why not try there? It made sense. I emailed the clinic and got a reply the next day, offering an appointment in the next two weeks. That wasn't convenient, so I emailed back asking for an appointment for a day in February when I knew we were going to be in Spain. No problem.
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