Making babies post-chemo..wait 2 years ?

[BeachTech]

I have asked my doctors this question; How long should you wait post-chemo to try to conceive naturally? They all give the same answer...2 years. However, when I ask where they get that number, they can't tell me. When I ask to see some studies that support the 2 year answer, they can't produce any. It seems that there are several studies that look at the effect of chemo on future babies on the female side, but not on the male side.

Does anyone have info on this subject? Anyone seen any studies on this subject. If we try now (9 months post-chemo), is there a chance the baby will come out with birth defects or the intelligence of Tom Cruise (ie, a few cards short of a full deck)?
________
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[Karen]

If we try now (9 months post-chemo), is there a chance the baby will come out with birth defects or the intelligence of Tom Cruise (ie, a few cards short of a full deck)?

BeachTech,
Scientists everywhere speculate that the Tom Cruise phenotype was caused by a random mutation that will not occur again for thousands of years, so don't fret about that one. Whew!!!!!

But there is a lot to dig through on chemo/radiation on males and sperm quality, conception, and teratogenic effects of chemo/radiation on sperm. I hate to throw a bunch of references at you, but I don't have time to read and summarize tonight. I searched PubMed pulled up 26 references for you to look over (url below for search results). In the first, "Paternity following treatment for testicular cancer" they state in the Discussion that "Chemotherapy and radiotherapy are well known to cause azoospermia or oligospermia following treatment, but in the majority of men there is at least some, and often good, recovery of spermatogenesis over the first few years after treatment. Moreover, patients treated with chemotherapy or radiotherapy are often advised to postpone having children for at least 1 year following therapy to avoid potential teratogenicity".

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?CMD=search&DB=pubmed

Again, sorry to throw stuff over the fence at you on this, but I hope this can get you started in finding answers.

[Karen]

Well, seems my url just gets you to the pubmed search page. Search that site with "conception chemotherapy testicular cancer" and set the limit to human and you'll get 26 references.

[supportive wife]

Deperately waiting to have babies

I would LOVE to see the statistics that quote why men have to wait 2 years to make babies. From what I have found online, women are told they can reproduce 6 months after chemo, but men are told two years. It just seems so off the wall.

When my husband posted this question to his oncologist (who specializes in urology), he quoted the by-line and stated that the "reproductive biologist recommend waiting 2 years". But in the next breath he stated that if we were to get pregnant a year after chemo, that there should be no problems.

So if anyone finds out definitive answer to this question, please let me know. My husband and I cannot wait to put cancer behind us and start having babies.

[johnseed]

our daughter

We have a wonderful, perfect baby girl conceived a year after chemo.

JS

[EyesWideShut]

I tried searching those articles for awhile and can't find the info about how long to wait or the percentage of birth defects?

For everyone who has conceived after receiving chemo, did you have any complications? What was your sperm count? How long did you wait post chemo? Did you have a girl or boy? What was the birth weight (what did your other , if any, children weigh)? Was the baby born early?

It's almost been a year since my Husband finished chemo (where does the time go!!) and we are hoping on trying in the fall (1.5 years post chemo) and would like to know more about other peoples experiences. We did bank sperm, but would prefer to do it naturally because of the cost of a IVF.

Any info would be great thanks!!

[Margaret]

I was told to wait 18 monts to 2 years to start trying. At the 18 month mark, we had his sperm tested...there was fluid but zero active sperm left. The chemo had a major impact on his sperm and the quality. My husband did have a full RPLND too, but it was nerve sparing so he did not have retrograde. I have heard many success stories about people getting pregnant after chemo and an equal number that were left sterile. I would wait at least one year to be safe and then have the sperm tested before you get started.

Best of luck!

[EyesWideShut]

Thanks Margret, we are planning on trying at the 18-20 month mark. I really hope everything is ok, we can't afford to do IVF!

[mk6439]

Here's our story: My husband and I did an unmedicated IUI using his frozen sperm about 7 months after he finished chemo because I was really anxious to get going on our family. IUIs are much cheaper than IVF, but you need more sperm, have you considered that as an option? We had a healthy 8 lb. boy in December 2007. We knew we wanted a second baby at some point and by the time I started weaning my son, we were just about at the two year post-chemo mark, so we decided we would just see what happened and if I wasn't pregnant in a year, we'd get his sperm tested and do another IUI if necessary. Turns out I got pregnant that very month, which was 23 months post-chemo. I was really surprised it happened that fast -- I knew it was a possibility, but I probably would have waited until my son was more than 6 months old if I thought it would really happen that fast! But we were thrilled. This baby is a girl -- she is due in 10 days and she's actually full-term now, so she won't be born early. She's doing great, the pregnancy has been very easy and she came through all the screening tests with flying colors (we didn't do an amnio because the results of the first trimester screen were great; her 20 week ultrasound was perfect), so we're hoping there will be no complications. I'll let you know in a couple of weeks her birthweight. I'm happy to answer any other questions you have -- good luck!!!

[EyesWideShut]

Thanks for sharing your story! and congrats on a baby girl!

My husband had a low sperm count when he banked and they said we could only do IVF because there weren't enough sperm So we will have him tested in the fall and hopefully start trying then.

Good luck with your delivery and let me know how everything goes!
Thanks!

[phlogistic]

So is it dangerous to get the wife preg post chemo if it hasn't been two years? Like birth defects? Or are we just sterile?

[mk6439]

Our baby girl arrived on March 21, at 41 weeks. She weighed 7 lbs, 10 ounces and was 19 inches long. She eats like a champ and has already gained 5 ounces and grown an inch. She is beautiful and healthy, but she has a small VSD, which is a hole in her heart that her cardiologist (crazy that a one week old has a cardiologist!) assures us is not worrisome, is pretty common in newborns and will almost certainly close before she's 2. I didn't ask yet if that could be related to the chemo, but my guess is no because the doctors thought my son (who came from pre-chemo sperm) had the same thing at his 20 week ultrasound that closed by the time he was born. I mentioned that to the cardiologist and she said they can run in families.

[Smartie]

Many congratulations on your new addition.

I hope the heart thing turns out to be nothing to worry about. The opinion of the cardiologist sounds reassuring.