We're pregnant.

[LoneNutTheorist]

Got the call from the doctor yesterday.

Nobody in my family knows, but I had to just say it somewhere. We'll probably wait until 3 months before telling anybody just to be safe but, no matter what, this at least proves to me that one cyllinder is all it takes to get this far.

The facts:
Had stage I seminoma, left i/o and radiation
Have been trying for a year
Have been doing IUI (artificial insemination) since July with post-surgery and radiation sperm.
Have also been trying the olde fashioned way.
I'm 36, my wife is 32.

[Margaret]

I am so happy for you!!!! This is really fun news.

[Karen]

LNT,

Nothing like keeping a secret by posting it on the internet !!!!
Thanks for sharing it with this Family!!

I am SOOOOO happy for you!!!!

[dadmo]

Congratulations, that's wonderful news. It gives hope to all those who think it can't be done.

[Fed]

Many congratulations!!! You're in for the ride of your lives. It will be loads of work, but worth every minute.

[Already Bald]

You mean we are going to be Aunts and Uncles again??
TERRIFIC!!

[Mom]

LNT - that is wonderful news! It's hard to keep a secret but it is safe here with us!!

[LoneNutTheorist]

Thanks. hehe. My family doesn't have my username here, so the news is safe for now. Kinda nervous based on all of the things you read online about potential problems during pregnancy, but I guess that all pregnancies share that risk.

The banking beforehand definitely helped ease my mind, but the other thing I learned is that there are ways to extract sperm when suffering retrograde ejaculation (I didn't have RPLND, but I was directed to read a lot of stuff for TC survivors). It's a lot lower-tech than I imagined and basically involves flushing the bladder (through of all things, urination).

So, in other words, if they can pick out just one good sperm from someone suffering from retrograde ejaculation, they have a shot at performing in vitro or perhaps IUI -- the urine might not be an issue because they actually centrifuge the sperm out of the semen anyway...

(if this last IUI didn't work, they were going to switch my wife to injectable gonadotropins and then if that didn't work, to in vitro.)

[LoneNutTheorist]

Just want to clarify that I don't have retrograde ejaculation, so I'm just going off of what I was told, but also want to say that when you go to these centers, they are packed wall-to-wall with people. We are our own little microcosm over here, but there are so many advances when it comes to fertility. It's a bit of a maze and you feel a bit like cattle, but they are just as systematic as a a TC specialist is in treating cancer.

[MRMRSU]

Congratulations!!! So very excited for you and your wife...I don't know how you can keep it secret...I would want to shout it from the mountaintops

[Jay68442]

Congratulations! There is nothing in the world as rewarding as parenthood. Best of luck to you and your family.

[Sercan]

Yuppi!!!! great news!!!

[dollfin1204]

Congrats, I am so happy for you!!!

[Fish]

Congratulations!!!!!!!

[LoneNutTheorist]

Thanks!

I suppose that after our experiences over the last 3 years, we are being cautiously optimistic. Nothing I've read online seems to indicate any increased risk of birth defects more than 2 years after completing RT.

We'll go for the first ultrasound on Friday. The embryo should be visible as a small sac. Reading all of these sites, though, it's amazing how much development occurs in the next 4 weeks!

It takes some getting used to to understand how pregnancy is staged. She's officially almost in the 6th week, but conception was only about 4 weeks ago. I didn't realize that the pregnancy clock starts from the first day of the last period -- because most people cannot pin down the exact date of conception.

Anyway, chalk me up as another TC survivor who regained fertility after finishing radiation treatment (assuming I lost it).