Across the sea, I stored my seeds (Part 1)
8/03/2016 07:33:00 PM
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
~ Frost Robert,1920
As most traditional Chinese kids, I was always a typical "good" student—organized, concentrated, and keen to study. My life should be like this—studying with good grades, graduation with a honored prize, and marrying to a perfect Mr. Right. I met the "one" when I was 17, and I truly believed that we would be together during the rest of my life.
I was too young to maintain this relationship. The long distance between him and me was one of the uncertainties. After pursuing the different goals in our lives, I met couple of guys at several localities. However, no one was the "one" of my life. Time flied. Almost the same time, I received both the good news from him and the bad news from my own family. He got married. And my Mom was seriously sick. I came back my hometown as soon as possible, and Mom just left her last words," I was lucky to have you, and you are the continuation of my life."
Suddenly, two of my beloved persons left me alone. I felt so lonely and desolate.
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In an extraordinary day, I browsed the internet and noticed one of the entertainment news — a Chinese super star, Xu Jing-Lei, went to U.S. to do egg freezing. She was a 42-year-old, pretty, and aggressive actress and film director. Still, she was single (as I am). I searched for the information on egg freezing, and knew that our government has not opened this to women for the social reasons. Shanghai, the most populous city in China, had so many big hospitals and professional fertility centers, but none agreed to do egg freezing because of the law. I consulted with few fertility specialists, and most of them were blunt and cold about this issue.
I was eager to realize my dream in the future—a husband, a house, and a baby. After spending two weeks contacting with different fertility centers around the world (U.S., Thailand, Hong Kong, and Taiwan), I got bountiful information about the different regulations in these countries, including the techniques, procedures, and costs.
What's the next? Although the service in U.S. seemed promising, the costs of medications, traveling, and time spent seemed not that appropriate to me. In addition, the language barrier was another concern. Thailand and Hong Kong were not as far as U.S., but mandarin was not common there, either.
Surprisingly, the special consultant in Taiwan impressed me very much. She answered all my questions and helped me to collect more information. I reminded my short traveling around this small island several years ago, and it was a beautiful memory. I really needed someone to push me then, so I emailed him (the ex-one, now we are good friends) to discuss with the egg freezing. He stood by my side and encouraged me to do egg freezing (concerning about my age). I appreciated his backup and finally decided to take the program.
The special consultant arranged the basic body exams in Shanghai for me in advance, and then I went to the Stork Fertility Center in Taiwan for the first consultation (on day 3 of my menstrual cycle). The doctor explained his stimulation protocol patiently, and gave me the long-acting stimulation shot rather than the daily shots for my convenience. Two weeks later, I underwent the oocyte retrieval, which was not as horrible as I thought. In last two hours, I was told that my eggs were harvested and waited for cryopreservation.
Mom was with me during the day. I knew that. Just as she said," you are the continuation of my life," I stored the continuation here.
Because my life schedule and biological clock were not synchronized, I could not take the two roads at the same time—having my husband and babies. Being a positive and brave traveler, I took the one less traveled by, and that made all the difference.
Stork Fertility Center:
1. The news of Chinese actress about egg freezing inspired many women's feedback. Many governments do not allow their females to freeze eggs for social reasons even though the social structure has undergone a dramatic change (career women increases, and usual age for marriage increases). Because there is no language barrier between mainland China and Taiwan, more and more women came to Taiwan for the consultations of egg freezing.
2. The role in this article was 38 years of age. Fortunately, her AMH level was 4.6 ng/mL, and thus the fertility specialist arranged the long-acting rFSH (strong stimulation). The long-acting rFSH protocol made the oversea patients more convenient since they only needed to visit the center twice (one for the start of stimulation, and one for the retrieval operation). Eventually, she harvested 15 mature oocytes for cryopreservation.
3. According to the data of Stork Fertility Center, the average number of oocytes to reach a live birth based on different age spans was as follows,
