My First Covid-19 Blog
Its taken me a while to write and to get my head around what is happening across the world with Coivd-19.. Putting IVF to one side for one minute. It’s a really scary time for everyone. So many of us have family members who work for the NHS and others have high risk adults who need to be extra careful.
Unfortunately I fall into both categories. My step mother is a NHS intensive care nurse for Barnet General hospital working on the front line and she comes home to my dad who is at high risk. Alex’s mother is sick and has 4 visits a day from 2 nurses at each visit. That’s 8 people coming into her house daily. She is at high risk with fibrosis of the lungs and having dementia. My great aunty is 97 years old this year and lives alone, this is having a huge impact on her life. She is a very young 97 year old who is a holocaust survivor. Hasn't she been though enough, I fear that the lack of human interaction will age her tremendously.
Getting Pregnant Was a Challenge. Then the Coronavirus Happened
Everything had gone text book perfect. Yes we had some bumps in the road but egg collection went well, we had the embryos genetically screened. 4 super healthy embryos were being stored for the next step of my IVF journey at Harley Street Fertility Clinic www.hsfc.org.uk but then news hit about the corona virus and 3 weeks ago we got the dreaded call that we were waiting for. IVF was cancelled.
In its latest update the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority posted: "We understand this is a difficult time for patients and clinics with all fertility treatment being stopped from 15 April 2020.
"We will do all we can to lift this restriction as soon as possible but we cannot give a date when this will happen given the current situation with the Covid-19 pandemic in the UK."
HFEA said the first step of its strategy will be to consider the criteria that will need to be satisfied before the direction can be lifted. The statement concluded: "Our aim is for the UK fertility sector to restart as soon as possible and we are keeping the situation under regular review."
I am trying my best to stay positive, I am doing things I would not normally be doing, I’m not being overly healthy and for my sins I’ve enjoyed drinking coffee and having a few cigarettes and I’ve loved it! (Sorry Doctor) (I will stop I swear this week) I need some vices on lock down.tomorrow we go cold turkey. I promised myself after I posted my Lockdown blog that I would quit.
I really don’t have much else to say in this blog. It sucks. Coronavirus sucks, infertility sucks but when life brings you lemons make mine a vodka and lemonade please!
Enjoy family, friends and if you feel alone please feel free to message me on here as a support. We have to stick together and I know how you feel x
p.s here is a good interview I did with other couples in a similar situations via The DailyMail. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-8197269/Couples-IVF-stopped-coronavirus-share-fear-theyll-never-parents.html