Last week I posted a letter that was sent to me by the Director of IAAC. The Infertility Awareness Association of Canada. The hope is that if enough people send this letter to key people in the Government then maybe parts or all of the costs of ART (Assisted Reproductive Technology) will no longer fall only into the patients hands and that possibly there might be some funding available. Dani over at Postcards from the Mothership posted the letter on her blog. She has many more readers than I do and the more people that get involved in this issue, the more awareness is created. It seems that there is a mild mannered (and hope it stays that way) debate over there.

I did not do IVF because of age related IF. I suffered 2 ectopic pregnancies 6 months apart in my early 20's. I'm not sure that anyone can understand the impact of being 24 years old and being told that IVF will be needed if I ever want to have children.

For couples in the situation such as mine are covered for IVF if you live in Ontario. I think it should be this way for the entire country. If for any other reason you are diagnosed as infertile then all costs must be paid out of your pocket.

Did you know that 1 in 6 couples suffer from infertility? Look around at your circle of friends. Some people remain completely anonymous in their struggle and then there are those like Dani and I who tell anyone who will listen.

I think that if you have had a vasectomy or a tubal ligation, then no there is no coverage. But what about the man who has a low count? Low Motility? Low Morphology? There might be no reason as to why this happens, but it does and sometimes some intervention is needed to help this couple become parents.

This is a huge debate and there are so many key points to address. Years ago I wrote letters to my Local, Provincial and Federal Governments. One point that I tried to make (I'm trying to make this sound nice and it's not happening so I'm just going to say it) There a so many single parents that continue to have children and do not work. The government sets them up geared to income housing, pays them a monthly allowance for food and a roof over their heads, in the fall they get a "bonus" of sorts to pay for winter clothing. The amount increases with each child, so in my opinion we, as tax payers are paying for these kids. So why is it that responsible couples who can provide for children are the ones who are suffering. Again, my opinion. Jo's birth mother is a perfect example of this. She will be 30 this summer, has had 5 live births and has custody of 4 of those. Her oldest is going to be 13 and she has not completed high school and has never had a job. Tell me where the fairness is.

I am going to steal a quote from Dani that she published via Janet.

I had a quote here about autism and IVF and have removed it at the request of Janet, via Danigirl.

There is no evidence to suggest that IVF carries a higher risk of children with any kind of delays or disorders. Here is one article at webmd.com
Assisted Reproduction: No Birth Defect Risk

Isn't the goal of modern medicine to make quality of life better?

IVF is still considered "experimental". The facts are there, the children are here. It does in fact work and although it isn't an exact science the statistics prove just that. To take from Dani again in comparing apples to oranges, there are many treatments for cancer that are experimental and don't always work. Is a person with cancer going to be denied treatment? In fact some patients are still taking chemo up until the very end. Everything is done to make the patients final days as comfortable as possible. The lives of infertile people should be as comfortable as possible as well.

Unless you have suffered through Infertility Hell you cannot begin to imagine what life is like.

The first part of the year isn't too bad until Easter when the commercialized part of this holiday occurs and you cannot shop without seeing parents buying Easter Outfits and goodies that the Easter Bunny will bring. And then just to knock you down just a little further you know that Mother's Day is a short few weeks later. That is the weekend that you want to stay in bed with the blankets over your head willing your body to sleep through it all. I sometimes think that Father's Day was worse. Hubby knew of my situation when we met, but you (I) feel like such a failure and less of a woman when your husband can't enjoy that weekend either. I would have to guess that these days are the opposite for couples dealing with Male Factor Infertility. The rest of the year isn't too bad except that everywhere you turn there are pregnant women, kids playing at the park, open windows so you can hear the babies crying...I could go on forever. For me I think the very worst was Christmas. To go out shopping and listen to people complaining that their child wants "this or that" and it's a gazillion dollars, to see the excitement as the kids are lined up waiting to tell Santa what they want. Just to know that when you wake up on Christmas morning that there are families everywhere with children that have been up since way too early because they were too excited to sleep. This for me was the worst part of not being a parent.

With my diagnosis of bilateral blockage of my fallopian tubes I questioned my RE (Reproductive Endocrinologist) why they cannot transplant tubes from patients who are having tubal ligations. His answer to me was that it is not a life threatening situation and I boldly asked, "Isn't it". I realize that people don't die because of their fertility or lack of, but how many sick days are used each year? How much is spent on antidepressants on a monthly basis? How many marriages break apart? The cost of not insuring ART sky rockets each and everyday.

Even if we don't get government funding maybe we can help mandate that insurance companies cover the some of the costs. There are parts of the US where it is mandatory to carry fertility treatments in their private insurance. I recall reading years ago that it would cost less than 80 cents per month to each individual paying into Extended Health Benefits (Employee Benefit Plans). Is that really too much to ask?

I don't mean to downplay any other Health Issues, but the word needs to get to our elected officials that this is real life. No matter what the illness, disorder or disease we should have fair access to affordable treatment.

I know I've jumped all over the place with this and I welcome your comments and suggestions. The main thing that needs to be done is to create awareness.

posted by Northern Mom @ 10:05 a.m.

5 Comments:

At 10:13 p.m., Anonymous said…

Hi.

This is Janet writing, the "e-mailer" in Dani's post. Just responding to a few things.

First of all, I would never, ever deny that there is a tremendous degree of anguish that goes along with infertility. That was never to be the point of my e-mail, as I hope Dani knows as well. I'm sorry you had to go through such a tough time.

However, I do understand the feeling when things aren't quite the way you hoped they would be. I completely understand the feeling that my child may never speak quite the way his peers do. At one point (prior to lots of therapy we paid for), we wondered if he would ever be capable of chewing and swallowing solid food. Seriously. You likely can't imagine your child gagging and vomiting at EVERY single meal, on a daily basis for more than 18 months.

I raise these points for comparison only because there is only so much money for funding in this country, and there are many places to start to improve things. The only debate in my mind is deciding where to start. I'm just trying to show that there are SO MANY injustices out there in the medical world. This is just one in a very long list.

To your point that cancer patients certainly wouldn't be denied treatment in this country, they most certainly are. Across Canada, there are cancer patients being denied treatment because the only drug that will help with their particular cancer isn't covered in their province. Some of these drugs carry price tags in the 10's of thousands of dollars. And insurance companies don't cover them in all cases either (See pg. A8 of the April 1 Globe & Mail for a good news result in this case).

Thanks for listenting. This is an imortant debate. I'm not even sure there's an answer, but it's good to hear everyone's point of view.
At 6:51 a.m., BeachMama said…

Well written post. Of course, you know that I am totally on the same side of the fence as you. As I don't begrudge any of my friends who's IVF was covered due to two blocked tubes, it does make me angry that I didn't have any covered when I have one that is blocked. At the same time our IF was male factor, so why wasn't it covered? A child could not, at that time be produced with out IVF with ICSI.

Now that our tables are turned and we no longer technically have IF, but now sit on another fence, we still face the money factor at every turn. The meds cost money, the fact that our RE thinks we should do IVF/ICSI again because we know it worked for us before would cost money. Lots of it.

I also feel very similar to you when I see young mothers or mothers on assistance. It not only breaks my heart that the government supports them, but it breaks my heart to see the kids growing up in sometimes scarey circumstances.

I feel we have so much love to offer more children, but it just keeps getting taken away. We can only keep our hope and prayers going in hopes that there will be more kids to fill our house and our hearts.
At 10:33 a.m., Northern Mom said…

Janet,
Thanks for your comments and you are right this is an improtant debate with no right or wrong opposition. Money is just not spent where it is needed. I can only imagine what things are like for you and your son. It is truly horrific that the funding is not in place and in many ways makes the desire for a child less important than the needs of a child. If we could only allow our minds to chose our viewpoints and not our emotions life would be a whole bunch easier.

Take good care!
Barb
At 7:54 a.m., Anonymous said…

Thanks for respecting my wishes, Barb. I do appreciate your help.
At 4:13 p.m., twinmomplusone said…

Barb,

You are an excellent spokesperson for this cause. Infertility Hell is not something you'd wish on anyone. Maybe someone in parlimentary cirles will get it one day. Why would other countries cover this but not ours?

I could go on and on about this too but will keep it brief and diplomatic for today

great post and great writer youare

hugs