Archive for the ‘From the egg donor's perspective’ Category
Friday, February 20th, 2009
I came back to Dr. Sahakian’s yesterday morning for my second ultrasound. We took a look and everything came back fine. The follicle count didn’t go up, so now we just had to take another round of blood work to make sure my levels were still stable. If they were, then it would be a green light to go ahead for my retrieval. The doctor’s office said they would call me back before 4PM. Happily, I heard back from them at 2:30 and was told that everything was fine and to go ahead with my final shot, my HCG shot, at 7:30PM. So next is my egg retrieval! I’m a little nervous, but I know I will be in good hands. I will report back after retrieval and let everyone know how it went! Until next time!
-Lisa, Donor
Tags: egg donor, egg donor agency, egg donor blog, egg retrieval
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Wednesday, February 18th, 2009
So, I’ve been going through my last week of shots and went in for my ultrasound. I got a bit of a surprise –Dr. Sahakian told me that I might have too many follicles, and that I had a 50/50 chance of cancellation. So we took some blood work to determine whether or not my estrogen levels were too high. He told me to skip the follistim pen shot tonight and come back for another ultrasound tomorrow. My first thought after hearing that was definitely worry. I felt like there was nothing I could do, it was just my body reacting TOO well to the hormones, but I’m still keeping my hopes up.
-Lisa, Egg Donor
Tags: egg donor, egg donor blog
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Tuesday, February 17th, 2009
After I was matched I had about a month of waiting while all of the paper work got signed, then I just had to wait for my next period. With that, my cycle calendar was created by Dr. Sahakian. The calendar makes it clear what to do and when to do it. Now we were getting started. Soon came the part of the process that must make a few a little uncomfortable … the shots! Luckily for me my mom is a RN and has been for more than 20 years, so she got me really comfortable with the whole process. Trust me, I don’t like needles any more than the next person, but what I can say is this– the needle is tiny! It’s really little and you can barely feel a thing. I took my first shot of Lupron on Friday January 30th.
Now I am starting my third week of hormone shots and I am taking 3 shots a day. As far as side effects of hormones go, I have been feeling slightly more emotional than usual but nothing more than I would feel on my period. Trust me, I’m not acting like a crazy, hormone-filled person! I go in for my ultra sound tomorrow. I will continue to write this blog through my retrieval and after. Hopefully my experience will help ease the minds of future egg donors. Until tomorrow, everybody!
-Lisa, Donor
Tags: egg donor, egg donor blog, egg donor cycle
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Monday, February 16th, 2009
I didn’t hear a lot on any matches over the course of the following month or so, but I was reassured that sometimes it’s just a matter of time. In the meantime, I was offered the opportunity to update my online donor profile with new pictures from a complimentary BHED (Beverly Hills Egg Donation) photoshoot. I had missed the last scheduled shoot, so when I was offered the chance again, I made sure not to miss it.
The photo shoot was just as pleasant an experience as every other meeting I’d had with the friendly BHED staff and helpers. The shoot went great and the pictures came out the same. My shoot was in the middle of November, and I received a call shortly thereafter from Lisa Greer saying that I had been matched! The pictures really helped my profile and provided me the chance to be matched. I remember exactly where I was and what I was doing when I got the call. I was driving to work, and Lisa had called me herself to tell me the good news. I had to pull over because I was so overwhelmed with excitement. I immediately called my mom and she was equally excited for me.
The start of the next part of the process was receiving an email from Ellie Klein, my cycle coordinator. Here is the email:
Good Morning Lisa,
I am so excited for you that you’ve been chosen by a recipient to be their egg donor! I will be working with you throughout your cycle and you can call me anytime if you have questions or concerns. We will continue to check in about appointments and the process as things move forward.
Today I will be sending information about your match to the doctor’s office (Dr Sahakian at Pacific Fertility Partners – 310.209.7700). Please call them today and schedule and appointment (tell them you are a donor w/BHED) and then let me know when your appointment will be and I’ll add it to our calendar.
I also sent your information to our genetic counselor (Andi Fishbach). You will get a call from her likely today – I’ve asked Andi to fast track this report so that we can get it to the doctor right away. Your “meeting” with Andi will be on the phone and then she will write the report.
Your psychological interview will be with Brenda Fahn Hardt and it will be in person. You will hear from Brenda as well – perhaps you can see her the same day that you are in LA for your doctors appointment.
Once the ball is rolling with those 3 appointments we’ll start the process of securing the contract between you and your recipients – more on that later 
I’ll give you a call this afternoon to check in and introduce myself. Your first order of business is to call Dr Sahakian’s office and make an appointment. Norma is the receptionist and Erika is his nurse.
I look forward to working with you!
Happy Thanksgiving,
ellie
As you can see from this email, Ellie made the process clear to me and explained exactly what I needed to do. I felt really comfortable from the start and knew that I would be taken care of.
-Lisa, Donor
Tags: Beverly Hills Egg Donation, egg donor, egg donor blog, fertility doctors, genetic counselor
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Monday, February 16th, 2009
[Editor's Note]: This is the first in a series of postings from our egg donor, Lisa. She’s a first-time donor nearing the end of her cycle and has offered to give us daily updates following her journey through her retrieval, which is anticipated to be early next week.
 Hi everyone! My name is Lisa and I am an egg donor for BHED (Beverly Hills Egg Donation), currently going through my first cycle. I got involved with BHED in August 2008 when I put in an application to be an egg donor and was quickly (and happily) accepted into the program. My interest in becoming an egg donor was brought on by my amazing parents.
After seeing a segment on egg donation on the local news, they told me it was something I should look into. I started doing my research online right away and found Beverly Hills Egg Donation. It was the second website I visited, and their site felt very welcoming. I proceeded to fill out an egg donor application, which was one of the longest and most detailed I’ve ever filled out! Then again, it’s a very important job. Soon after filling out the application, I received an email saying that I was now ready for the next step of meeting with a BHED representative, and that I was being considered to be an active egg donor! I just remember being so excited and jumping up and down with my parents after getting the email!
Next, a meeting was set up with BHED’s Managing Partner, Lisa Greer. I took my parents with me for suppport. Because it was a weekend, we met for coffee in LA at the Starbucks on Wilshire Blvd. Lisa welcomed me and my parents right away and went over all the details that go into becoming a donor. It was a lot of information, but she made it easy to understand and sent us home with some documents to look over and sign. After that meeting I was officially a registed BHED donor!
I received an email from Lisa congratulating me on being accepted as a donor. The email was so welcoming, I just knew I was in the right place.
-Lisa, Donor
Tags: Beverly Hills Egg Donation, egg donation california, egg donation los angeles, egg donor, egg donor application, egg donor blog, egg donor los angeles
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Friday, January 16th, 2009
I have gained a new appreciation for my life as a homebody. I have always been one—I prefer to be in sweats over jeans, flats over heels, on my couch versus a bar stool. All the way back as far as I can remember. But over the past year, it’s gotten to be a much more appealing way of life. When I’m going through a cycle (about to begin my third), I don’t consider my body mine for the time being. A couple picked me out of a pretty amazing lot to be the one to—hopefully—give them a child. I don’t take that lightly. I am humbled to even be considered, and it’s an honor to be chosen. For the month-ish long timeframe that I go through a cycle, my homebody routine goes into an extreme mode. And I look forward to it every single time.
I go to work. I tend to the 80 employees and all their hopes and dreams all day long and I leave promptly (and happily) at 5:00. By 5:30, I am in the park for my run. Around Day 6 of injections, I turn the run into a power walk because things start to jostle. By 7:00, I am at the market getting dinner, usually a salad from Gelson’s. If it’s a Friday, I’ll get cornbread, too, because it’s a Friday, and well, it’s cornbread…. I’m home by 7:15, I’m showered and seated on the couch just in time to watch the news (and by “the news” I, of course, mean Access Hollywood). I eat, I watch a little Law & Order and I’m in bed by 11.
Because of the routine of nightly injections, I can’t very well go out, I don’t go to friends’ houses, I put myself under house arrest and I cannot tell you how amazing that time is. It’s time for me to focus on keeping myself in the perfect, uninterrupted state to ensure that everything that my body goes through is a benefit as opposed to a detriment. I look forward to having this time. I look forward to getting back to some semblance of a routine after the craziness of the holidays—and even when it’s not post-Holiday season, it’s amazing how great having a routine feels. It’s like a vacation. But at the end of the vacation, you aren’t tan, you don’t have pictures; instead, you have an amazing sense of accomplishment and an overwhelming sense of gratitude for your couple’s having chosen you, for being able to experience something so incredible and participate in something so great.
I’m gonna have a t-shirt made: HOMEBODIES ARE MY HEROES. Yeah, that’s what I’ll do.
-Kate, Egg Donor
Tags: egg donor, egg donors
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Friday, January 16th, 2009
I am a donor with BHED (Beverly Hills Egg Donation) and anytime I catch the words ‘egg donor’ between diaper changes and operating my business on the TV I turn to look.
Women are flocking to egg donor agencies (per CNN HLN) because of the economic crisis for the need of money and the high level earnings made from cycles.
So I called in and got to speak for about a minute!
I advised that prospective donors should not just get involved with the egg donation process because of desperation in a failing economy but because they truly would like to help out the families that are in need healthy eggs. Infertility is a disease! I worry that a woman in a desperate circumstance may not be able to handle the commitment it takes to be a donor. I added that money is disposable where as helping to create life is not.
I am so happy to be an egg donor – the families I have helped are able to have what they wanted so dearly, a family of their own. This Christmas I know there is a couple I helped that will be sitting around the tree with their little one (as I will be) and that is something more rewarding than any dollar amount.
-Suzi, Donor
Tags: Beverly Hills Egg Donation, egg donation process, egg donor, egg donor agencies
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