I’m trying to find ways to fill in time in the slowest part of the year. I’m working through Christmas and New Year in a bid to save up my annual leave for our trip (or God forbid trips) to Cape Town. The trouble with this system is that I’ve had approximately 10 emails drop into my inbox in 7 days and 5 of those were automated reports.
I’ve gone from the busiest time in my job, to the quietest, just when I’m wanting time to go quickly. So I’ve cleaned out my work car, sorted my emails, organised my meeting schedule for next year and even gone into the office to tidy my bookshelves and empty my recycling bin and lets face it, dicked around on the internet in a bid to ‘keep myself busy’, but time is still dragging.
I’ve figured all I can really do is to look at accommodation in Cape Town for ‘around about’ when we’ll hopefully be there. This in itself is causing me conniptions because everything is seeming to be booked out or getting close to booked out already. Example: I found a great little guesthouse that looked so lovely, close to the clinic, with a small pool and a patio to sit outside and have a sundowner, they even had a resident dog to keep you company, so I thought maybe I’ll check if they have availability in March just generally, you know… The owner was great and got back to me straight away, but unfortunately she’s already got one confirmed booking from a lady from Israel who is coming to go to Cape Fertility and then two more women on the waiting list, also patients of CFC. So I’m getting nervous about accommodation now – we’re trying to keep this trip fairly frugal, simply in case I need to go back. In the mean time while we are waiting flights and accommodation are going up.
So some of you might be interested in how the process of doing a donor cycle in South Africa works. Compared to the Australian system, it’s pretty straight forward and easy.
First you pick your donor through one of the accredited donor agencies in South Africa and a list of them can be found on this website http://www.fertilitysa.org.za/ or you can contact Cape Fertility directly for a list of their preferred agencies (that’s what I did).
Finding a donor is a hard choice for some, and it can take weeks. I’m not sure why but I found it quite easy and quick. That may have just been luck though that my donor just got listed and had all the attributes I wanted as must-haves. Maybe I’m just so jaded after all this IVF that I just want to get the show on the road?
There is a big difference in cost with these agencies they currently start from $1469 AUD upwards and they pretty much all seem to offer the same services. I found all of them more than helpful (and I did contact all of them) when I wanted to know the basic terms and conditions of their donor/recipient contracts and for what it’s worth they all seem very similar as well. We ended up going with the AbabySA agency, simply because they had the donor we wanted. Some offer discounts on second cycles, some don’t so it’s worth inquiring.
Once you find a donor you love, you simply contact the agency and they check to see if the donor is available and is willing to donate to you. For us this process was overnight. Then you pay your fee to the donor agency stating which clinic you would like to use for treatment. There’s more than just Cape Fertility in Cape Town, but this is the Clinic I’ve researched the most and read the most positive reviews of other ladies experiences. There are also clinics offering donor cycles in Johannesburg and Pretoria, but I honestly didn’t research any of them.
Next step is to pay your deposit to Cape Fertility which at the time worked out to be $4k AUD (I’ll put the total breakdown of fees below) and they then screen the donor medically and psychologically before sending out your treatment plan. You pay the remaining fees at your first appointment in Cape Town.
This is the bit we’re stuck at as our CFC doctor is on holiday over Christmas so all this will happen in early Feb for us. Once you get your treatment plan and you can book your flights / accommodation etc. and off you go!
Approx break down of costs (bear in mind these will change with exchange rates and yearly fee increases etc.).
Fertility Clinic fees for donor cycle $ 5876.000 AUD give or take.
This total includes embryo freezing and storage for 12 months – I’m being positive here! ($323 AUD) and Sperm Sample Freeze for 12 months – in case I have to go back alone for another cycle ($122 AUD) – I’m being negative here!
On top of these costs you have your donor agency fee and miscellaneous fees for medications before you travel approx. $300 AUD this includes the Synarel, Estrogen tablets etc. that are required while synching my cycle with the donor. I also need prednisolone, clexane, antibiotics as well so this is slightly higher than it would be for most. Not to mention flights/accommodation for 12 days. We figure the whole trip will cost us $15-16k AUD (depending on how decadent we are while in CPT).
My first (and probably last) appointment with my Fertility Specialist here before I leave is in three weeks on the 22nd Jan. Given she is impossible to get in to see I doubt I’ll get another appointment before I go in March. I’m hoping by this stage we will have the results of the testing of my ‘products of conception’ aka the miscarriage. I’m really hoping they found a reason because if they find the fetus was normal then why the hell did I miscarry?
But for now, I try to fill in time. I’ll actually be very glad to have everyone back at work next week and to be back to my normal appointments and schedule, it can only help with the slow march of time.
Just Another Donor Egg Journey 