Only 2 days to catch up on a week of ICLW!

Most months, by this time of ICLW week, I am well into my blog reading and commenting. This month, unfortunately, I am not starting until day 6. It's nothing personal. There just hasn't been the time for me to cruise the list of blogs, read and really enjoy them and comment. I will probablybe up quite late on Saturday and Sunday, doing all of that. If you are reading this, you can help me catch up by leaving a comment and I will both reply and visit your blog. Please cheer me on in the wee hours, so I can meet my quota of blog comments!

This morning, I am going into London for the Destination Health Exhibition. It's all about medical tourism; traveling abroad for medical treatment. It was meant to take place 2 months ago, but was cancelled because of the volcanic ash that grounded all airplanes.  I am going for 2 reasons:

1. out of curiosity, to see who goes to the exhibition; and
2. to attend the noon talk on fertility treament abroad. I would like to find out whether traveling abroad for fertility treatment is a trend, a necessity, or a kill-2-birds-with-one-stone holiday.

For those of you who don't know me already, I am a fertility coach, advocate and writer. Going to events like Destination Health is part of the job; keeping me up to date on anything to do with reproductive or maternal health, news, opinion pieces, medical trends, but most of all what the infertile community needs, thinks and uses.

When an infertile gets to the stage in treatment where they either have reached their maximum number of cycles on the NHS, feel the financial pinch or have lost faith in their doctor, the resulting stress could be:

• emotional
• financial
• marital
• job-related
• social
• low self-confidence
• physical, both in body image and physical symptoms
• reproductive malfunctions

That is where I come in; helping individuals and couples to feel more positive, make necessary lifestyle changes, find the right clinic for them, explore options and make decisions about continuing or stopping treatment, or trying something different. I help people to ease that stress, re-establish their commitment to having a biological child of their own, communicate their needs better and heal emotional wounds. Taking one step forward, such as informing yourself about options like foreign, medical "tourism" can immediately remove some of the stress manifestations in the list above.

I would really like to know what you think, and whether you would ever consider a 2-week trip or even combining it with a vacation for your fertility treatment. Watch this space, as I will report back to you on the Destination Health Exhibition next week.

P.S. I met Veronica Little of Barbados IVF Centre this past week. Astonishingly, we live about 10 minutes apart in the Greater London area. I was curious to know how their service for international patients could be both effective, with a very good success rate, and at the same time, relaxing and enjoyable. If you want to know more about their particular set-up, go to http://barbadosivf.org or follow them on Twitter @barbadosivf. * I do not have an affiliation with Barbados IVF Centre, however, you are welcome to tell Veronica that you heard about BFC from me.

Comments

[christina]

Oh my! I'm overwhelmed for you!! I'm working hard at Iron Commenter and started early...I still think I'll be up all night! So I'll be thinking of you as I comment away and I'll cheer you on.

[Waiting Lisa]

This is my first time doing ICLW. I am trying for iron commenter. It's a lot of work, but I am enjoying it.

Good luck!!

[Lisa]

Hi Christina,

Thank you for sharing the burden of my ICLW stress! One of my difficulties is that I'm not willing to just leave an "I was here" in a comment. I tried Iron commenter one month and almost combusted.
As promised, I have visited your wonderful blog, The Subfertile Frugalista, (not for the 1st time) but for the life of me, I couldn't figure out how to post a comment. What's the secret? I will return with my comment once I know how.
Lisa

[Lisa]

Lisa,

Welcome to ICLW. I started last summer and I'm a loyal ICLW'er each month. I appreciate that you have visited my blog on your first go.

You know that I follow you on Twitter and have been keeping an eye on your adoption journey. I urge my blog followers to follow @waitinglisa on Twitter, both to support you and to get true insight into the challenges of pursuing adoption. I'm really rooting for you and A.
Lisa