No Successful Treatment, But Still a Good Feeling (Aug 2018)

Dear all,

We too would like to share our experience with Human First IVF and Turkey. Given that you're reading this, we assume that getting pregnant isn't happening the natural way for you either. First of all, I want to say: stay positive and never give up hope. That's easy to say, but the fact is, it's possible. In the Netherlands (Nijmegen), we had our first TESE ICSI miracle even though we only had a 5% chance of ever having a child. We'd been at this for 2.5 years, including a TESE, 2 punctures and a total of "only" 4 transfers (1 fresh, 1 frozen, 1 fresh, and our frozen miracle).

In the Netherlands, you're a number. You're treated like a protocol, not a person. After the birth of our beautiful daughter, we went straight back to Nijmegen for another round with the last of the material. Honestly, by then we were already wondering whether our future lay abroad. After an elimination race we ended up with 1 embryo, and after that all the material was gone. Another attempt over, and time to think about what we should do next.

Ghent and Düsseldorf are the places you mainly hear about, but I'd already found Turkey online for our daughter. Personally I've always loved Turkey and have been on holiday there many times. All that back-and-forth driving to Germany or Belgium didn't appeal to us much — what a hassle. 17 days in Turkey seemed more like it. Doing your treatment in a holiday setting while all your appointments are arranged for you. We wanted to know more about this.

First we contacted Evren. Our compliments — she's always reachable, super friendly and has a real heart for it. She explained how everything would work, what the options were, etc. We also got this by email so we could think it over properly. We have a Turkish GP, and she thought it was a great idea. She also told us that Turkey is much further ahead. Infertility isn't a taboo there at all — it's actually the most normal thing in the world.

We decided to go all in. 17 days at Hotel Arjaan by Rotana — given our daughter is 1.5, an outdoor pool in June was very welcome! We arranged our medication in the Netherlands. Looking back, I'd personally arrange it in Turkey instead. On June 4th, the day arrived. We flew from Schiphol to Istanbul. There, a taxi driver was waiting for us and dropped us off at the hotel. What a beautiful hotel! And that same day I got a WhatsApp message from Nicolette, our host, welcoming us and telling us what time we needed to be in the lobby the next day.

The next day Nicolette was waiting for us to go to the hospital. What a lovely woman, arranging everything down to the smallest detail. Everyone at the hospital was incredibly kind. Only Dr. Cem speaks English, but Nicolette helps with the translations otherwise. The treatment plan was discussed and the first injection was given right away. The treatments began, but oddly enough it still felt like a holiday. Lounging by the pool, riding the metro, lots of walking. Istanbul is so beautiful and there's so much to do. You're really away, and less focused on the treatment. My hormone dose was raised when needed, and I really felt looked after. We didn't feel like a number and could voice all our wishes. We did have to get used to the fact that men aren't allowed anywhere near most of it. Although Arjan was allowed to be present at the ultrasounds, so that's something.

Arjan was quite anxious about the Micro TESE, since the TESE in the Netherlands had been awful. We were immediately stressed when Dr. Cem said, two days before the puncture, that we could do the Micro TESE that afternoon. Good thing too — better now than putting it off. The Micro TESE turned out to be nowhere near as bad as feared. Still quite painful, black and blue, but nothing compared to the Netherlands. Then came the redeeming news. In Turkey you really have to ask the right questions, otherwise you don't automatically get all the information! But the TESE was successful. They found a huge amount of scar tissue from the Dutch procedure, but we still got 3 straws! And within half an hour. We were overjoyed.

I had the puncture under general anesthesia — you're alone on the operating table and nobody understands you. That was the only thing I found unpleasant. But since I was under anesthesia, I barely noticed anyway. I was glad I didn't do it without anesthesia, because the man isn't allowed to be present at either the puncture or the transfer.

Then began the exhausting days for us. Gosh, every day dragged on and we feared the worst. First the call that there were 8 good eggs, a day later the news that there were 5 embryos. Two days after that, the news that 3 embryos remained. What an exhausting elimination race. At the hospital on the day of the transfer and the return flight, it felt like an eternity before the final word came. There were 2 left, and they were transferred. What luck, what a celebration! The long wait continued, and after 10 days we were allowed to test.

Unfortunately it wasn't meant to be for us this time, but we recommend the treatment in Turkey to everyone. It costs a lot out of pocket, which is why we're not doing any more treatments for now. We've treated this as our holiday. We still have 1 insured attempt left, so who knows, maybe we'll go on "holiday" to Istanbul again in the future. The disappointment is huge, but the success rate in Turkey is much higher. We're holding on to hope for the future, and we hope you do too.

The tip we want to give everyone is to arrange your medication there. That a 17-day trip causes less stress than the 10-day version, and don't leave without your proof of payment. We were supposed to receive it afterward, but there were errors in it. Getting it corrected afterward is quite a hassle and means you get your money back from insurance much later too.

Wishing you lots of luck for the future, and think carefully about the difficult choices you have to make.

Love, Arjan and Shirley

This story was translated from Dutch by our team. Read the original Dutch version →