All right! It’s here! I was going to save this for Freebie Friday, but I can’t wait.
The 2008-2009 version of Fertile Hope’s Cancer and Fertility Resource Guide is now available.  Click on the title to download a  free .pdf version or, go to http://www.fertilehope.org/learn-more/publications/print-materials.cfm to order 1 or 5 or 100. All free. Since this fabulous and free resource is almost 300 pages, you might want a hard copy.
If you are still undergoing cancer treatments and think others at your oncologist’s office would benefit from this, you can use Fertile Hope’s Tell Your Doctor tool and they’ll take care of …read more

Or so says a new book by Dr. Harry Fisch entitled, Size Matters: The Hard Facts About Male Sexuality That Every Woman Should Know.
In a Q&A published in  Saturday’s Calgary Herald
Urologist Dr. Fisch shared some info from the book he co-authored with Kara Baskin. Some of the pertinent points from the doc include:
“penis size doesn’t vary as much as people think. The average is 5.4 inches. Most men are between four and six inches. When you have less than three inches, then that’s a real problem fertility-wise — it’s too small of a penis to actually reach the cervix.”
“the larger …read more

You may have heard the term Oncofertility mentioned here at Fertility Notes before.
A Newsweek article that will be published in the August 4th issue of the magazine gives a great explanation of what Oncofertility is and why it matters so much to cancer patients.
According to Newsweek:
Of the 125,000 people under the age of 45 who are diagnosed with cancer each year, roughly half will receive treatments that will affect their fertility. The cancers that most commonly strike the young—leukemias, lymphomas and breast cancers—require some of the most toxic forms of chemotherapy, which target rapidly growing and fragile cells like hair …read more

Back in April, I mentioned the Conquer Childhood Cancer Act, a piece of legislation which would provide critical resources for the treatment, prevention and cure of childhood cancer. Why? Because infertility and fertility issues are common long-term effects of radiation and chemotherapy, especially when treatments occur during or before puberty. Cancer can be cured, but the shadows cast by the cure are long and lasting of those of us lucky enough to survive the disease (and the cure).
Since I wrote to my Congressmen about the Act, I received the following update from CureSearch.org:
The bill, first introduced in the Senate by …read more

Calling all RNs, NPs, LPNs, and other healthcare professionals specializing in reproductive medicine and assisted reproductive technology: there is a really good reason for you to take some time off in August and head to Vegas.
Smart ART IX, which will take place August 14-16, is a symposium that will “provide a unique opportunity for nurses and healthcare professionals involved in the management of infertility patients to learn about new agents, procedures, and counseling techniques contributing to the continued success of ART.”
Oh wait, did I mention? Maybe I didn’t…
Enrollment is limited to the first 450 registrants and is available on a …read more

When you have a few minutes (because it’s pretty darn long), go check out this article at Psychology Today entitled, “Who Stole Fertility?”
Originally written for the 1996 March/April issue of Psychology Today Magazine, this article stills feels timely and relevant. I’ve had this page bookmarked for a while and have been digesting it in bits. Don’t be turned off by the first paragraph which states:
Contrary to popular belief, there is no infertility crisis sweeping the nation. We’ve just lost all conception of what it takes to conceive. Reproductive technology has made us impatient with nature. So for increasing numbers …read more

To make up for those Fridays when you checked only to find Freebie Friday was on a little vacation, I have not 1 but 2 Freebie Fridays today!
FertilityLifeLines.com is offering a FREE 48-page booklet entitled, In the Know: What No One Tells You About Fertility
The 48-page girlfriend-to-girlfriend booklet was created to address this gap in the current resources available to couples seeking information about infertility. The booklet covers the broad range of issues that couples face when struggling with infertility, including a description of infertility in males and females, how to cope with the emotional stresses of infertility, an …read more

The answer, it seems, is yes.
A new article at WebMD.com reports:
A study of more than 12,000 couples undergoing fertility treatments has found that pregnancy rates drop and miscarriages increase when the father is older than 40…The results are believed to be the first to show that simply being an older dad has a strong effect on reproductive outcomes.
These findings were presented on Monday at the 24th annual conference of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology in Barcelona, Spain.
How a father’s age influences fertility has been a matter of debate. Until now, there’s been no clinical proof that simply …read more

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A scientist in Australia claims that he has created an inexpensive pill that will double the chances of conception in couples struggling with infertility. Double!?!
The Sydney Morning Herald Reports,
Menevit, a supplement containing seven anti-oxidants and minerals, claims to improve the chances of pregnancy for the one in 20 men affected by male infertility.
The pill, available over the counter for $1 a day, was developed by Kelton Tremellen from the University of Adelaide. It is sold through pharmaceutical company Bayer. It contains vitamins C and E, zinc, folic acid, lycopene, garlic oil and selenium.
Is it …read more

Very, very curious about how you feel about this article in today’s Guardian in which Nicholas Blincoe wonders why people try to conceive spend so much time whining (his words, not mine):
Is this nuts? How can you mourn for something that has never existed? The very notion seems an insult to anyone who has ever mourned a real dead child. It speaks of a bizarre sense of entitlement: the idea that “anything I can imagine, I should have!” Worse, it suggests that biology is destiny in a way that makes a mockery of free-will and seems reminiscent of strains of …read more