Recovery from ‘Fertility’ Treatment

Women Around the World Agree: It Can Be Traumatic

I emerged from obscurity in June 2008 for an unusual reason. I agreed to discuss, on the record, the fallout of failed ‘fertility’ treatments with a national news reporter. My introduction to the world came after a prolonged, painful encounter with what’s termed ‘unexplained infertility.’ Giving voice to the experience also resulted in a fair amount of hyperventilating.

It was, in a word, terrifying, to see my face on The New York Times homepage.

As I later shared in Finally Heard:

“June 9, 2008, was a pivotal day in what had been a perfect storm of fear. That day I walked nervously into my boss’ office to inform him my blog would be mentioned as part of a new health feature in The New York Times.

‘Cool — what’s the URL,’ he replied, his hands poised over the keyboard to locate the blog website.

‘Uh, not exactly,’ I said pacing anxiously. ‘It’s, uh, about coming to terms with … infertility.’