  I had the brilliant idea of having Duncan Holly Biomedical Inc. wash DH's sperm and then send it back to us so we can do the IUI ourselves using the Freedom Antiviral Invisible condom as back up. Then I read the fine print that says they will only ship the washed sperm to participating IVF clinics because The Center for Disease Control does not believe it has proven safe enough. What would prove safe enough is beyond me. Here's an excerpt from thebody.com about sperm washing: "Italian doctors have successfully performed nearly 2000 IUIs without any reported urlLink seroconversions . Although this technique is widely used in Europe, especially Italy and Spain, the CDC does not recommend IUI of women with washed sperm from men infected with HIV. This position followed a single case report of HIV transmission to a woman who underwent IUI from her HIV-positive husband in 1990.
This led the American Society of Reproductive Medicine to advise against the provision of assisted reproductive technology services to HIV-infected individuals. To date, this is the only documented case of HIV seroconversion following insemination and is presumed to be a result of inadequate washing. In Europe, washed IUI is usually tested for HIV using PCR technology, but this is not routinely done in the United States. This further step essentially eliminates the possibility of HIV transmission to the woman. " So, I am very frustrated and angry that instead of implementing a relatively simple procedure to make sure sperm washing is safe for IUI, they just ban it all together. WHY??????!!!!!!!!
It breaks my heart. My husband is more OK with using a donor than I am. Not that I'm not OK with it, but I would much rather use his sperm than anyone else's. But then what if sperm turns out to be useless anyway? What if his sperm is completely immotile? Then we will have wasted all that time energy and money.
Women whose husbands have azoospermia don't have any choice at all, so I guess I can't complain all that much. Wait. Yes I can! This is my blog! Ha! Anyhoo...
In July DH and I are going to a big family reunion of his in Indiana. DH said he has a cousin that looks remarkably like him and maybe he'd be willing to be a donor. Who knows though because they haven't talked for years. "Hey there cuz, nice to see you again. By the way, feel like donating some sperm? " Yeah.
Kinda weird. But if he and his cousin are OK with it, then so am I (unless cuz is butt ugly or something). It would save us a lot of money though. Probably a few hundred per cycle. I don't even dare get hopeful though. I've found that whenever I get excited about something and I'm really looking forward to it I end up getting disappointed.
I once read this and loved it immediately: "It's better to be a pessimist because you either get what you expect or you're pleasantly surprised. " 
