Tonight Joy and I attended “Down to a Science cafe”.
A close friend Kish has put together a monthly event in San Francisco where the science and health professionals and the community at large can interact and a dialogue on a certain topic. Tonight’s topic: fertility.
It was awesome to see two experts in the field talk in plain terms about fertility, and then see a group of 25-35 people engaged in the topic of fertility. At time people sharing deeply about their own experience, or asking questions that goes right to the heart of “hey i want to have a child, what do i do?”
It was really great to hear about the wide range of egg counts, and cycles, and all kinds of stuff that we rarely are exposed to. This was also a topic that of course is hits close to home. One thing that I kept on thinking was “wow, it is hard to get pregnant, it’s almost as if the odds are stacks against you” There were so many statistics that say, at this age, the women chances start to wane, and so forth. At times during the session, I was feeling like we are at the bottom of a mountain of statistics, and if we are lucky then maybe we will have a child. Then at a few moments later I would remember that these are doctors, and they are also human beings with opinions and personalities, and that if we always just plainly took what they said at 100%, then lots of things would not happen. In the end I was really happy to have seen such a rich dialogue take place, and I learned some about the current conversation of fertility in my local community. It was also great to see so many people there that are interested in this, and how they each are walking their own path to creating a healthy family.
I am left with this at the end of the night. It is about the patient taking charge of their own reproductive system and really finding out what they want, and where to go get it. Science has come long way in the last few years, and yet we are still at the beginning of this trek.
Check out Kish’s site for more info. http://www.sciencecafesf.com/