I am 30 years old and had a hysterectomy at age 24 for stage 3 cervical cancer. I have two girls, ages 6 and 8. I would like to have one more child. I still have my ovaries. Is it possible to take eggs from my ovaries and fertilize them with sperm and have a surrogate mom carry our baby? Is this commonly done? --Sherrie

I assume that you were not treated by radiation or chemotherapy in addition to your surgery. Both chemotherapy and radiation therapy can deplete the ovary's stash of eggs. Less commonly, surgery can interfere with the blood supply to the ovaries and result in diminished ovarian function.

You can determine your ability to respond to ovarian stimulation for egg retrieval by having a blood test for FSH on the third day of your menstrual cycle. If the value is below 10-16 miu/ml (for most labs) the ability of your ovaries to generate eggs to be fertilized and transferred to gestational surrogate should be fine. You can learn more about gestational surrogacy at the website for the American Surrogacy Center.