Ideas for short term frozen sperm storage?

[katharinerose]

(cross posted to WA, OR and ID)

Yes, this is a slightly unusual request, but here's the situation:

We're TTC using frozen sperm from a known donor. We were living within driving distance of the sperm bank we were storing at, but have recently moved cross country. In addition to the added cost of shipping vs. picking it up in person, we are about to face a nearly $400 charge for another year of storage for what will be one month's worth of sperm!

We're not using an RE (no money and insurance won't cover it) so we can't just stash them there. Anyone have space for a couple little vials in a Western WA cell research freezer for a month or so? Or any other ideas?

[FtMPapa]

There was a company that sold cheap dewars and then you could just store the sperm at home, and get it refilled every so often. I want to say they were around $400, but then you'd have it for potential resale? I swear I saw this idea somewhere, aimed at lesbians who wanted to store multiple vials at home.

Have you thought about ebaying a used dewar?

So annoying to have to pay so much for such limited storage! Maybe you should make friends with someone who works at a university or other research lab....

[katharinerose]

Well, we are friends with quite a few people in research labs... in MA (or TX, oddly enough). DW was in a microbio/immunology program at UMassMed, and we'd joke occasionally about just stashing the sperm in one of the freezers. Of course, those freezers are all still in MA. I'll look into the dewar and see what's out there.

[FtMPapa]

Originally Posted by katharinerose

Well, we are friends with quite a few people in research labs... in MA (or TX, oddly enough). DW was in a microbio/immunology program at UMassMed, and we'd joke occasionally about just stashing the sperm in one of the freezers. Of course, those freezers are all still in MA. I'll look into the dewar and see what's out there.

You could always stash and then get someone there to ship it, you'd still save the $400, no? How can it possibly be so expensive to keep something cold for a month?

I had a friend say to me "So, once you get the sperm, you can just keep it in the freezer until it's ready to go? Like, do you buy enough for six months?"

Me Uh, no, unfortunately.

I think someone needs to start working on a new buffer that would keep the sperm happy in my home freezer. I'd love to keep my sperm and my embryos next to the ice cream, you know?