Medical Mystery

Emails to my family:

May 3, 2010
Ok, for Mary and Rachel who are out of the loop. It's kind of a long story, but here goes. Sorry dad, it's a little detailed.

Last week I started bleeding which was odd because I had just finished my period the week before. I wasn't too worried about it until on Friday. I had gotten out of the shower and had just put on my bathrobe so I could help the kids get ready for school. As I was busy doing things I felt something wet on my legs and looked down and realized I was bleeding down my leg. So, I ran upstairs to put in a tampon. When I went to put it in it was like I opened the flood gates and a lot of blood gushed out. That made me nervous so I called my doctor and left a message for the nurse.
The nurse called me back while I was at the grocery store. She said it wasn't really anything to be worried about. She said that an IUD (which I had) could cause the bleeding. She said that I should wait until next month to see if it happened again. Then, almost as an afterthought she said it could be that I was pregnant and was having a miscarriage. No way, I thought, because I had an IUD. However, since I was at the store and she suggested I do it, I bought a pregnancy test. She said she didn't think that's what it was but it would be nice to rule it out. She did tell me that if by chance it was positive I needed to call her back.
So, I went home and took my pregnancy test fully expecting it to be negative, but it was positive. I think I was in shock. I didn't know whether I should laugh or cry. So, I called her and then had to sit around waiting for her to call back. When she called back she said I needed to come in that day so they could take out the IUD.
I was going through all the things that I had planned for this year that I would not be able to do if I really was pregnant. I just signed up to run the Ragnar in June, Jeremy and I are planning a cruise in Dec. for our tenth anniversary, we have been invited to go with Jeremy's company to the Bahamas in February--none of which I could do if I were pregnant and having a baby in January. But, then again, it could be that I was having a miscarriage as she originally thought.
When I got to the doctor he immediately took out the IUD and then sent me down to have my blood drawn and then to have an ultrasound. Unfortunately, it is too soon to see much on the ultrasound. The technician said that they usually can't see anything until 5 or 6 weeks. I was only 3 weeks. However, during the ultrasound the technician did see something that made her suspicious of an ectopic pregnancy. That is when the embryo doesn't implant in the uterus but stays in the fallopian tubes where there is no room for it to grow. When the embryo gets too big it causes the tube to rupture.
The problem with me is that it is so early that they are not sure if it is an ectopic pregnancy or not. They are very suspicious that it is but they don't know for sure. So, for now I am waiting. I went back in this morning to have my blood drawn again and to have another ultrasound. The ultrasound didn't change so they are still not certain. When they get the blood test back this afternoon the doctor will call me to let me know if my HCG levels have gone up or down. If the levels have gone down that is an indication that I was pregnant but I had a miscarriage. However, if the levels go up then I am still pregnant but we may end up waiting for a little bit to find out if it is an ectopic pregnancy or a normal, healthy pregnancy.
I have gotten used to the idea of maybe having another baby, although I was pretty sure we were done after Jackson. But, it could just be a miscarriage or an ectopic pregnancy which would require surgery but not produce a baby. Anyway, I just don't know what to think or what to hope for.
At first I was hoping it was just a miscarriage and then I felt very guilty for hoping I wasn't having another baby. I have now come to terms with the surprise and would be ok either way. So, now I am just waiting and I have a feeling that I will be waiting for several more weeks before everything is known. It could be that it was just a miscarriage but I kind of doubt it. I am guessing an ectopic pregnancy because of the mass they saw on the ultrasound. It could just be a cyst and nothing to worry about but I kind of doubt it. I am guessing that the levels will have gone up and we will have to wait a week or two to give it time to grow big enough to see it on the ultrasound to know for sure what is going on. That is my guess.
Anyway, there's the whole long story. I'll let you know when I hear back from the doctor.
Love you all!
Katie


May 4, 2010
So, I heard back from the doctor yesterday about the blood work. He said that my levels had gone up but they hadn't gone up enough. I guess they were around 900 on Friday and on Monday they were only at 1100. Normally they double in about 48 hours. So, he is pretty certain that this isn't a normal pregnancy. He wants to go ahead and do a D&C and then if there is no evidence of a pregnancy he would immediately do the laparoscopy. I was a little nervous about doing the D&C just because I wondered if there were any chance that it was a normal pregnancy and we would be stopping it. I think to pacify me, he said I should come in for another blood test on Wednesday and if the levels were still going that slowly he would be very confident about doing a D&C. So, by Thursday this should all be over. I will be glad because it has been hard for my brain to deal with--too many possibilities and reprocussions.
On another note, I got to stay up pretty much all night with sick kids and a sick husband. Allison started the party at around midnight. Sadly, for me, she never made it into the bucket so I have quite a bit of laundry to do this morning. Dalton started in later in the night and even though he would use the bucket he called for me everytime to come get it. Then when I told him that the bucket was mostly just for if he couldn't make it to the bathroom, he wanted me to come stand by him in the bathroom. He needed comforting more than anything else, I guess. Jeremy joined the mix sometime during all that. His contribution to the kids sickness was to kick me everytime one of them called out so that I would wake up and go get them. I did not always appreciate his contribution. So, this morning I am tired, cranky and I am a little worried about how I am feeling. Do you get morning sickness with an ectopic pregnancy? Or am I just feeling the beginnings of the flu bug that everyone else seems to have. Regardless, I am not looking forward to today. I'm afraid it is going to be a hard, long day following a hard, very long night.
Love you!
Katie

May 5, 2010
So, I just got a call from the nurse who said that my HCG levels have gone up. They were around 900 on Friday, 1100 on Monday and 1700 today. It's not quite were they would expect them for a normal pregnancy but the doctor doesn't feel comfortable going ahead with the surgery since they went up so much. So, we are now waiting until Monday when I will go back in for another ultrasound and to talk to the doctor again.
I am getting tired of waiting. Just when I wrap my head around something it all changes again.
Katie

May 7, 2010
I thought I had a miscarriage last night but the ultrasound was not conclusive so we are once again waiting for the results from a blood test. If the HCG levels have gone down we will know that I did have a miscarriage. If the levels go up but still abnormally then he would like to go ahead with the D&C and then the laparoscopy maybe as early as tonight or tomorrow. I let you know when I know more.
Katie

May 7, 2010
So, the HCG levels are going down so it looks like I had a miscarriage. I am quite relieved to not have to have surgery. The doctor wants me to go for a blood test one more time just so they can follow the levels all the way down to 0 but other than that I think we are done.
It is amazing to me that all this started just one week ago. It seems like we have been dealing with this forever. Glad to have it done.
Katie

Ok, I didn't send out any further emails, but the story didn't end there. I went back in a week and a half later to have my blood drawn one last time. They didn't rush the test this time since we were sure that I had had a miscarriage. So, I was still waiting for the results when Friday, May 21st I suddenly had more bleeding. This time, it was worse than it had ever been. I was shocked. I thought all of this was done with. Anyway, I called the doctor's office and was only able to leave a message for the nurse. I waited for a little while and then called back because I was really worried about how much I was bleeding and I was determined to have them find the nurse for me so I could talk to her. When they found her, she said that she had the result of my blood test and wanted to talk to the doctor before talking to me, but she said he would be in shortly. So, I waited. When she called me back, she said that my numbers, instead of going down to zero, which we all expected them to do since we thought I had had a miscarriage, jumped way up. So, I went into see the doctor AGAIN! I had another ultrasound that still didn't show anything conclusively so Dr. Barney decided that he wanted to do emergency surgery that afternoon doing a D&C and if they didn't see any signs of a pregnancy there, he would do the laparoscopy to see if it was ectopic. He said it would be later that afternoon, but I had just gotten home and was talking to my mom who was babysitting the kids when the hospital called and asked if I could come in right then to get prepped. My mom was fabulous and dropped everything to stay with the kids all day and I ran to the hospital and had surgery. After the surgery, the doctor said there was no sign of a pregnancy with the D&C so they did the laparoscopy but didn't see anything in my fallopian tubes either, so I guess I did just have a miscarriage. It was an unbelievably long process and filled with emotional ups and downs. In the end, I was just glad to have it all done with.