No Fetal Material

A few days after this m/c I started re-reading Coming to Term to get ready for our dr appointment.  I just needed to remind myself of the science behind miscarriage and get my head ready to talk about next steps.  Since the facts seem to show that a majority of miscarriages involve chromosomally screwed up fetuses, I was disappointed that I had not thought to ask that the tissue from the D&C be sent off for testing.  But I didn't beat myself up over it because that was such an effed up day, and who knows if they do that kind of thing out here in BFE.  (Turns out, the surgery center, dr offices and pharmacies I have been to down here are way more technologically advanced than anything I saw in Indy.  All records are electronic, bar codes are used to ID patients and send orders, Rxs, etc.)

So last week we had our follow-up with the dr, and he asks about bleeding, cramping, all the usual stuff and I told him that of the 4 I've had, this was the easiest D&C yet.  Minimal pain, and light bleeding that only lasted a week.  He says, "Well, these next few weeks will be a critical time and we'll have to watch closely, because the pathologist's report came back saying there was 'no fetal material' ".  *

WTF?  Good Lord, in Indy when we sent the products of conception off for testing my husband and I both signed so much stuff it felt like we were giving away a living child.  So, the news that testing was done was obviously a shock.  But, I really don't care.  I'm even kinda okay that there were no results, because I was not at all prepared to hear any of it.  I am peeved, however, that we will probably get a huge pathologist's bill, for no information.

Oddly, my cycle started up again right away after the other D&C's, and three weeks out, nothing so far this time.  The dr said he has had D&C's where some tissue was retained, but never an entire baby, so he thinks the lab messed up somewhere.  He told me to call ASAP if any heavy bleeding or cramping kicks up.  Oh, and I know there was a baby in there, because I saw the baby and the heartbeat at the first u/s and I have a picture of it.  How long should I wait before worrying about not having had a period yet?  This just isn't like my body - or at least wasn't like my body in the past.    

[NOTE - these paragraphs/sentences are not in the order I want them, but we just got a new computer this weekend and I haven't figured out how to cut and paste on a Mac yet.  Better just keep typing while Colin is napping and worry about formatting later.]

As for trying again, there is a little hope.  The other day my husband and I were discussing getting me a different vehicle, and he mentioned being sure we had room for two car seats.  So, that's progress.  I didn't react outwardly, but there was a tiny dance of joy going on inside me.  His main questions for the dr revolved around wondering how dangerous/benign it is for me to keep having D&C's.  The only thing I remember from the dr's response (Colin was climbing the walls and shrieking) involved Asherman's, but he also said the fact that I keep getting pg means there is probably very minimal scar tissue.  I need to look up more info on Asherman's and get with Julia on the subject, 'cuz I know she knows.

That'll be it for now, as I need to get some chore-type things done while the kid slumbers.  I'm grateful to have the care, knowledge, experience and support of all of you on my side.      

*After re-reading this, I feel like I've made the dr sound like a bonehead.  He's not - he seems like a genuinely good guy, who is letting us take the lead where and when we want to.  He offered me his cell # and, because he knew we are the researching type, gave us his email address in case I thought of any other questions or testing I read about and wanted done.  

Comments

[Julia]

It must feel like people are handing you pieces from entirely different puzzles and asking you to make sense of them.

You're in my thoughts.

[thalia]

That pathology report is very odd. Maybe they messed up in the lab? Is that possible? Sampled the wrong bit of tissue? On my two miscarriages we tested one and it came back genetically normal, so it didn't really help. Plus they can't test for every genetic issue so it's really not that informative, it only tells you if one of the 'big,' common issues are wrong, like the major trisomies. Either way I hope this is over for you and not something nasty and drawn-out.

Mac commands usually just substitute the apple key for the ctrl key on a pc (because windows 'stole' them from the mac interface to start off with!) - so cut is apple-x and paste is apple-v, apple-w closes a window, etc. A few mac commands don't work in windows, like apple-q for quitting an application.

[Lala]

I've been thinking about you, wondering how you're doing. I fired off an email to you but I guess you may have changed emails when you moved.
Take it easy.
L