Saturday, September 01, 2007

An Inconclusive Update

It's been almost two weeks since my most recent miscarriage, dear readers, and I feel that I've been neglecting you. Please forgive me. I was traveling, so to speak, through a very dark place. But in the last week, I've experienced a dramatic shift, both in energy and in mood, which I'm somewhat at a loss to explain. I'll tell you all about it in the next post.

In the meantime, an inconclusive update:

No word from Dr. A~, the ob-gyn, about results of karyotyping (genetic testing of the "products of conception"). But I did get a call from his office four days after J~ dropped off our salamander baby at the lab (in a clearly marked container, I might add) asking if I had done so, and did I want them to test it. Mind you, on the day of our slow-heartbeat ultrasound, I said explicitly that I wanted this testing, and on the day of the no-heartbeat scan, Dr. A~ gave us instructions about where to take our little bundle of sorrow, and assured us that he'd spoken to the head of the lab. We were expected. No paperwork necessary.

Needless to say, I began to panic.

As it turns out, our clearly marked container was not lost (Thank God!), they just didn't know what we wanted done with it.

Huh???

Having cleared that up, having received assurances that it is not too late, that the tissue wasn't sitting around too long, I am still afraid that nothing will come of it. I hate the thought of wondering, if this turns out to be the case, if it's someone's fault. I'll call the doctor's office first thing Tuesday. In the meantime, deep breaths. On to other things.

6 comments:

L said...

I am glad you are feeling at least a little bit better. The week post-miscarriage is an emotional and hormonal hell.

What else would you have wanted done with your "bundle of sorrow?"

My doctor told me that about 50% of karyotyping results are inconclusive, so do not be too disappointed if nothing comes of it. Even with a perfect sample, it can be difficult to culture the cells. The cells from my latest pregnancy grew just fine, yet they could not rule out maternal cellular contamination, so I have results that are essentially meaningless.

I really do hope they are able to find something out, but my doctor warned me not to place all of my hope (re: diagnosing a problem) on the results.

Did you get karyotyped as well? My RE was more interested in our results than that of the failed pregnancy. (We were both normal.)

Anonymous said...

My heart goes out to you. I have had two m/c and they never get any easier. My first one was at 17 weeks due to fibroids and the second at 5 weeks-unknown reasons. I hope you get the answers you are looking for. For our angel we have a wonderful "Angel of Hope" at our local cemetery. She has a brick and I do visit often. It helps me. Stay strong.
deb

Anonymous said...

I hate the medical bureaucracy, and you are generous in not feeling it's insensitive. I'm glad some of the darkness is lifting.

When I was in the midst of having a miscarriage/possible life-threatening ectopic pregnancy, a clueless nurse called to say congratulations, I was pregnant (HCG present), but my progesterone level was low (read: almost nonexistent and therefore no possibility of a viable pregnancy) to come back next week for another blood test (after a long holiday weekend).

I hope your tests provide some useful information.

A friend who'd had a miscarriage planted a lovely, tiny tree where they'd buried their tiny child. While they were out of town and we were specifically charged with caring for the tree, a moose came and nibbled it to a nub. I don't know why I tell you that, except that the universe seems to mock our "best-laid" plans.

Like Sisyphus, we push the rock back up the hill. BTW, both my husband and I and the 40-ish "moose couple" went on to have children, if that offers any hope.

Sunny said...

HUGS!

Anns said...

How horrible of the lab... does anyone have bedroom manner anymore?

Antropóloga said...

It's frustrating how dumb doctors' offices can be sometimes. You'd think they'd be more customer-friendly. I'm sorry you had the added unpleasantness of dealing with them in this regard.