Thursday, May 29, 2014

No Oncology Visit! Praise God!

Because of the holiday on Monday, I had my blood drawn Tuesday.  So Wednesday morning I was waiting with baited breath for a phone call around 7:30am.  My OBGYN nurse always calls at this time, so I knew that if I got a phone call around this time then all would be well.  If not, that meant the doctor would be giving me a call later and that would not be great news.

Luckily at 7:34am, the phone rang and the nurse said that my HCG level had gone down 1 from 4 to 3!  This was excellent news to me.  But again, they want it at zero.

She then told me that my doctor said I could do an optional referral to a gynecological oncologist for a second opinion due to the "slow decline" in HCG levels.  I had read somewhere that if after a molar pregnancy, your HCG is down to negative within 7 weeks, then you have a shorter wait time before they release you to try to conceive again, more than 7 weeks is apparently concerning to the doctors.  Well, this week will be 16 weeks for me.  So that has definitely been discouraging that everything is going so slowly.

But why focus on that?  The good news is that my levels went down and I don't have to do an oncology consult.  Praise God!

Tuesday, May 20, 2014

Partial Molar Pregnancy Update and addition to the farm.

Well, it's been awhile since I've posted and basically it has just been a long and slow road to get my HCG level to drop. 

Here is my recap:  doctors want my HCG level to be negative (which I was thinking was <5 6th="" are="" at="" checks:="" february="" here="" monday="" my="" nbsp="" numbers="" p="" since="" weekly="">
600,000+
1351
317
135
70
42
27
19
17
12
10
8
6
4
Latest test = 4

Well once we hit "4", I thought we were in the clear and I would be tested for 2 more weeks for a total of "3 weeks in the negative zone".  However, my OBGYN called tonight to tell me that this previous Monday's test was also a "4".  So for 2 weeks in a row, my HCG level has been 4.  He wants it at 0.  Literally zero.  He said he consulted with an oncologist and he is a little concerned about how slowly my levels have dropped and now that they are static at 4.

So next week if it doesn't drop, he is referring me to an oncologist for a second opinion. 

I have had one completely normal cycle with ovulation and all....and then the next cycle was a bit strange.  I bled for 14 days straight....started bleeding on cycle day 22 and then I think my actual period started on CD 30 and lasted for 6 days plus 1 day of spotting.  So that was definitely odd, but hopefully it is just my cycle trying to get back on track and not something worse.

To tell you the truth, I just feel back to my normal self!  And since we are not expecting a baby in August we decided to just focus on getting my health all back to normal and.....getting dairy goats. 

Yes, dairy goats.  So we've been dreaming of having dairy goats (just 2) to milk for our family and make cheese and, well the neighbors made this wonderful oatmeal lavender soap that I've fallen in love with, so goat milk soap too....and we needed to fence in an acre of our property with some serious fencing, because goats are really good at escaping apparently.  So we have just thrown ourselves into getting this fence up and researching goats (because neither of us have any caprine experience)...

cap·rine 

adjective
of or pertaining to goats.
 
So between the fence and the garden (tomatoes, kale, zucchini, potatoes, squash, watermelon, cantaloupe, carrots, peppers, sweet peas, pole beans and corn, currently), and sending Rob out to a dairy farm to check out some milkers....we've been pretty busy, but it's been a really good busy.  Good, productive, healthy busy.
 
So listen, you can definitely say a little prayer for me about the whole HCG drop/oncology thing.  I'm not really worried about it, but I can ALWAYS use prayer.
 
Thanks for reading along :)