hCG Dropping Slowly... Along with my Blood Supply

I saw Dr. Youman on Monday, as suggested by my RE to discuss possible reasons for miscarriage and to order further testing. He asked me plenty of questions, and as usual right off the bat says, "You have quite a few things here that concern me." I could have predicted that one! Anytime you tell a dr. that your dad died at age 47 from cancer, your mom at 52 from cancer, and also your grandmother from cancer, they don't take a liking to that. However, I was not here to talk about cancer necessarily. I was here to uncover any unknown reasons that could cause miscarriage in the future. You see, outside of being an oncologist, Dr.Youman is supposedly the man when it comes to hematology and knows about all things blood related. My RE often refers to him for more in depth testing of clotting disorders and autoimmune stuff for women who have lost more than once pregnancy.

Upon first meeting this guy, I wouldn't have known what to think of him had I not already known he'd helped Lance Armstrong beat cancer. There are pics of Lance all over his office, and I couldn't help but get a little choked up thinking of all that cancer patients go through battling this horrific disease. By the way... If you haven't read It's Not About the Bike, I highly recommend it. It's one of my favorite books of all time. If you really want some inspiration and a reason to put on your big girl panties, that is the book for you! I linked the whole first chapter above for your reading pleasure.

Seriously though, Dr. Youman is extremely old school, scribbling everything illegibly on a half sheet of torn computer paper, and that is "your file."  haha!  He agreed that because I already tested positive for cardiolipin antibody, that I should do further testing for other related clotting disorders and autoimmune diseases. Off I went to their in-house lab to give 15 MORE VIALS OF BLOOD. Gasp! As of Friday, I will have given 24 vials of blood in one week, but who's counting? Honestly, I'm happy keep giving blood until I'm blue if it gives me answers on things I can keep an eye on going forward. If I have risk factors, I want to know about them so I can take precautionary measures to prevent any miscarriages in the future. I go back next week on Monday to meet with Dr. Youman and discuss the findings of the additional testing.

My first hCG results following the MTX shot came back yesterday. hCG went down to 196 from 207. This is progress, but the 2nd test done post-MTX shot (two days from now) will be kind of crucial. They want to see a 15% decrease in the next result to show enough progress to avoid having a second dose of MTX. It needs to drop about 30 points to be considered enough progress. I had quite a bit of pain and bleeding on Monday and a huge mass of tissue that passed (sorry TMI), a little bit of bleeding on Tuesday, and now just back to spotting with no cramps at all, so I'm hoping what they call "tissue separation" has already occurred and that hCG levels will continue to plummet fast! I do NOT want that second shot, nor do I want surgery, so please pray for me that these levels drop faster than a hoochie mama in a Fifty Cent video! 

Speaking of politically incorrect things, I found something I would like for Christmas and figured you all might appreciate it. What a spectacular stocking stuffer...

How funny is that?! I may become a target of hate crimes or at minimum toilet papering if I put that on my vehicle in my small town family friendly Texas neighborhood. I'm almost willing to take the chance though, I like it so much. Seriously, this is a pretty hard time of year with all the family holiday cheer going on. Forgive me if I need to find a way to laugh amidst my own debacle of trying to start a family. I've got to find a way to keep it light, and if a chainsaw chasing the annoyingly perfect family and stroller won't do that, then I don't know what will!