Friday, March 25, 2005

Good Friday? The Jury's Out - Part 1

Today is a noteworthy day on more than one count. First and foremost, I had another beta today and for the third week in a row it came back as "less than 2". (Why they can't measure lower than 2 at my lab is a mystery to me.) That's the standard for considering a molar pregnancy to be resolved. This should be cause for rejoicing... but I'm feeling rather flattened. Because molar pregnancy is the nightmare that never ends: devastation followed by more bad news, followed by waiting, waiting, waiting, and the ever-present sceptre of recurrence and more bad news. Even when you get to zero (or "less than 2") you still have lots of waiting ahead of you. But it is a milestone.

posted by Jen at 6:11 PM

5 Comments:

  • It isn't that they can't measure less than 2, it is that we always have a teensy bit of HCG in our systems. Even men.

    In some labs (like mine) less than 5 is "normal for a non-pregnant woman", and sometimes its less than 10 - this is only when they are measuring all the HCG subunits, not just betaHCG.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 10:56 PM  

  • But some labs do give 0 readings... and all the MP stuff talks about ZERO. This is what confuses me. Anyway, negative is negative, right?

    By Blogger Jen, at 9:49 AM  

  • Dr. MustBeADyke said that they will -report- zero, and mean "less than whatever is considered normal for a non-pregnant woman." It is confusing.

    But you are right. Negative is negative.

    I was supposed to get a beta done on Thursday and forgot. Oops.... I didn't remember it until I read your blog.... IM-DIM strikes again!

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 10:58 PM  

  • You will start going monthly now right?

    By Blogger Ana, at 6:51 AM  

  • Yeah, I only have to be stabbed once a month now. (Unless Dr. Baltimore freaks out, but I'm not asking her.)

    By Blogger Jen, at 3:21 PM  

Post a Comment

<< Home