If I have to deal with one more incompetent doctor, I might scream. I truly might.
I’ve seen enough incompetence to scare anyone away from seeing a doctor ever again. It’s truly truly frightening.
I spoke with IVF Jen (the name I’m giving to my IVF coordinator – the one who’s personality grates on me the wrong way) last week in my round o’ calls I made. We talked about the meds and starting and such, and after we hung up, she called me back about 2 minutes later.
“You know,” she told me, “in the bloodwork you had done for your [failed] surgery it came back that you have extra antibodies in your blood.”
“Yes, I know,” I told her, completely bored.
I’d heard all this before. It’s due to the two blood transfusions I’ve had during my two different heart surgeries, but mostly from the first one (the horrible one) when I lost a LOT of blood. With “foreign” blood entering your body, sometimes it will develop antibodies against it. It doesn’t affect me generally. But I now need special blood typing every time I have a future surgery. Whenever you have a surgery, they screen your blood for type and stuff, so if you’re O- or whatever, they have something on hand in case you need it. Well, I’m a plain old O+, which is the most popular blood type out there, and not a big deal, but because of those antibodies I have, I always need a second screening so that I get a more specific bloodtype beyond the O and beyond the +.
I’ve always wondered what would happen in an emergency. It always takes a few days for that second screening – what do you do if you’re in a car accident, God forbid, and need blood in 20 minutes? Anyway…not that I should be concerned about that right now…
So Jen says to me, “maybe you should meet with Maternal Fetal Medicine to find out if that antibodies could have any affect on a developing fetus? I don’t think you have any clotting factors, and it’s not the same thing, but this way you could feel better knowing for sure going forward.”
I had actually asked a bunch of doctors (my regular OB when we started trying, and even my cardiologist) if those transfusion antibodies could be a problem and everyone said no. But I thought it was a good idea to talk to a specialist in the area and get some peace of mind, so I went in today.
The MFM had the results of the thrombophilia panel I had done last May under my OB. And today, 8 months later, I learn that I have the MTHFR mutation. I apparently have one copy of the C677T mutation and one copy of the A12980 mutation. Separately, they mean nothing. Together can be the problem.
In addition to that, as soon as I actually get pregnant (well, maybe not as soon, but at some point in the first trimester) I have to get another titer done. Because of my transfusion antibodies, I tested positive for Rh(c), whereas most people are RH(a) or (b) apparently. (That’s the more specific bloodtype they’re always testing for). If the baby is also RH(c), then no problem, but if it’s RH(a) or (b) then I would need additional meds. Terrific.
I also found out that my OB did not do certain thrombfilia tests – including Factor V Leiden and some others. Wonderful. I’ve been spinning my wheels for 8 months and now, one week before IVF, find this out?
MFM doctor wants me to go to a very specific lab all the way down in Poughkeepsie to get additional bloodwork done. 2 hours away, ugh. And of course I will do it, because I always do whatever a doctor asks me to do.
But I wish I could stop getting incompetent ones.
I’ve seen enough incompetence to scare anyone away from seeing a doctor ever again. It’s truly truly frightening.
I spoke with IVF Jen (the name I’m giving to my IVF coordinator – the one who’s personality grates on me the wrong way) last week in my round o’ calls I made. We talked about the meds and starting and such, and after we hung up, she called me back about 2 minutes later.
“You know,” she told me, “in the bloodwork you had done for your [failed] surgery it came back that you have extra antibodies in your blood.”
“Yes, I know,” I told her, completely bored.
I’d heard all this before. It’s due to the two blood transfusions I’ve had during my two different heart surgeries, but mostly from the first one (the horrible one) when I lost a LOT of blood. With “foreign” blood entering your body, sometimes it will develop antibodies against it. It doesn’t affect me generally. But I now need special blood typing every time I have a future surgery. Whenever you have a surgery, they screen your blood for type and stuff, so if you’re O- or whatever, they have something on hand in case you need it. Well, I’m a plain old O+, which is the most popular blood type out there, and not a big deal, but because of those antibodies I have, I always need a second screening so that I get a more specific bloodtype beyond the O and beyond the +.
I’ve always wondered what would happen in an emergency. It always takes a few days for that second screening – what do you do if you’re in a car accident, God forbid, and need blood in 20 minutes? Anyway…not that I should be concerned about that right now…
So Jen says to me, “maybe you should meet with Maternal Fetal Medicine to find out if that antibodies could have any affect on a developing fetus? I don’t think you have any clotting factors, and it’s not the same thing, but this way you could feel better knowing for sure going forward.”
I had actually asked a bunch of doctors (my regular OB when we started trying, and even my cardiologist) if those transfusion antibodies could be a problem and everyone said no. But I thought it was a good idea to talk to a specialist in the area and get some peace of mind, so I went in today.
The MFM had the results of the thrombophilia panel I had done last May under my OB. And today, 8 months later, I learn that I have the MTHFR mutation. I apparently have one copy of the C677T mutation and one copy of the A12980 mutation. Separately, they mean nothing. Together can be the problem.
In addition to that, as soon as I actually get pregnant (well, maybe not as soon, but at some point in the first trimester) I have to get another titer done. Because of my transfusion antibodies, I tested positive for Rh(c), whereas most people are RH(a) or (b) apparently. (That’s the more specific bloodtype they’re always testing for). If the baby is also RH(c), then no problem, but if it’s RH(a) or (b) then I would need additional meds. Terrific.
I also found out that my OB did not do certain thrombfilia tests – including Factor V Leiden and some others. Wonderful. I’ve been spinning my wheels for 8 months and now, one week before IVF, find this out?
MFM doctor wants me to go to a very specific lab all the way down in Poughkeepsie to get additional bloodwork done. 2 hours away, ugh. And of course I will do it, because I always do whatever a doctor asks me to do.
But I wish I could stop getting incompetent ones.
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