Last month – May 9th, to be exact – I started spotting. It never got heavy, but it lasted for a full five days.
My oncologist said it was just my hormones trying to normalize. My gynecologist examined me and said there was nothing wrong and it could by my period or just hormonal spotting. Desperate to know if, after a year and a half, my body was finally normalizing, I took a digital ovulation test, which showed that yes, I was ovulating – on Julian’s birthday.
My “period” should have come back on or around the 4th – the 6th. I took several pregnancy tests, which all came back negative. On Conor’s third birthday, I took one that came back positive. Julian and I were both in shock, which, over the course of several days, morphed into excitement and joy.
Because my first pregnancy resulted in a ruptured tube, life-threatening internal bleeding, and emergency surgery, as soon as I discover I am pregnant I have to get two hCG tests two days apart. When a pregnancy is in the uterus, hCG levels roughly double every 48 hours. With ectopic pregnancies, hCG creeps up much more slowly. I had my hCG tested on Tuesday and it was very low, which was expected – I was only very newly pregnant. Yesterday, I inexplicably started getting a sinking feeling that I was not pregnant. Julian thought I was being crazy, but I felt sure there was some error – in spite of the positive home and blood tests – and I was not actually pregnant.
This morning I called to ask if that was possible, and the nurse called me back with my second hCG results. My hCG had stayed stable – not moved at all. She said that indicated that conception had occurred, but that for whatever reason, it had not developed or continued. She said I would get my period as normal, and could try again next month. I asked if there was any possibility that I was actually still menopausal, that perhaps it had been a false positive and I had never been pregnant at all. She said she didn’t think so, that menopause wouldn’t cause hCG to rise, and that very likely my body was ready and I should just keep trying.
I hung up with her and wept.
I have so many thoughts and they’re all jumbled so I’m just going to word vomit them here. I just had a miscarriage. I wonder if I conceived in the ruptured tube and then it traveled down and was not able to get to the uterus. Should we even try again? I’m kind of old. I thought this was a miracle. Is my body actually back to normal? I’m so fucking tired of wondering where I stand. Chemo really fucked me up. Why did we have to get that positive result? I could have just kept going along not knowing. This feels like a cruel prank. At least I can drink when I go visit my sister. Should I bother to ovulation test again? Will my period come again? When? Did I really know I wasn’t pregnant, or was that just fear talking? Being a woman is bloody impossible. Fuck you, cancer. Julian was so happy. I am so disappointed. I feel like a disappointment. I am both devastated and unsurprised. I knew it was too good to be true. I am surprised by how excited and thrilled I was. I am surprised I let myself get so invested so fast. I really don’t know if I can do this again.
Finally: I am strong, and I just need to pick myself up, dust myself off, and keep moving forward.
complikated 