A Fear So True

The dark circle is the amniotic sac. The ring floating in the sac is the yolk sac, and the 'diamond' on the ring is little Amberic!

I think the absolute worst words a newly pregnant woman can hear are, "There is an unidentified spot on your ovary and we need to eliminate it as a possible ectopic pregnancy."

Remember the unidentified pain I've been having in my abdomen since January? My OB had finally determined it was time to go in and remove whatever was causing the problem, most likely adhesion. I've already had this done once and I just had my gall bladder removed. Both times the attending doctors had made comments about my "abnormal" anatomy. I'm to the point now where no one is cutting me open without my colon rectal surgeon there to say, "Don't touch that! It's just fine how it is."

I live in Muskegon and my surgeon is in Grand Rapids, and of course my OB is in a different hospital than my surgeon, yadda, yadda, yadda. Long story short, I needed to see an OB doctor in Spectrum's network, so Dr. Lucky and the new OB could have shared hospital privileges.

I was already five days late at my appointment with Dr. E and she asked if I was pregnant. I laughed and said, "After we get this taken care of, I'd like to start working on getting pregnant part if you don't mind." All I have to say is, Damn, Dr. E isgood! One appointment and I'm knocked up.

Because of my impending surgery, Dr. E ordered an early ultra sound just to take a look around. For my convenience the ultra sound was preformed in Muskegon and the results were sent to Grand Rapids.

I hadn't heard anything after a week, so I assumed everything was fine. Then a nurse called me from Dr. E's office to schedule another ultrasound. There was a spot on my ultra sound that could be an etopic pregnancy. They got me in first thing the next morning. That was the most agonizing 18 hours, 47 minutes of my life. Waiting. Afraid that three years of yearning were all going to be lost.

And thankfully everything was fine! The ultra sound technician was able to show me the fetus and yolk sac. Everything looked fine and I was sent home with a picture. She also gave me a new due date of April 1st. She couldn't even find the spot on my ovary. Such relief.

And then pure rage overtook me. It had taken Hackley Hospital ONE WEEK to send my possible ECTOPIC PREGNANCY ultra sound results to my doctor. There is no WAY I'm giving birth at a hospital that isn't responsible enough to forward lab results in a timely manner. Women can die from an ectopic pregnancy if the fetus ruptures. There better have been several life or death cases in front of me that prevented someone from picking up the damn phone and saying, "Yeah, there might be a problem with this one." Oh wait, my case could have been life or death!

If they aren't responsible enough to send results to my doctor, what assures me they'll bother to look at my previous medical history?

But hold on, calm down Amber Mae. It's me, not the hospital. I have a deep concern for myself and my child that they apparently don't share.

* Post note: As of 9/4/09 I've contact the Hackley Hospital twice regarding this matter. They have yet to tell what the hold up was. Several key people to this case have been on "vacation".