Infertility Tests and The Results

I had mixed feelings before receiving the results. Part of me wanted to find out what was wrong so that I could treat it. Part of me hoped that there was nothing wrong so I just needed to be patient. Eventually I had hoped that they would find something that would be easily resolved for example a cyst that could easily be removed.

It was bad news, worse than I had expected.

• HSG - Hysterosalpingogram - HSG: revealed that I had possible uterine synechiae. Another name is Asherman syndrome or just womb scarring. Prof said that the only way to confirm it would be a laparoscopy which he would not be recommending because it was not worth the investigation. He suspected this was not the cause because people with such scarring, it was very difficult to get pregnant in the first place. Moreover I had not gone for DnC before.

• Transvaginal and Transabdominal Ultrasonography: Ultra sound scans - polycystic ovaries    (not surprised since LC Cheng had already told me), a small ovarian cyst!
  Prof said that PCO unlikely to cause miscarriages. It only causes irregular periods and hence tougher to get pregnant. He could prescribe Clomid if I wanted. The ovarian cyst was harmless unless I have pain. Otherwise don't bother.
  
  
• Lymphocyte Subsets - CD3, CD4, CD8, CD19, NK cells Abs, NK cells :  Natural Killer Cells - 18%. He suspected that this was causing me to lose my embryos. For some reason, my immune systems NK cells are treating the embryos as cancerous tumors and killing them. The normal range was supposed to be below 12%. He scheduled me for a consultation with him and his rheumatologist Dr Sheila Vasoo. They said that I needed IVIG. I would need around 4 drips when I am pregnant to tie over the first trimester. Each drip would cost $2500. As this is at its experimentation stage, there would be no subsidy unlike IVF. 
• Thyroid Screen: Normal
• SLE Panel: Normal
• Anti-ENA Panel: Normal
• Toxoplasma: Normal
• Thrombophillia Screening Panel: Normal
• Lupus Anticoagulation Screen: Normal
• Protein C Activity: Abnormal level at 141; Normal range is 70 - 130; Low levels indicate blood clotting issues but high levels seem irrelevant http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/003659.htm
• Protein S Activity: Normal
• ESR: Abnormal at Level 11; Normal range 3 to 9;  http://labtestsonline.org/understanding/analytes/esr/tab/test/ Indicates that inflammation is present in the body
• Factor V Leiden: Normal
• Karyotype (Chromosomes DNA Test) of both husband and wife: Normal
• Glucose Intolerance: Normal
• Sperm DNA Fragmentation Test: Normal
• Preconception Screen: Normal
• Full Blood Count: Normal
• Thalassaemia Screen: Normal
• Blood Group and Antibody Screen: Normal
• Hormones: Progesterone ridiculously low but Prof mentioned that since I had irregular menstruation, I might not have ovulated which had caused the low levels

The good news was that our chromosomes DNA test was normal. My ovarian reserves were also very good.

Prof Mahesh concluded that NK cells 18% was too high.  The threshold for a healthy pregnancy was 12% according to him. He prescribed aspirin, folic acid for me to consume for the next three months. I was supposed to see him three months later. I was very sad because I thought my body had killed my babies. I felt dizzy. A dark cloud seemed to loom over me wherever I walked. My heart felt heavy. My BFF called me when I was at the pharmacy waiting for the medicine. She wanted to ask me how the results went.

"Hey, I am still outside. It is bad. I might cry if I tell you now. Talk to you later," I said over the phone before hanging up.

I began to have low self esteem because I felt sorry for my husband to have married me. My pastor called me up out of the blue and dealt with my grief. I renounced the negative thoughts. I cried hard on the phone with her.