Wednesday, February 14, 2007

Oh it just keeps getting better and better!

Pardon my sarcasm please... anyone ever heard of placenta accreta? How about it's most dangerous form placenta percreta? That's right folks another star to add to my banner. Of course we won't know for certain at least for another month until an MRI is performed. Basically what it boils down to (that's if I really have this, and they're pretty sure I do) is the placenta invading the bladder wall with blood vessels, so there is no distinguishable border between the two. What does this mean for me? An early planned c-section done under general anesthesia, most likely a hysterectomy, and a bladder repair. See, when the placenta detaches or is removed from the wall that the uterus and bladder now share, massive bleeding can occur. No harm whatsoever to the baby, just born a bit early. All I really wanted to do was get on an airplane and travel to Ethiopia to pick up my baby, I didn't order any of this. So here I am standing out in the middle of nowhere saying to MY GOD, 'dude, what's the point of all this?' I'm sure there's a reason, I may never know what it is. He doesn't usually walk you to the brink of insanity and not have a good reason for it. I do need to trust that this will all work out just as planned. I know it's in His hands. So, if anybody out there is the praying type please say one for me. I need it.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

If you do have accreta, it is life threatening. You are fortunate to know in advance. I only found out after the fact. You should really read up on this and NOT trust your doctor completely, unless you are being treated at UCLA. There are many new techniques to stop the bleeding. such as special suturing techniques, but you would need a team - reapeat TEAM!! -- of experienced docs on hand for the birth.

Please, please do as much research as possible. For example, you will probably NOT want to have a total hysterectomy and also have your ovaries removed, but that could happen if your doc is an idiot. The most preferred otucome would be to actually save your uterus, but barring that, you would probably want to keep your cervix.

Anyhow, I am saying a prayer for you. I almost died of a massive bleedout in part caused by my moronic doc who tried to scrape out the placenta and caused massive hemmoraghing -- he didn't suspect the mild accreta that I had. I lost my uterus as a result and it has pretty much destroyed my life. I have lost sexual feeligns (but not desire) and became very depressed, also very angry when I found out later that there were alternatives that could have spared my uterus that weren't even considered.

Best wishes (and I really mean that!)

owlhaven said...

Praying....

Mary, mom to many, including 2 from Ethiopia

Anonymous said...

Well, in reading Mel's comments, I find them rather upsetting. As far as I'm concerned, your life and the baby's are more important here than your uterus. You can live without it and I find it vastly more important for you to be here to raise your babies and humor your mother than risk trying to "save" your uterus. I think you have to trust what your doctors are telling you and put your faith in Him, no matter what the "dude's" reasoning for all of this is. We're all praying, praying and praying even harder still that this all turns out as we hope. We know what we're facing, a plan is in place and we go from there. You know I love you and this baby beyond belief and I'm wherever you need me most.

Love,
Mom

Anonymous said...

Please know that I'm thinking of you, Dana!! I'm sorry I'm so behind on my blog reading -- please keep us posted.