We’re Back!

You may have noticed we have been M.I.A. in recent months… you may also not have noticed, because let’s face it the last few months have been cray cray… like Tiger King cray. And yes we have been at home like everyone else, and survived homeschooling… just. But there was a little bit more to this absence. Just as the world began to shut down I (Danielle) had a molar pregnancy; “molar pregnancy is a rare complication of pregnancy that occurs in approximately 1 out of every 1000 pregnancies.”

A few months ago, after quite a few Doctors appointments and a negative pregnancy test I thought the stress of starting our own business etc had started to get to me and my immune was down. I was constantly exhausted and sick. It wasn’t until things started to go downhill quickly my Dr did another pregnancy test that was off the charts positive and told me I was miscarrying but according to the scans it was not happening naturally as it should. At 2am the next morning the hospital gynaecologist explained they believed there was more to it than that.

There are different types of molar pregnancies, you can have a partial or complete. I had a complete molar pregnancy where an egg with no genetic material is fertilised and instead of developing into a fetus it turns into a non-cancerous tumor. The placenta also starts to form rapidly and can develop into Choriocarcinoma, a form of cancer that can spread quite quickly. The tell-tale sign of this cancer is high hcg (pregnancy hormone). So to give you an idea, with how far along I would have been if it was a normal pregnancy, my HCG would have been around 90,000 to maybe 110,000 if it was twins… my HCG when I arrived in hospital was 227,000 and growing. Yeouch.

So after another crap load of tests and scans to ensure the Drs knew exactly what was going on, I was scheduled for surgery. The surgery itself has quite a few risks involved so a specialist was called in and I was only able to be operated on in the morning to ensure I could be monitored afterwards. Now this was also at the beginning of COVID, so hospital operating theatres were running on absolute minimum but after a few false starts (i.e. bloody hungry days) I was in. The surgery went really well, better than they could have expected even, but I was not done yet. Now my HCG had to get down to under 5! And stay there!

I was referred onto Queensland Trophoblastic Centre; “the Queensland Trophoblast Centre specialises in the management and care of women diagnosed with Gestational Trophoblastic Disease (GTD) for Queensland, northern New South Wales and the Northern Territory.” I can not give enough credit to the QTC nurse. She ensured I had all the information and support I could possibly need. She also explained I had to have blood tests weekly to ensure my HCG was dropping. If it didn’t it could be a sign that the surgery had not removed all of the cancerous product or it could have spread. I then would have had to have started chemotherapy. Luckily for me I seem to have this habit of just scraping through and recovering quickly. I did it with cervical cancer and did it again with this.

My first blood test my levels had dropped to 4,500. The QTC nurse then explained this was a great drop and a good sign but I wasn’t out of the woods yet. They expect my levels to drop by 10% each week. When my next test was 636 then 115 we all felt like we could start to breathe again. I was still recovering from the surgery and those good ole crying hormones… seriously… but for the first time ever, I took a proper, much needed break. I stepped back from the world, and it was the perfect time to do so. As the world was shutting down, me as someone who often does not stop, actually rested, and watched crappy TV. I’m talking reality love shows crappy TV… and Tiger King. Six weeks ago I finally hit under 5, and stayed under that! Now I will have monthly blood tests for 6 months, if they all keep under 5, I am free and clear, with only a 1% chance of experiencing this again. Woooo!!

It has been a rollercoaster! But I have been so lucky. I am always so grateful to live in Australia where healthcare is free and easily accessible. The Logan Hospital were as always amazing as is the brilliant Nurse from the Queensland Trophoblastic Centre.

So we’re officially back!! We will be contacting clients again in the next week to get back on track as COVID (hopefully) continues to ease. We have some exciting (and quite possibly embarrassing) stuff coming up so please stay tuned!