I went to the clinic this morning for the beta drop blood draw. I discovered that I am existing in a sort of wrinkle in time as far as my identity as a patient at the clinic. I sit down and extend my arm to the blood tech and she looks at the paperwork I have filled out.
Her: Cycle day four?
Me: Well it is day four of bleeding.
Her: Ok so we need to get these levels…{and she checks off the typical baseline labs}
Me: And hcg. I need to get an hcg check.
Her: Not for baseline, sweetie.
Me: Ok – so maybe this isn’t baseline? I need to find out if my beta is dropping correctly.
Her: Oh. {takes black sharpie and crosses out where I wrote CD4} You don’t need these other tests.
Me: I don’t think so, no.
{she grabs a pen and writes, “miscarriage” under my name}
Her: Sorry about this, honey.
Me: So do I fill out a call back form for the IVF nurses?
Her: No you are a pregnancy patient.
Me: Even though I am not pregnant?
Her: Well you are until this hcg says zero.
DUDE. That seriously sucks. I am thankful that I am behind some of the more powerful triggers that had me weeping this weekend, but having to fill out a pregnant patient form when you KNOW things are not pretty in the ute is awful. I mean it isn’t epic awful, more like “I just bled all over your pregnancy paperwork” awful.
There should be an in between form. Even if it still gets directed to the pregnancy department there should still be an option. Something like “trying to get knocked up” vs “knocked up” vs “knocked down”. Because that is what this is – knocked DOWN.
{ 13 comments… read them below or add one }
Oh man, I totally feel your pain.
This totally happened to me with my first chemical. I knew it was over, but before I went in for my blood draw, the OBGYN office made me fill out “new pregnant patient” forms (this was before I went to an RE). The papers were like six pages long and included whether I preferred an epidural. I mean, come on. And thanks to that, I ended up on some free formula list and I still get formula and coupons from S.imilac. Luckily I had a friend who could use it, but getting something in the mail from them every month is not fun!
Sorry you are going through this!
So sorry that you’re going through this, in a system clearly not created to handle things like this gracefully. I have to say, though, I appreciate the term “knocked down”. A lot. Hugs to you…
I had a second trimester miscarriage with my first pregnancy and I had to go week after week to watch the levels drop. But I had to go to a hospital lab, so I didn’t get the same tech every week, which meant retelling the story. every. week.
It took months for my level to go to less than 5.
There should definitely be an in-between. Going for the follow up exam after my D&C was all kinds of shitty. Especially since most of the staff at the Ob-Gyn office didn’t know about the miscarriage. And I would really like to strangle whoever gives OB patients’ names and addresses to the formula/baby store people, because having to deal with all the ‘congratulations your pregnant!’ coupons is just plain cruel.
ugh. I chose surgery for my ectopic partly because I wanted to get unpregnant, fast, (and partly because I was pretty mad at that fallopian tube, and I guess I showed it who was boss). These transitions are awful, like having to figure out what to do with someone’s mail after they pass away. I hope you get to cycle again, soon, but usually there is some frustrating delay and I hope yours is minimal.
Oh this makes me mad. I wish they handled this stuff better – our clinic does a good job of all this, the nurses deal with all the labs and so you don’t have to talk to the tech other than to make sure you are who they think you are. I’m so sorry.
Oh honey. I’m so sorry. If there’s one thing the medical establishment is damn good at, it’s rubbing salt in wounds.
Oh, that really sucks.
That seriously sucks. I am sorry.
OMG, how awful. I had 3 miscarriages and never had to fill out pregnancy paperwork. Although my blood work for dropping hcg was done at a lab, not at the RE’s office so the paperwork was somewhat behind the scenes. I’m so sorry. Fingers crossed you can cycle again soon.
Ugh. Can’t they just send you to the blood lab, and fill out the paperwork themselves?
Seems like science hates in-betweens. But in between is where we live most of our lives.
Big hugs.