Karen's Story

My name is Karen and today is the first anniversary of my surgery to remove my fallopian tube that had burst.  My story starts in April of 2000. I was still on the pill, but life was hectic and I missed a couple of days. Subconsciously, I think I did it on purpose. I had just turned thirty, so I guess I felt my clock was ticking. I skipped my period for the months of May and June. I took a home pregnancy test and it was negative. When I didn't get my period in May, I stopped taking the pill, because I didn't know if the pill would hurt the fetus if I was indeed pregnant. I finally made an appointment with my doctor near the end of June. He also performed a pregnancy test and determined that I was not pregnant. My period was never regular when I was off the pill, so we concluded my body was adjusting to life after the pill and I should get my period soon. Well, he was right.

A week later I started to bleed and continued to bleed for four weeks with some cramping. The last time I missed a couple a pills, I had my period for three weeks. I saw nothing wrong with this. The only thing that bothered me was wearing a tampon. It was painful to insert. My girlfriend is a medical assistant and she thought is was normal considering the doctor said I wasn't pregnant. We went to NY for the weekend, a week before the surgery, and did the tourist thing. We discussed the problem and I will never forget what she said. "Well it can't be an ectopic pregnancy because you would be in some much pain, we wouldn't  be walking through NY". I finally went to the doctor again on Tuesday, July 25, 2000. The bleeding had stopped, but since I made the appointment I figured I might as well go and see if anything is wrong. The doctor did a pelvic exam and felt that something was wrong. He then sent me to have an ultrasound and a black mass appeared on the monitor. The technician and doctor didn't know what to make of it and he decided to administer a pregnancy test to rule that out.

I guess I don't need to tell you the results, but I was told I was pregnant and it was in my tube and it had burst. I was then told I would have emergency surgery to remove the tube and to check if there was any damage done to the other. I was sent over to the hospital and had the surgery the next morning (July 26, 2000). I never even had a chance to think of it as a baby before it was gone. I sometimes blame myself, wondering if I had gone to the doctor sooner I could have saved the tube if not the baby.
Then I blame the doctor for not catching my pregnancy sooner (he used a home pregnancy test and now if I think I'm pregnant, he does a blood test instead).

Well, like I said in the beginning, today is the anniversary of the operation and I am feeling depressed. If the pregnancy went it's full course, my child would be four months old. I try not to think like that, but today, after beginning a week late, I got my period. I thought I might be pregnant but I guess I have to keep trying. It's been a year I am starting to feel like it's a hopeless cause. I'm considering fertility drugs but I don't want to to subject my body to the side effects and possible complications, such
as ovarian cancer. When my mother was 34, she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer and had to have a hysterectomy. I have just turned 31 and scared that it will happen to me before I can have my children. The only thing I can do is keep a positive attitude and after reading some of the success stories feel a ray of hope.