Terri's Story

My name is Terri and I had an ectopic pregnancy. I had surgery on April 19, 2001. I did not even know I was pregnant. About a week prior (on April 10) I had my yearly exam with a new doctor. He preformed the usual pelvic exam and there was some discomfort. He said it was because my uterus sits backwards, and left it at that. I did inform him that I was sexually active and not taking any form of birth control. I am 28 years old and have been in a long term committed relationship with one man for 1 1/2 years. We will be married someday, but no plans as of yet. I have never had any kind of health problems, and my periods were so regular you could set a clock by them. My last period before this exam was on March 9, 2001. He asked if there was any chance I could be pregnant. I answered "yes", but that I had not missed a period. He did not discuss any future method of birth control, but he felt that since I was not using anything that I should take pre-natal vitamins. This visit was very short, it seemed as if he was in a hurry. He never did any kind of pregnancy test, and I did not think to ask for one. I started bleeding the very next day, 2 days earlier than I was supposed to start my period (I have long cycles), and very light (which is unusual for me). I just thought that I started my period early. After 5 days (the normal length of my period) the bleeding did not stop. I bled for 3 more days and was in great pain from cramping. The bleeding was very heavy. I knew something was wrong.

On Wednesday night, April 18 at about 7:00 P.M., I could not take the pain any more and the bleeding scared me. I called the emergency exchange number and this new doctor called me back. I explained in detail what was going on. He said that the bleeding could be from having a long ovulation and the pain was just cramps. He then told me to keep taking Advil every 4 hours and if the pain does not go away in 2 days to call him on Friday. I cried because he made me feel foolish, as if nothing was wrong. By 11:30 that night, I could not take it anymore so my boyfriend rushed me to the ER. The ER doctor preformed a pelvic exam, inserted a catheter and took a urine sample. Soon after the nurse came back and told me that I was pregnant. I felt sudden joy and within the same few seconds I was terrified. She told me they believed it was an ectopic pregnancy. I had no idea what that was, or what that meant.  They then sent me for an ultrasound, both externally and internally, which was very painful. Before any results could be explained to me, I was rushed to another hospital where emergency surgery was performed.

Another doctor was called in to perform this surgery. I declined to have the first doctor called due to him telling me to just take Advil. I was kept in the hospital after the surgery until Friday afternoon. Before I left, the doctor who preformed the surgery stated that they believe it was an ectopic pregnancy, but they could not find the "baby." Also they had to remove my left fallopian tube due to excessive bleeding. He said that they tried to save my tube but for unknown reasons it would not stop bleeding. It has been 2 weeks today since the surgery and I am still confused. I saw the doctor who did the surgery for follow up yesterday. He did a pregnancy test because he was baffled at not finding the pregnancy, he thought it might be attached to my uterus. Well, it was negative, and he believes that my body flushed it out. He still could not explain why my tube bled so bad and could not be stopped. I am not very good at asking doctors questions, I do not know what to ask.

Now that I sit here recovering, my mind is racing. Was it an ectopic pregnancy? Why did the first doctor not pursue tests to see if I was pregnant? Which I was.  Did the pelvic exam hurt something? I can't help but feel as if the first doctor did something wrong. If he had done a simple pregnancy test, then went on to find it was ectopic, could my tube have been saved? What would have happened had I listened to the first doctor and waited 2 days? I just don't know. I have no other children and it scares me to think I will have a hard time conceiving in the future. I feel kind of alone. It was such a shock. My boyfriend feels hurt, and confused also. I am scheduled to see the doctor who did the surgery again in 2 weeks. Any advice you have would be appreciated.  Thanks.