Today I had an appointment at the recurrent miscarriage clinic to get the results of the extensive tests I’ve gone through lately. We wanted to find out if my miscarriages was down to my AS (ankylosing spondylitis) attacking the babies, if I’m just being punished by some higher force or if there was something else going on in my body that we didn’t know about. It was the latter.
It turns out I have APCR (Activated Protein C Resistance) and FV Leiden (factor five). Basically it’s a bloodclotting disorder. Our blood is full of platelets. Protein C is supposed to latch on to the FV platelets and stop them from coagulating. If you have APCR this process doesn’t work as well as it should giving you an increased risk of heart attacks and other not very healthy problems. FV Leiden means there’s a mutation in your FV making the spot where Protein C is supposed to latch on defect. In other words: my Protein C doesn’t work as well as it should, but even if it did it wouldn’t be able to catch them little buggers anyway. Which means I’m more likely to get DVT and other interesting clotting problems that in a worst case scenario could cut my life a little shorter than I’d like it to be.
So, the doctor ordered an immediate action plan to make sure I don’t expose myself to increased risks of blood clots and heart attacks. No more coffee, no smoking (I’ve already quit but I do love my fags and can’t help myself sometimes), regular exercise, a stricter and diet (I’ve been on low carb for four years but have been slacking lately), and substantial weight loss. Also, for travel and other situations where the risk of blood clots is increased I need to take baby aspirin (75mg) to help make my blood thinner.
As for future pregnancies, he said I can still have a baby. It would mean taking heparin and progesteron throughout the pregnancy and being closely monitored throughout the whole period. The risks are higher, but he said he didn’t advice against it because he has seen enough examples of healthy babies being born by sick mums. I guess this means we need to sit back and think about this before we decide what to do.
Sporting my new shoes, I decided to walk back home from the clinic. John called me to get the news and as I related them to him he said we’d both quit coffee then and he’d take charge of the fitness regime. For this to make sense I might need to add that I live off coffee. It’s like petrol to me – it’s what keeps my engine going. And John, although he drinks a lot of tea, loves his coffee too.
Later in the evening while we were cooking, I told him there’s no need for him to quit just because I have to. But there’s no telling this man what to do and what not to do. He does what he sees fit. End of. He asked me if it wouldn’t make me feel better if we did it together and I had to admit that it would. Then he asked me if I didn’t quit smoking to support him when he needed to pack it in and I had to admit I did. And that was the end of that discussion. I tried to tell him I don’t want him to give up something he loves just because I can’t have it, but he was adamant that whatever we need to face we’ll face together. How could I not be madly in love with a man like that? =)
