Ectopic Pregnancy Treatment

My hCG levels have continued to rise, so despite another inconclusive ultrasound, my OB was confident that I have an ectopic pregnancy and the best course of action was immediate treatment.  Surgery was not an option since she couldn't tell where the egg had even implanted.  Treating with an injection of methotrexate, which is essentially a cancer drug, is the best option, even though I'll need follow-up testing and additional doses if the first one doesn't work. 

I was hesitant to immediately pursue any sort of treatment though.  If the egg hadn't implanted where it was supposed to, how could it even survive?  It just didn't make sense to me. I felt like immediate treatment had to be unnecessary.  But that's the unfair part about an ectopic pregnancy I learned.  The egg usually continues to grow despite no chance of long-term survival and the fatal risk of eventual rupture.  Even though I wasn't in pain, "wait and see" was not the recommended approach.

So I could put my options in perspective, I asked my doctor what happened to women with ectopic pregnancies "back in the day."  Before ultrasounds, doctors had no way to detect an ectopic pregnancy early on, she explained, and they were usually diagnosed when a woman showed up in the emergency room with severe abdominal pain and then they were treated with emergency surgery.  Before the era of modern surgery - women often died.  Chris and I appreciated her bluntness. I opted for the injections of methotrexate.

Before I could start on the methotrexate, I needed another blood draw to test my liver function, so Chris and I went out for lunch while we waited for the tests to come back. It's rare Chris and I have a quiet meal together, just the two of us, and I appreciated even more having that break in between what was hours of waiting, prods and pokes and consultations with doctors and nurses.  We talked about how frustrating it is to come so close to what should have been a healthy, complication-free pregnancy and how sad Chris is about not having more biological children when he thinks about what great kids Oliver and Soren are.  I sometimes feel like I'm throwing in the towel too early, but my heart just isn't in it anymore. 

As much as I'm looking forward to moving on, I need to focus in the immediate future on getting better.  With a prescription of Zofran on hand in case I become nauseated, I'm taking it easy the next couple of days and am keeping my fingers crossed this round of treatment is successful.