Inconclusive results…aka non-issues
I had a weird morning. It started with a phone call at 6:00 AM. It took me a second to remember I was still in Oregon and that it wasn’t too strange to be getting a phone call that early considering it was 9:00 at home. It was my doctor’s office. They wanted to discuss some test results.
This is never good news. You never have a doctor call you at home to say, “Congratulations…everything looks great! There’s nothing wrong with you.”
A few week ago I was scheduled for a first trimester screening which included a Nuchal Translucency Screening and a Quad Screening. The doctor told me that since my insurance covered both of these tests I should have them done. I scheduled the appointment and on the day of the NTS appointment I had some scheduling conflicts. A friend of mine is an OB nurse, so I asked her what the test was for (I knew it was an optional test.) She told me that the NTS is an ultra-sound that will help the doctor assess the risk of Down syndrome and other abnormalities in the baby. She said it’s controversial because there are quite a few false positives which just creates extra stress for the mom. She also asked me, “What is knowledge?” If I know that my baby has a risk for Down syndrome what would I do about it? I wouldn’t terminate the pregnancy…that goes against everything that I believe. It would give me a couple more months to read up on raising a Down syndrome child. (I ended up canceling the NTS because of the schedule conflict and I went and had the Quad Screening done at a lab last week.)
Yesterday I ran into another nurse friend of mine. She is a NICU nurse and the conversation turned to age and pregnancy. I told her that I didn’t want to have any more pregnancies after the age of 35, so if we wanted another baby I would have to get pregnant within six months of having this one in order to miss that cut-off. I was only joking, but she asked what my fear was. I told her that I didn’t want to have an amnio…that freaked me out. She reminded me that the amnio is optional and then asked me, “What is knowledge?” Again…knowing that there may be some “abnormality” with my child won’t change my desire to love it and care for it and raise it to the best of my ability with God’s help.
This morning when I heard the doctor tell me she wanted to discuss the test results with me I knew what she was going to say and in my mind I heard both of my friends ask me, “What is knowledge?” My doctor told me that my Quad Screen came back positive for Down syndrome. She did proceed to tell me that the results aren’t 100% conclusive and that I needed to go see a specialist who will consult with me, perform an ultra-sound and then do an amnio so that they can get a better picture of what was going on. To me the positive results are “soft.” I’ve learned that there are “hard” results and “soft” results. Hard results are 100%…soft results are inconclusive and don’t worry until more tests are done. I wasn’t given a reason to worry.
When I got off the phone with the doctor, one of my favorite verses ran through my head. Ironically it was a verse that I heard quoted at church yesterday. “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:6,7
About 20 minutes later I got another phone call. Somebody from my doctor’s office noticed that the lab had worked out the test results based on me being 16 weeks pregnant when I was really only 13 weeks pregnant at the time of the screening. She called the lab and asked them to re-work the results and they weren’t able to do that with the sample they had. So, she told me that she’s going to hold off on making the appointment with a specialist because they want to do the Quad Screen again. She said that could make a big difference in the results. So, I go back next week and have more blood taken from my body and we’ll just wait and see what happens. This may just be a little glitch…a hiccup in the process.
But, I’m not going to stress. There’s nothing to stress about. The peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard my heart and mind.
