Sunday, September 14, 2008

Medical Scare

We went for an OSCAR scan on the 7 August, which was a scan to see what the chances of our baby having Down syndrome are. I wasn't too worried as there wasn't any family history, but we went for the check anyway - just in case. So they drew one giant tube of my blood, which I totally hate, and gave baby a high resolution scan.

On the 4 September we went back to Dr Kee for the test results, so I asked for the earliest timing available, which was 9.45am. CRAP! We waited for almost TWO HOURS to see him! I was SO PISSED and FUSTRATED. What's the point of making an appointment right?? Later Cobby asked what's causing the delay and found out that Dr Kee came in an hour late that morning, so all the appointments were delayed. HMPH! ANGRY!

When we finally get to see him, we got some good news and bad news:

Good news: VERY LOW chances of getting Down syndrome *yeah (^^)Y *

Bad news: My blood test showed signs of Thalassemia

I was like, "huh? What’s that?" Before I had time to register, Dr Kee said that he had to draw some blood from me NOW to test for Thalassemia. On one side I was quite shocked at his urgency - So kan cheong till must draw blood himself on the spot? (usually the nurses do it)

On the other hand, I sort of panicked because I absolutely hated to draw blood. My stupid veins are very fine and drawing blood has always been a painful and difficult process for me as well as whoever was doing the drawing. :P

True enough, when Dr Kee saw my arms and my near invisible veins, he said "wah! did they have trouble drawing blood the other time?" So embarrassing..! So he wasted no time and decided to draw the blood from the back of my hand!!!

VERY PAINFUL OK...


FYI got blue-black the next few days...


Dr Kee said that my case is probably Thalassemia minor, which is not so bad, see, I grew up so big and healthy! Since it's inheritary, chances of baby getting it are quite high.

BUT! If Cobby has it too then baby could get Thalassemia Major, which is like, SUPER BAD. Baby would probably need MONTHLY BLOOD TRANSFUSION and would probably have a VERY SHORT LIFE SPAN. So Dr Kee asked Cobby to fax him his recent blood test result so that he can take a look. *CoCo going pale with scary news and blood lost*

How Thalassemia is inherited


When we left sis called me and I told her about the condition. I was still a confused what the hell is that and was a little freaking out. Then she told me not to worry as apparently she and Mom has it too! I feel a little better that I'm not the only one having it, but I was still worried cuz we dunno if Cobby has it or not.

Cobby knew I was super worried, so he quickly found his blood test results when we got home. Looks like his blood test results is normal! YEAH! PHEW~! So we quickly faxed over the report to Dr Kee. Suddenly I can breath better... Sigh~

As we surfed the web for more information, I realised that we should inform my brother of this inheritary blood disorder! It also dawned on me the importance of pre-marital checkups. I was advised to do so by someone, but I always thought that these checkups were for things like, HIV, AIDS, STD, etc. so I thought it's not necessary. I never thought of the possibility that either of us could have inheritary disorders that we didn't know of!

Thankfully Cobby doesn't have the same blood disorder as me. But what if he does? Does that mean I would have to abort my baby and never have a child? I can't imagine the horror... I guess these checkups are a good way to prevent possible pain and suffering of an innocent child.

So, planning to marry Mr Right and having kids? Better go check if the both of you are as compatible biologically as you are emotionally!

Anyway, Dr Kee came back with the results, but this time I was prepared for the news. Surprisingly, he said that the Thalassemia trait was so minimal in my system that they can't really determine if I have Thalassemia minor or I'm just a little anaemic (low blood). So, he prescribed me multi-vitamins with iron in it, then see how lah~

Oh man, the kid is not even out yet and is already causing me so much stress! But we're really glad he/she would be OK. Next check up in October - we'll check if baby is developing normally physically. We'll also find out if baby is a little prince or princess! Exciting!!!!

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