Evening ruddynorah (my meetings are finally done!)
I had a mole in 2000. It's quite a way back now (and pushed into the dark recesses of my memory if I'm honest) so this may take a while. Hope this is not TMI
I had been bleeding on and off for about 3 months (VERY unusual) before I went to the doctors in June of that year. The doc examined me and noted my uterus was swollen on one side then sent me off to the local BEP clinic.I had a pregnancy test there which proved positive (they thought about 3-4 months gone) and then had an internal scan. There was nothing in the uterus except a black shadowy area. I was booked in for a D&C and then went on holiday . If nothing was in the post on my return, then the tests would be normal and I?d have nothing to worry about.
However, greeting me on my return home was a letter saying there was signs of a hydatidiform mole (another name for this problem). Another hospital visit and a second D&C ? hurrah I thought, everything?s ok now. BUT ? not to be. A further pregnancy test was still positive. So I was referred to Sheffield (I think one of three specialist hospitals in the UK along with Charing Cross and one up in Scotland).
A molar pregnancy (or trophoblastic disease) is caused at the point of conception ? the male chromosomes either kick out the female chromosomes (no foetus) or render them inactive (partial foetus). The body thinks it?s pregnant and the respective hormone levels increase; the normal reading (i.e. when you?re not pregnant) should be zero. When I had various tests done in Sheffield, my reading was around 11,000. (I did hear of cases where the readings were hitting 500,000!!!).
Most cases (around 96%) can be resolved by D&C however, as in my case, the tumour had grown into the uterus wall so even a second D&C didn?t shift it. I went to Sheffield as an in-patient at the end of August / beginning of September 2000 and had a number of tests done including full abdomen scan, x-ray and head-scan (just to make sure it was only in my uterus ? thankfully it was). I had 3 months of chemo (intramuscular so I had less severe side effects and I didn?t lose my hair) followed by 6 months of blood-test follow-ups at Sheffield, then 5 years of 3-monthly urine tests and got the all-clear Feb 2006. They advised I didn?t TTC for about 12 months.
It?s great that you?ve caught this early as it is VERY treatable this way. I won?t go into the details, but there was a woman in the hospital while I was there who hadn?t known she'd had the tumour for over 25 years. It wasn?t pretty.
Don?t worry yourself too much ? although that?s very easy for me to say now ? your bleeding could be caused by all manner of scenarios? I bled almost constantly from the three months prior to diagnosis (most of it was like yours, the old brown stuff) up to about 2 months after the chemo finished ? the chemo was still working fabulously as my hormone readings were coming down a treat. I was told this was ok and nothing to worry about. If you?re at all concerned though, call Sheffield ? the staff are fabulous (including Professor Hancock? very busy man but truly cares about this field of medicine).