Wednesday,
April 29, 2015
#revivinghope
Natural Killer Cells...it
sounds like the film title of a B sci-fi
/ horror movie that might air at 2:00am on a Tuesday. Now normally a movie like
this would be my guilty pleasure but since I might be filling the starring role
it doesn’t sound so thrilling.
Last
week after I met with my fertility doctor to discuss and schedule our final IVF
attempt I reached out to the acupuncturist they referred me to. I finally
decided to call her today and we had a very enlightening and productive
conversation.
I
explained that I wanted to seek treatment for recurrent pregnancy loss as I
struggle through the next round of the Hell Olympics (IVF). She asked me if my
doctor had tested me for elevated levels of ‘Natural Killer Cells’….dun dun
dun. What in the world is a NKC I asked. NKC which occur normally in the body
can cause a condition where in the body mistakenly attacks the embryo / fetus
as if it were an invader. It can lead to poor blood flow, lack of nutrition and
interference with implantation and early miscarriage. Another way to look at it
is the NKC looks at the embryo as a foreign body like it were a cancer or life
threatening disease and attacks.
Treatment
options:
-
Low
doses of IVIg (whatever that is, thank you internet for not explaining) two
weeks before anticipated transfer continued through week 12 or week 30.
-
And
in some cases and intralipid infusion(s). Which will constitute a ½ day at the
clinic hooked up to an intravenous line.
I
will clarify by saying that I have not been tested but I have reached out to my
doctor requesting the uterine biopsy to test for the NKC.
Meanwhile
the good news is that the acupuncturist (EMG or eastern medicine guru) can
treat the side effects of the hell Olympics so maybe this time it won’t be so
bad J. I will be going
in for my first treatment next week on May 6th and I look forward to
meeting the EMG face to face. We really clicked over the phone so I am hopeful
that this is the right path for me. Who knows maybe I will be able to get Chris
to see her too for his Kidney failure.
On
another topic altogether…this past weekend my co-workers and I spent the day
volunteering at the Hearts Alive Village Las Vegas a local 501c3 dedicated to
rescuing animals and placing them with suffers and survivors of domestic abuse
and veterans. If you have time to read their bio it is well worth it. Between
our engineers, front office staff and vendors we were able to revamp their
newly leased retail space and turn it into a dog and cat adoption center. When
I got home on Saturday I called my parents to relay the day’s events and as I
was recounting our efforts it put into perspective my life. I am so grateful
for the opportunity to give back and to help change lives. I am so grateful
that I have a job and insurance that will pay for a portion of IVF. Not every
woman has that luxury. Some couples have to save and wait for years to make IVF
a reality.
A
vendor and newly formed friend of mine and I were talking about this today and
she reminded me of the story of the boy and the starfish. If you are not
familiar with the story it goes like this: One day after a storm had passed
through a local beach community a boy was seen walking on the beach picking up
starfish and tossing them back into the ocean. A man came by and said to the
boy there are thousands of starfish stranded on the sand you can’t possibly
save them all, you can’t possibly make a difference. The boy lifted up the
starfish he was holding and said, it makes a difference to this one.
We
all have the opportunity to help create positive change in the world. If we
just step outside of ourselves for a moment we can be the change we want to see in the world (Gandhi).
Amanda
& Chris
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