Chan Legacy

I got Daddy to talk to Dr Chin on the phone, since he couldn’t accompany me for my next visit.  I wanted him to tell her that we “insist” for her to do my op.  But she still thinks it is better for me to do it at SGH for safety sake.  BUT I really don’t want to go to SGH, so I frantically searched online for any doctor who specialises in high risk pregnancies.

I made an appointment with Dr Paul Tseng at TMC.  Then when i searched further, I found Dr. T.C. Chang!

This morning, I desparately called their clinic, and asked for an appointment.  The nurse who spoke to me, asked me about my case, and said that she needed to ask the doctor first before calling me back.

I was like sitting on needles! 如坐针毯！I was worried that he wouldn’t accept my case cos it is so high risk.  When she finally called back and gave me an appointment at 12noon, I was SOOOO happy.

We went to TMC, his clinic is WC Cheng & Associates, and the wait was not too long before we got to see him.

He came across as very professional and cool, he asked me several questions before doing a detailed scan for me.  His chair for me to lie on for scanning is so comfy, the monitor is hung up on the ceiling, so I could see the entire scan very clearly just by looking up.  There is an arm chair next to me for the hubby to sit back and look up at the monitor as well.

During the scan, he measured the baby’s growth, he mentioned that the baby, even though is about 34 weeks, her size is like at 32 weeks.  Quite a small and petite baby.  At this stage, she is barely 2kg.

Then he started to scan my placenta.

He mentioned 3 things about my placenta:

1) I have placenta previa type 3, which is low lying placenta, totally covering the cervix, the worst type of placenta previa.

2) I have placenta increta, which means the placenta’s blood vessels had invaded into the uterine wall muscle.

3) From the scan, it looks like there are some reflection on the placenta blood vessels on the bladder surface, which means placenta percreta.

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He then sat us down, and drew some pictures to illustrate my case.

He said that the following complications and possible outcomes exist:

1) from the scan, the blood vessels seemed to reflect on the bladder wall, which means the plane of the placenta and the bladder had become one, not distinguishable.  In order to remove the placenta or the uterus, he will need to push the bladder away.  The blood vessels will all spontaneously start to bleed, like multiple holes in a tank, trying to stop one, but the flow will start coming out from another hole.  So he will need perform INTERNAL ILIAC ARTERY LIGATION, to tie off the main blood artery supplying blood to the womb.  He likened it to turning off the main water switch, rather than trying to stop multiple taps. But even then, haemorrage is still expected, he will cross match me with 4 units of blood.  But he said that his previous case, 3 mths ago, needed 15 units of blood.

2) Due to the possibility of PLACENTA PERCRETA, which can only be confirmed upon the initial incision, to actually see if there are blood vessels invading the bladder, there is a likelihood of bladder damage, thus will need to perform BLADDER REPAIR.

3) If all else doesn’t work, the last resort will be to perform CAESEREAN HYSTERECTOMY, ie to remove the entire womb, but leaving the ovaries intact, so that I do not experience menopause.

He said it is a team work, he can’t do it alone.  But good thing is, in his clinic of associates, there is a gynae who has a skill in tying off blood vessels.  Another gynae has the skill in repair bladder.  He will do the c-sec and the hysterectomy.  All 3 doctors will be operating at the same time, cos TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE in this case!  So he is able to handle my case! We were SOOO glad to hear that, and we can see that he is calm and composed about it.

So since we were worried about emergency bleeding, so we wanted to have c-sec done on Hari Raya 10 Sept 2010, but Dr Chang said it is too early at 35.5weeks, and baby is petite, so abit too small.

So we got his understanding to reserve a time for us on 24th Sept 2010, week 37.5wks.  He also said that it is not wise to go beyond 38 weeks.  So barring unforeseen circumstances, like emergency bleeding, baby will be born on 24th Sept!

We were asking if the baby gets bigger, will the chances of bleeding be higher?  But he said it is not due to baby size, it is just a spontaneous event.

He is going to see me once a week to closely monitor my case.

After the appointment, there was a visible relief on both of our faces, because YEAH! Somebody is willing to take up my high risk case, at such a late stage of pregnancy!  And he seemed confident about it, and he can gather a team to do it!  And TMC allows us to book the OT timing in advance so that we have some predictability!

So happened, after the appointment, we found out that there was going to be a maternity ward tour in 10 minutes, so we joined in to tour the facilities.  And I must say, their recent renovation had been fantastic and great timing!  The rooms are all soooo nice!  Much better than Gleneagles!  And we both felt comfortable delivering in TMC.

I just want to give God all the thanks!  For showing us the light at the end of the tunnel. Thank you God!