My recovery was slow and with many bumps along the way. I developed several complications post-op: insomnia from the anesthesia, a thrush infection from the medications during surgery, and GI difficulties from the medications given for the thrush. I was able to return to work a little over a week later. While I had more post-op pain, this time, I slowly began to feel like myself again over the next few weeks.
The doctors continued monitoring my HCG levels once a week expecting them to steadily fall until they were <5, which assures that the rest of the miscarriage process was progressing well. Unfortunately, that isn't what happened.
Three weeks after my surgery, my HCG rose pretty significantly, which means that there are still some remaining pregnancy cells were still attempting to replicate. The doctors were very clear with us that this did not mean that the baby was going to be okay; instead, this was actually very dangerous. The only place the remaining cells could be was in the part of the tube that crosses through the uterine wall. If it continued expanding there, it could rupture my uterus, which would be very painful, dangerous, and would lead to a major surgery.
Our doctors were strongly suggesting that I get an injection of methotrexate (a small dose of chemo). This drug would target the fastest replicating cells in my body, which was the pregnancy cells that were attempting to replicate. The injection was designed to be a non-invasive way to help the miscarriage process continue. If it didn't work, we could try the injection one more time or we would be facing another more invasive surgery.
We had been given the injection as an option with a previous ectopic pregnancy, Hayden Promise, and we fought very hard to avoid using it. However, with very different circumstances, we felt at peace with going forward with this option now. I had the injection the next day, and we waited and prayed for the 15% decrease that they needed to see.
Our next HCG test was 3 days later, and there was a lot of confusion in relaying the results to us. Our regular nurse was on vacation, and a different nurse called saying that my HCG had gone down. When I asked for the amount, she told me a number that was higher (1399, after our last result of 1365 ). She panicked and called the doctor. She eventually called back to report that she meant to say that this result was considered a plateau. They were hoping the 15% decrease would happen by our next blood draw or we would have to intervene again.
We took another blood draw a few days later, and thankfully it decreased by more than the needed 15%. We were so relieved, and finally felt like we were coming out of the woods. After this point, my recovery took a few more weeks, but went very smoothly.