Updates!

I have some good updates and some not so good updates. First off, with the good! I went in for my third beta today and it is at 808!! That is excellent and they are rising perfectly! ALSO - the brown spotting has stopped since last friday! My doctor thinks perhaps it was implantation bleeding or progesterone. So alllll is good so far! I am 4 weeks and 2 days today - so this week is insanely crucial as I have never passed the 5 week mark except once.

  The bad...I got my follow up NK results and looks like my levels are still elevated. My doctor really wants me to do IVIg but I just cannot afford that! I have also done a lot of research as of late regarding NK cells/high tnf and I have learned that NK cells need to be determined through uterine scraping/ not by bloodwork. Because everyone has NK cells in their blood - it's normal! Anyway - without getting into too much depth with it all - I am not really convinced that the NK assay tests I've been doing are proving much. I tweeted to Dr. Braverman on twitter - and he actually responded to me. He stated if the levels are not done by serum - they are worthless. He said intracellular tests show and prove nothing. So I am at a loss. But after researching other women in the same boat as I am - they seem to get along fine with just a higher dose of prednisone. So I asked my doctor to up the dosage to 40mg a day. Which she agreed.

  So I will take 40mg a day to hopefully keep things suppressed enough to not interfere with anything. And by the grace of God - it will work. I am no doctor - and I could be taking a huge risk with all of this by "self diagnosing and self treating" myself through my own private research. But I just am not comfortable doing a blood transfusion treatment that costs a ridiculous amount of money and isn't guaranteed 100% to even work!! Maybe I am wrong - and if all goes wrong - I will give it a go next time. But I am praying in my gut that I am making the right choice by sticking with the treatment plan I am currently on - and by upping the steroid dosage. I guess we will see.

But enough of all that....I am taking this one day at a time. And today, things are POSITIVE. 808!!! Grow baby grow!!!!!