Pregnant or OVarian Cancer?
Hello everyone,
A bit long, but I need help in determining what is going on with me and hoping the extra details will help. I'm 40 and faced with two great possible extremes in life; whether I'm pregnant or if I have cancer.
Let me explain:
9th of April 2019 my cycle period ended... a few days after that ended I suddenly noticed strange irregular bleeding -- slight brown spotting discharge. I went in for an ultrasound about a week later on April 17th which showed a complex non fluid filled (solid) mass which they indicated was most likely a cyst, 4cm in size. Dr. didn't think anything of it being cancer saying it's very unlikely and sent me on my way to wait until right around this week (June 12) to have a follow up ultrasound. A day after that ultrasound (April 18th) I started full on bleeding for about 6 days resembling a regular cycle period, but more intense bright red than normal. This was about a week after my initial period ended, so extremely early for another cycle. Coincidentally (or not?) thinking that second bleeding was related to the cyst, I applied a castor oil pack to the area and all bleeding stopped the very next day.
Since that time I haven't had a period at all, BUT during that time I COULD have become pregnant with conception taking place around May 12-18.
May 23rd I had a scheduled gynecological appointment to meet with someone to discuss the cyst more and see where we would go after the ultrasound on June 12th. Before this meeting I had a sudden "epiphany" (call it God's will???) to take a pregnancy test. It came out super faint positive. I told this to the Dr who immediately ran a blood HCG and sure enough it came back positive with a low value of 10. All subsequent urine tests have become increasingly more evident that HCG is in my system.
Subsequent blood HCG tests are indicating rising values in the following fashion:
5/23/19: 10
5/28/19: 29
6/3/19: 61
6/7/19: 224
6/11/19: 618
6/13/19: 1016
Some of these earlier values were not "doubling" per every two days, but the subsequent ones are in range of 2-3 range doubling which under normal circumstances would indicate a pregnancy, but the doubling is indeed on the slower side about 65% increase per two days and 100% increase before 3 days.
Problem now is that I started spotting with strange brown discharge again last Friday 6/7 and it has persisted and gotten worse over the last week, but not full on bleeding. I'm concerned whether the original cyst has something to do with this, whether I'm pregnant even, or if not, then is it possible I've developed a malignant mole which is causing HCG levels to go up?? I do not want to do an ultrasound in case a pregnancy is in progress, so I can't currently find out via that method. I know some will ask why, but I have my reasons which I can explain at another time.
My main question is this:
Do malignant tumors which cause HCG levels to go up, do so following the same trajectory as a regular pregnancy would? or is that unlikely and it would follow a different pattern? The HCG's are not exactly "perfect" in doubling which is one of the concerning factors, but they are also not completely out of range to say it's definitely NOT a pregnancy.
Could anyone point me to any studies on the percentages of HCG rise in ovarian cancer if there are even any? Thank you everyone, I have no idea what I'm dealing with here...
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