Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Cystic Fibrosis

I got the news yesterday that I am part of the only 3% of the population that is a symptomless carrier of the cystic fibrosis gene. This was a real shock to me given that it is nothing I had ever heard of or thought about.

Now my husband has to be tested (which he's doing today) and, if he is a carrier as well, our baby will have a 25% chance of having CF. This has totally freaked me out. I knew nothing about CF until I spent way too much time yesterday Googling it. It isn't good. I'm praying hard that his test comes back negative (of course, we have to wait several days for results). AHHH!

The fact that I am part of a 3% minority in that area and that I am RH-, which makes up only 15% of the population, and infertile, which is another minority population, I'm starting to have some serious worries about myself! I'd sure like to be common for once!

11 comments:

  1. With CF being so very rare... it is very uncommon to find the mom and dad both being CF carriers! I hope that is true in your case (as in you are not a rare combination of both being CF carriers). I have come across only 1 blogger, where both of them were carriers and they opted for PGD. I am surprised they never tested you both during the IF workup initially... I thought it is a norm to check for it!

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  2. I hope that the wait for the results goes more quickly than you expect and that you get the results you are hoping for.

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  3. I am hoping that while you might fall on the wrong side of the stats, hubby does not. It would be very rare indeed if you both were positive, so let's just pray for being the majority, for once.

    Fingers now crossed for you until the news comes in.

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  4. I think it's pretty unlikely that your DH will test +ve as well. CF carriers who are men can present with congenital absence of the vas deferens, which you know your DH doesn't have.
    But if he does test +ve, maybe they can tell you what mutations you both carry? Some forms of CF are very very mild, so much so that people aren't picked up until they're in their 40s or 50s because they get recurrent bronchitis. Other forms are much more severe.
    If he does test +ve, would you do an amnio to test the baby for CF?
    Sorry you have to deal with this right now. Why did they test you in the first place?

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  5. I'm so sorry and I also hope your husband is negative. I am also RH negative, infertile. . . and for some reason I wouldn't be surprised if I'm also a carrier.

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  6. I'll be praying for you, your husband and that sweet little cashew! I'm sure that everything will turn out just fine.

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  7. Thinking of you and hoping that your husband's test comes back negative. It sounds like there's a good chance that it will.

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  8. I'm hoping and praying that the test comes back negative!

    My SIL didn't know she was a carrier of it either until she had her first baby. She has two great boys.

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  9. Why can't the odds be in your favor when it comes to the lottery! Geesh!

    I know it has to be scary, but hopefully everything will turn out just fine.

    Prayers coming your way.

    :)

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  10. that is a bummer but i bet your husband's not a carrier. they do have some really amazing treatments for cf these days but i don't think it's going to be an issue for you.

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  11. Just want you to know you're in my prayers. I hope you will soon have good results that will settle your fears.

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