While molar pregnancies happen to plenty of people, and while I'm a little disappointed that it's being exploited in this particular tabloid, which is in all senses of the word a "tabloid" and known for dramatizing situations like this in a way that makes them seem like alarmist impossible grotesque one-time instances that could never happen to anyone ever in the real world (this of course can happen - to anyone - and I wish it was approached with a little more civility), I think it's good to shed light on this condition publicly notwithstanding that the story does a questionable job of describing the condition. For example, it shows a picture of a 7-or-so month pregnant belly with a caption describing how the woman's uterus expanded with her molar pregnancy just like a normal pregnancy.
I have been shocked at the number of people in my own circle of friends who have never heard of a molar pregnancy. In a striking example, one of my friends is 1) a new mom and 2) has two OBGYN's in her immediate family (her dad and sister) and she had never heard the word before I mentioned it as a possible self-diagnosis. Blissful ignorance at its most blatant.
Sometimes it seems as if there is an effort being made to sweep the problem under the rug, so people don't have to hear about it. I read on some website recently that if a molar pregnancy happens to you, the best thing to tell family and friends is that you simply "had a miscarriage and need to do some follow up work" because the details of a molar pregnancy and its treatment are far "too complicated" for normal people to understand. Seriously? Hard to hear, yes. Horrific and scary, yes. Hearing about a molar pregnancy is a total downer, probably no one would disagree. But too complicated? Come on.
My thoughts go out to this woman, I'm glad her story turned out the way it did. And it did my heart good to read the comments following the story, lots of women can empathize...lots of women with subsequent successful pregnancies.
14 years ago
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