Dr Kanos was my gyno for several years. Maybe he's a good OB if you don't have any issues with your pregnancy, but I had a miscarriage & then nearly died.
I got pregnant in Jan of last year & went to see Dr Kanos when I should've been 6w4d. I let him know off the bat that I'd had a chemical pregnancy (a super early miscarriage) in the fall, so I was a little nervous. He said something to the effect of chem pregnancies not really counting. I thought that was a little insensitive, but they *are* super common & that had been our first try, so whatever. He does the u/s & I'm measuring over a week behind where I should be based on my last period. There's a gestational sac, a yolk sac, & he thinks a shadow of a fetal pole. So he takes a pic of the gestational sac (not even showing the yolk sac) & hands it to us. Uh, thanks. But again, whatever. Before he leaves, I ask if he's worried that it's measuring behind & he says no. I thought it was a little odd bc I track my cycles so I know exactly how far along I should be, but I figure he's probably seen this before. He's not worried, so I'm not worried. I now realize that he probably just didn't trust me to know my cycle.
The Thurs before Presidents' Day, I realize that all my symptoms have disappeared. That worries me, but I find a lot of women on pregnancy forums who mention that happening to them periodically during healthy pregnancies, so I decide to wait & see. Fri still no symptoms. I call & Dr Kanos tells me that women have good & bad days with pregnancy symptoms, it looks like I'm having some good days. After 5 "good" days, I make an appt, he does an u/s: no progression. It's over. My husband & I are crushed, but we get that these things happen.
I decide to wait to miscarry naturally since I wasn't that far along. He's fine with that and tells me it'll be like a heavy period. I'll need to come by every week for a blood draw until my hCG gets down to 0. Cool. Eventually I start bleeding. And it's really fucking painful. Three days in a row, it basically paralyzes me @ work toward the end of the day (yes, you can go to work during a miscarriage, especially that early; heavy period, remember?). On day 3, I make my husband call to ask if I can get some pain meds. Not so much bc I'm lazy, but bc it's really difficult to talk through that much pain. Dr Kanos asks to speak w/me and basically blows me off while I'm sitting there barely able to talk. He tells me to wait until our next appt (later that week). This is the third day in a row. At the appt he (finally) gives me a rx for percocet. I go home & continue bleeding. And bleeding. And bleeding. By the 4th week of this, I'm starting to wonder wtf is going on. At this point, I've been miscarrying for more time than I was actually pregnant (the first two weeks of pregnancy are basically a lie). I ask him what's going on & his response is "Maybe it's your period?" He literally said those words in that manner.
At this point I want to emphasize two things: 1) I HAVE NOT STOPPED BLEEDING, 2) HE'S been checking my hCG levels weekly. Two things to know about miscarriages: 1) you don't get a period until @ least 24 days after the bleeding has stopped, 2) you don't get a period until there's NO hCG in your system.
That appt was on a Thurs. The weekend comes and I am NOT okay. I'm getting lightheaded & tired easily. At one point Sunday, I ask my husband to find out where the nearest ER is just in case. But I make it & try to go to work Monday. (There's a big event coming up later in the week so I need to go in.) The walk to my train is four blocks. By the third time I had to stop & rest on my way there, I decide to go to the ER instead. I think I stopped to rest a total of 6 or 7 times. At the ER (St. Luke's, chosen specifically bc Dr Kanos is affiliated w/them), I find out that I've still got "products of conception" in my uterus. It's an incomplete miscarriage. This is a thing that happens. I also find out that my blood (count?) is 6. They tell me that during your period it can get down to like 12. MINE IS HALF THAT. That's why they take your blood every week during a miscarriage. TO PREVENT THIS SO YOU DON'T DIE. I get 2 transfusions & spend 2 days in the hospital. Dr Kanos is on vacation, but he gets a message that this has happened. At time of writing, he has still not followed up. He is not my gynecologist anymore.
Now I realize that I could've done some things differently here. I could've advocated for myself a little better. I could've asked more questions. But you know what? I was going through a fucking miscarriage. My second one in a row. If you've never been through a miscarriage, it's a fucking MISERABLE experience. I didn't want to know what my hCG levels were. I didn't want to know anything, I just wanted it to be over. And I trusted that my doctor was doing his fucking job. Dr Kanos may be great when nothing goes wrong, but he failed me big time. Find someone else.
In case you doubt my story: bit.ly/1o8lqv1 read more
