Woman, 57, thought she had cancer - until doctors told her she was 30 weeks pregnant.

[Mugu]

By BETH HALE and HELEN WEATHERS

A woman of 57 with suspected ovarian cancer was in fact expecting her first baby.

Susan Tollefsen feared the worst when she was sent to hospital for a scan on her growing bump. But the sonographer told her: "Congratulations, you're almost 30 weeks pregnant." She will become one of Britain's oldest mothers when she has a caesarean section next week.

The remarkable story, which she describes as an Easter miracle, follows-several years of attempts to have a baby by IVF treatment at foreign clinics.

snip

Referred to hospital as an emergency after a physical examination by a private GP had revealed a "hard abdominal mass", she had been bracing herself for the worst. Clutching a paper with the suspected diagnosis "Ovarian Cancer?????" on it, she burst into tears as she waited for a scan.

"I was lying on the examination table thinking, 'I'm going to die' when the sonographer turned round to me and said 'Congratulations'," says Susan. "My initial reaction was to think, 'What a terrible way to tell me I've got ovarian cancer'. When he then said, 'You're pregnant' I was literally speechless.


Complete article a:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/femail/article.html?in_article_id=541608&in_page_id=1879&ICO=FEMAIL&ICL=TOPART

[SoCalDem]

1. She didn't wonder what all that kicking was about

:rofl:

great news for her...

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

2. I'm 57

and can't imagine anyone my age wanting to have a baby, especially for the first time! Kudos to her, though, because it is something she obviously wanted.

[1monster]

6. I'm 52 and I gave up trying at 35. I gave birth to my first (and last) child at 36... I can't

imagine wanting at baby at my age or even ten years younger. Caring for a baby, then toddler, then preschooler, elementary schooler, then pubescent, now adolescent was/is totally exhausting.

My kid never slept through the night... up every two hours for the first three years, then two or three times a night. Finally, when he started kindergarten, it was two or three times a week at night. Now as a nearly 16 year old, he is usually up unitl midnight to three a.m...

I've been tired since the day he was born... and she is going to start this at 57! I hope her kid has more regular sleep patterns. :D

[shanti]

18. i'm 52 also

and my youngest is almost 18 (2 more months - woo hoo!). that said, i could never ever ever ever - consider or imagine having a child at 57. the very thought exhausts me! my oldest is almost 31 and was a piece of cake compared to raising a teenager in your 50's. thank god, i've gone thru menopause, so that chapter is CLOSED!

:hi:

[Ilsa]

11. Had my last at age 41 almost nine years ago.

Knew it would be my last. It was exhausting. As much as fertility work has been a help for so many couples, I also wonder about the wisdom of pursuing it beyond a certain point. But I will be happy for this woman and her partner.

[tool_of_the_people]

16. I'm with you!

We played host this weekend to some out-of-town guests, including a 2-1/2 year old and a 1 year old. I'm 55 and I got tired just watching them run around let alone having to have to take care of them.

Better her than me.

[BlooInBloo]

3. Questions about woman-stuff...

(a) You can theoretically potentially get pregnant until menopause, right?
(b) You know when menopause has taken/is taking place, right?

[SoCalDem]

4. If one takes hormone treatments, all bets are off

:)

[Mz Pip]

7. Sometimes

the 'pauses' last for several months. She might have thought she was done but wasn't.

[Ilsa]

8. Menopause isn't necessarily a

known-certain date. A woman beginning menopause can go a number of months without a period. There is supposed to be a corresponding cessation of ovarian activity, meaning ovulation and hormone production. A woman isn't considered to be finished with menopause until she has not had a menstrual period for at least a year, IIRC. Decisions regarding birth control, hormones, whether to continue a pregnancy, etc, can be problematic at this age.

I'm surprised her body has been able to sustain a pregnancy at her age. I guess the hormone treatments kicked her hormones into high gear if she can not only ovulate, but sustain the pregnancy.

I am happy for her, but I wonder about the genetic health of the baby, and her overall health. The risk for Downs Syndrome is pretty high at her age, IIRC.And chasing young children isn't for everyone in their late fifties and early sixties.

[1monster]

9. Menopause is the cessation of menses. Ergo, theoretically, when one stops having

a monthly period, one is in menopause.

However, there are many reasons a woman could have an interruption in menses without being in menopause.

Doctors generally tell their patients to wait one year after their last period before considering themselves in menopause. And even then, that is not a full-proof method of determining menopause.

So, a woman might believe that she is menopausal, but not be.

[BlooInBloo]

12. Thanks all!

[Tesha]

20. (a) Yes. (b) Not necessarily.

(a) You can theoretically potentially get pregnant until menopause, right?

Yes.


(b) You know when menopause has taken/is taking place, right?

Not necessarily. Periods (and therefore ovulation) can
become irregular and so, somewhat unpredictable. Also,
if you're taking "the pill", the whole event can go by
and you're still having the regular, pill-induced periods.

Tesha

[undeterred]

5. You've got to wonder why nobody ran that test.

Years ago my mother had a friend who was 34 and went into the hospital for a hysterectomy- she supposedly had a "mass" in her uterus. She was 8 months pregnant (and yes there was a tumor also) but they didn't figure this out until they cut her open. So they sewed her back up and she delivered vaginally a month later. IDIOT doctors. They hadn't run a pregnancy test.

[Ilsa]

10. Yeah, but they run pregnancy tests on

little ten year old girls "just to be sure". So much for applying critical thinking skills.

[MiniMe]

13. When I had a hysterectomy, they ran a pregnancy test on me

Even though I told them that it would have been an immaculate conception if I was pregnant. :rofl:

I think it is normally done, depending on the hospital policy. In a 57 year old, its not the first thing that would come to mind.

[undeterred]

14. But still, you ask.

They ask when you have dental xrays. These days, you never know. My mother didn't go through menopause till she was 56...

[shanti]

19. wow

that sounds like a lawsuit!

[Ms. Toad]

15. It is really scary

that a woman who has undergone IVF notices her abdomen is growing and doesn't even mention to the gynecologist (who for some reason doesn't know about the IVF) that she might be pregnant. Sorry, but bleeding doesn't necessarily mean miscarriage. If you've been undergoing the not terribly pleasant process of IVF, you ought to be a little more alert to the possibility you might be pregnant - if you're not, I wonder whether you are competent to be a parent or a teacher (her profession), according to the article.

It would have been one thing if she were just having unprotected sex at a time when she thought she had been through menopause to not think of the possibility that a growing abdomen might be a pregnancy - but she had been actively trying to get pregnant.

[XemaSab]

17. "Gee, I had all these IVF treatments, haven't had a period in 7 months, and

now I have this MASS growing in my abdomen. What do you think it could be?" :shrug: :crazy: