APAS and Immunophenotyping Cost at PGH

I am an APAS (Anti-phospholipid Antibodies Syndrome) case and I thought of posting the charges and cost at PGH to have your blood tested if you are positive for APAS.

For those who are trying to get pregnant or having difficulty because of miscarriages do not lose hope, there is a way medyo expensive nga lang pero worth it naman. Everything for the baby, right?

Here are the names of the test and the costs:

1. APAS Anti-phospholipid Antibodies
autoimmune problem - treated with aspirin or low does Heparin. I am
positive for Activated Partial Thrombo time so I am taking aspirin. You need to take this test twice to see if the medicine works, if it doesn't work you may need to inject yourself with Heparin? (not sure)

(cost of test at PGH, 4,500)

This test includes:
Lupus Anticoagulants ( values /results)

1.Kaolin Clotting Time
2.Activated Partial Thrombo Time
3.Dilute Russel Viper Venum Time

Anti-Cardiolipin Antibody (ACA)
4.lgG
5.lgM

2. Reproductive Immunophenotyping
auto-immune and can
also detect leukemia, test for natural killer cells also has a role in
promoting cell growth in the placenta, so if ever you have this, there
will be a problem with the cell growth
(costs 4,500)

3. ANA (Anti-nuclear Anti-bodies) If you are positive
with this your placenta has a tendency to weaken and inflamed.
(cost 2,000)

4. ATA (Anti-thyroid Antibodies)
I'm also positive for this so I have to take prednisone, it has been studied that this can be a cause of infertility because it can cause a thickening of the endometrium based from my research not from my Immunologist.

(cost 1,500 - 2,000)

On Aswang, Tiktik and Pregnancy

Do you believe in these creatures? Well I'd like to, because of what happened to me when I had a miscarriage. That was before when I learned the result of my APAS test. Weeks before I had my miscarriage, my husband told me that he heard loud wings flapping outside of our house and it was collaborated by my sis-in-law who was also pregnant at that time. Of course, I was scared, I couldn't sleep for a while, and I keep on watching the windows for some telltale sign of the "aswang".
My sis-in-law has a third eye and she could feel and see spirits. I believed her in some ways. So when I had the miscarriage and we couldn't explain it in any ways, we blamed the aswang. When I got home from the hospital, two days later, it was my sis-in-laws turn to bleed and was rushed to the hospital. Again, blame it on the aswang. So what did we do, we tried to contact spiritista and bought buntot page (stingray's tail) in Quiapo. I have two buntot page in my room located at the windows, my sis-in-law has a very large and long buntot page by her window. It is 5 feet long, and my father-in-law would swing it in the gates, windows and doors at 6pm everyday. That was when we were still blaming the aswang.
We have holy water and believe me, yes believe me, we have crushed garlic in our windows too! Until today because I am still in my two months period, supposedly I smell good to them.
Sometimes when I come home at night and I was the first to arrive in a dark house, I would hear the dogs doing their "ahooo" awoooo", and I will not get out of the house until someone arrives.
But now, when I know my APAS blood test result my miscarriage was caused by my blood clotting and cutting the air, nutrients and blood supply to my baby. If this continues, the baby will not survive three months that's why I have to take aspirin to help in some ways. Tomorrow, I am due for some more test and hopefully aspirin is all I need to keep my baby alive. Whew! so goodbye aswang, it never hurts to believe in you anyways.