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Poor Ol' Rooster

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Annrc
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#751

Post by Annrc »

;) hoping no back hoes involved. Chocolate, yes! Good luck with the a1c.
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#752

Post by Foggy »

Umm ... apparently bad news, the doctor did mean to call at 4:30 a.m.

I have a 'critical' level result on my blood test, either hemoglobin or hemo-something-or-other, but basically she told me I don't have enough blood, but my cat accidentally clawed me the other day when I was doing the monthly Kitty Spa Day and I certainly had plenty of blood then.

So she said red blood cells. Yeah, I knew that. :blackeye:

Anyway, the new plan is:

1. Go in again mañana to give a second sample of blood, just to make sure.

[Side story: Last week I was at another doctor and the nurse had one a them newfangled machines, and she tried to tell me, "Your blood pressure is 152 over ..."

"WHOA, LADY. :talktothehand: Stop right there and redo it, because that's not my blood pressure and you're not writing that in my chart."

Sometimes they make mistakes, even when they're trying to do the right thing.
]

So I get a do-over. And if I get the same result, then

2. I get an endoscopy and a colonoscopy in the near future, because I might be bleeding internally somewhere. But she thinks whatever it is, we won't have to put off shoulder surgery in March.

Image


She said the measurement - whatever it is - went from 40 to 20 since November. But here's the thing: Nothing has changed in my life since November. Not my diet, not my weight. I haven't changed any medications. Nothing has changed in the bathroom. Or the kitchen, or anywhere.

I can't think of anything significant at all that has changed even a little bit since November, so :shrug:
Some things are simply too fast, or too relentless to avoid. Like the North Carolina rain.

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#753

Post by RTH10260 »

Insufficient red blood cells? Go vegan - Go spinach ;)
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#754

Post by Foggy »

I eat spinach! And broccoli, and Brussel sprouts!

... but maybe not enough. I certainly won't suffer if that's the instructions I get, after she figures out what's going on. :biggrin:

But let's see if it's a false alarm first.

Until then, I'll continue with the weed, whites, and wine, umm ... I mean covfefe, chocolate, and Cabernet-Sauvignon umm ... let's just say my usual diet.
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#755

Post by AndyinPA »

Always go for second tests. It was a while ago, but they ran a blood test on my husband and called and immediately wanted to run an invasive test for whatever it was they found. I said run the test again. Normal. Good luck.
"Choose your leaders with wisdom and forethought. To be led by a coward is to be controlled by all that the coward fears… To be led by a liar is to ask to be told lies." -Octavia E. Butler
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#756

Post by Foggy »

Oh man.

Now the doctor says she misspoke yesterday. I don't have too little blood, I have too much. Red blood cell count is elevated, white blood cell count is elevated, platelets are elevated. Too much blood.

"But Doc, I don't have high blood pressure! Isn't it like hydraulics, you put too much in the system and the pressure goes up?"

"I don't know what's going on, but it's dangerous. If your second blood draw has the same results, I need to send you to a phlebotomist (sp?), but we'll never find one today, so I'll send you to the Emergency Room to take out about a quart of blood. Are you good with that?"

"I guess I don't have much choice, do I?"

Remember, I left my last doctor because he did 13 blood draws in 3 years, and I got tired of getting stuck with the needle, even though I get stuck with needles a lot.

So here I am, I had a blood draw two days ago, another one this morning, and she wants to send me to the ER to take ALL my blood (a quart is 20% of your total, or should be).

My life is so exciting. :blackeye:
Edit: Apparently, a flea bottomist spends time looking at the gluteus maximus of certain small insects. :?

For immediate measures, she directed me to:

1. Stop taking iron supplements. I already took it for today, but I won't in the future.

2. Start taking baby aspirin a/k/a low-dose aspirin (I forget, it's like 85 milligrams vs. 155 in a regular aspirin). I have those, took one.

Ol' Wifehorn did some research and helpfully diagnosed me with incurable cancer. I think I'll wait for the doctors, we don't even have results on the second blood draw yet! She has helpfully diagnosed me with brain tumors and all kinds of stuff in the past. But she got her medical degree in a box of CrackerJack, so never mind.


But anyway, yeah. Too much blood.

I always told y'all I was a red-blooded American male, and now I'm a little too red-blooded.
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#757

Post by RTH10260 »

You may want to start a new hobby, like raising these friends ;)
leech.jpg
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#758

Post by Foggy »

Hay yeah, leeches! Leeches are peaches! (That one resembles a :pickle:)
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#759

Post by neonzx »

Too little blood. Oh wait, no, too much blood!

The two statements by Doc were not even in the same ballpark nor sport.

I think sometimes they just wing it. Sounded good in the moment.

Their is a song about only the good die young. Sounds like an easier way to go but I must not be good.
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#760

Post by Foggy »

Yeah, one of the anthems of my wayward youth said, "Hope I die before I get old!"







I changed my mind about that. :boxing:

.
Edit: Besides, who even knew there was a difference between high blood pressure and too much blood? Maybe they should just send me to the Red Cross. :think:
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#761

Post by sugar magnolia »

It's called polycythemia vera and I was diagnosed with it shortly before I started chemo. The chemo fixed it right up and I wound up in the hospital twice for low (non-existent) blood numbers. Hope you can find a happy medium.
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#762

Post by Foggy »

Ack. :eek:
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#763

Post by Foggy »

sugar magnolia wrote: Wed Feb 01, 2023 1:01 pm It's called polycythemia vera ...
Which is exactly what ol' Wifehorn discovered in her research. That's why I said :eek:, because she was right and I was doomed, DOOMED, I tells ya! (I'm not up for chemo this week. :shock:)


Until the doctor called back just now and said it was all a huge mistake, my blood levels are all normal, maybe a little low on red blood cells but that's why I take supplemental iron. The machine had a glitch. Now we gotta cancel the backhoe, ol' Wifehorn had a lovely spot picked out under the old hickory tree. I'm back to being a wretchedly old geezer who's getting major surgery next month. In 48 days, not that anyone is counting.

And darn it all, now I don't get to go spend 6 or 11 hours in an ER, waiting to get them to drain a liter of blood out of me. I was looking forward to that. :liar:
Some things are simply too fast, or too relentless to avoid. Like the North Carolina rain.

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#764

Post by AndyinPA »

Yay! Exactly what happened to my hubby. :thumbsup:
"Choose your leaders with wisdom and forethought. To be led by a coward is to be controlled by all that the coward fears… To be led by a liar is to ask to be told lies." -Octavia E. Butler
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#765

Post by RTH10260 »

Foggy wrote: Wed Feb 01, 2023 3:03 pm :snippity:
Until the doctor called back just now and said it was all a huge mistake, my blood levels are all normal, maybe a little low on red blood cells but that's why I take supplemental iron. The machine had a glitch. Now we gotta cancel the backhoe, ol' Wifehorn had a lovely spot picked out under the old hickory tree. I'm back to being a wretchedly old geezer who's getting major surgery next month. In 48 days, not that anyone is counting.
:snippity:
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#766

Post by Foggy »

Whoa, I feel like I just got a reprieve! The governor called at the last minute and said, "Don't pull the switch, it's the wrong rooster!" :o

I was gonna have to go give a liter of blood in the ER, which would be a little nightmare all its own. Then a colonoscopy, an endoscopy, maybe a few other surgeries to round things out. Then a hematologist and godonlyknows what else kind of doctors until they figured out what was going on, or ... or planted me in the back yard.

Instead, ol' Wifehorn and I are gonna go walk. I got a new lease on life. :towel:
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#767

Post by Kriselda Gray »

Foggy wrote: Wed Feb 01, 2023 3:03 pm And darn it all, now I don't get to go spend 6 or 11 hours in an ER, waiting to get them to drain a liter of blood out of me. I was looking forward to that. :liar:
Well, damn it all. I know how much you wanted to experience that and I'm really sorry it was nothing more than a cranky machine :(.



(Glad you're ok & can still get your surgery on time! :lovestruck: )
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#768

Post by Foggy »

Kriselda Gray wrote: Wed Feb 01, 2023 3:51 pm Well, damn it all. I know how much you wanted to experience that and I'm really sorry it was nothing more than a cranky machine :(.
Yeah, well after a visit last June, I know what to bring to the Emergency Room in order to survive in relative comfort.

A thick wool blanket, they keep the waiting room at a steady 40° F., same as your refrigerator. Pillows, you're gonna be there a while. A canvas camping cot, those chairs are really uncomfortable for sleeping. Kindle, I could maybe read a whole book in a sitting.Toothbrush, soap and shampoo, towels, :towel: Snacks, gummy dildoes, vanilla creamer, all the things that make life worth living. :biggrin:


But now I don't get to impress the intake desk people with all my preparations. They usually get really excited when I pull out the tent and start drilling holes for the tent stakes, and bring in a few coolers full of beer. I don't even drink, it's for the staff! :batting:
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#769

Post by Kriselda Gray »

Foggy wrote: Wed Feb 01, 2023 4:38 pm But now I don't get to impress the intake desk people with all my preparations. They usually get really excited when I pull out the tent and start drilling holes for the tent stakes, and bring in a few coolers full of beer. I don't even drink, it's for the staff! :batting:
:rotflmao: :rotflmao: :rotflmao:
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#770

Post by Foggy »

In all honesty, that was a miserable 30 hours, because the effect of being told there's something seriously wrong with you is no fun.

Remember, after I did the blood draw on Monday, they called me at 4:30 a.m. yesterday to tell me about it. I don't answer the phone at that time, unless it's my sister, which means something happened to my dad. They called back at 9 and said I had a 'critical' result and I needed to get back in to get it re-tested, and did I mind if they scheduled me for a colonoscopy and an endoscopy?

And even though it was all a mistake, the effect is psychosomatic. I spent all day yesterday trying to decide which part of me was legitimately dying, and could I feel anything ... off? And then this morning the top doctor at the shop called to make sure I was coming back, and then my doctor called and asked if it would be okay if I went to the ER and gave them a liter of blood, and by the way, take some baby aspirin so you don't have a stroke or a heart attack while you're shopping for groceries, OMFG! :eek:



... but in the end, it was all just a dream.

I love happy endings! :thumbsup:
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#771

Post by Annrc »

:shock: oh my! Never a dull moment. You might now need therapy.
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#772

Post by pipistrelle »

13 blood draws in 3 years isn't much. I get a minimum of 4 a year, more if something is off.

The machine likely spit out a lot of errors. That could have been what helped them figure it out.

Polycythemia vera is "very rare."

Yannow, just like you wouldn't take legal advice from a rando online or a website, you might not want to look up symptoms to self-diagnose unless it's a common condition (e.g., I know what a torn meniscus is but I get it checked out in case it's a different but similar knee thing).

Ol' Wifehorn was probably measuring the pine coffin under the backyard tree and checking out dating sites. Just saying.
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#773

Post by humblescribe »

Foggy wrote: Wed Feb 01, 2023 3:03 pm
sugar magnolia wrote: Wed Feb 01, 2023 1:01 pm It's called polycythemia vera ...
Which is exactly what ol' Wifehorn discovered in her research. That's why I said :eek:, because she was right and I was doomed, DOOMED, I tells ya! (I'm not up for chemo this week. :shock:)


Until the doctor called back just now and said it was all a huge mistake, my blood levels are all normal, maybe a little low on red blood cells but that's why I take supplemental iron. The machine had a glitch. Now we gotta cancel the backhoe, ol' Wifehorn had a lovely spot picked out under the old hickory tree. I'm back to being a wretchedly old geezer who's getting major surgery next month. In 48 days, not that anyone is counting.

And darn it all, now I don't get to go spend 6 or 11 hours in an ER, waiting to get them to drain a liter of blood out of me. I was looking forward to that. :liar:
Foggy, they should have removed all those Theranos blood testing machines years ago. Next time y'all better discreetly inquire about the manufacturer of their equipment.
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#774

Post by Foggy »

Ol' Wifehorn can't help doing medical research on the internet, when she's worried about me. She is actually pretty good at it. Sometimes.

And yeah, when she started talking about diagnoses and treatments and causes and like that, I did mention that I was going to wait for the results of the second blood draw before I started listening to any of that. It's a standing joke in this house that she got her medical license in a box of CrackerJack®.

But this time she thought she had me, because she reached the same conclusion, based on the same evidence, as our own Sugar M, who actually had polycythemia vera before.

So while I was saying, "Wait until the second results come in," she was giving me that knowing, superior smile that said she had figured it out completely, and I would have to catch up sooner or later. (I never did.)

But I was worried, because my doctor was worried. She was talking about all kinds of drastic solutions, just to find out why I was suddenly dying. But I just wasn't going to jump to some diagnosis before the doctor, so I wasn't really panicking at all.

Anyway, Numbah One Son thought it was hilarious. Remember, when they were little and got a cut on the finger, I'd say "You'll probably be dead by morning." :roll:

Only this time, it was a doctor telling me I'd be dead by morning.

See? Hilarious. :rotflmao:
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#775

Post by RTH10260 »

Your estate can always sue the doctor for this or that - it's the Land of the Free ;)
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