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Something is messing with my blood. My medical team are not exactly sure what it is. So, for the time being, I've decided it's a goblin -- because it's a gobblin' my hemaglobin, and that sounds more fun than "cancer".
Those of you following along for the past few weeks will know that my counts have jumping up and down like a yo-yo. It started after my one-year-post-transplant check-up — I couldn’t seem to recover from the day of tests. I was constantly tired, headachey, and puffed out from shorts bursts of walking, and as a result I had to drop out of the 5km run which I’d spent 12 weeks training for.
My blood work showed that my hemoglobin (an important component of red blood cells), levels were dropping. My doctor thought it was caused by one of the drugs I was on, and took me off the drug. To keep an eye on the counts, I had to go back to having weekly blood tests.
Four weeks after stopping the suspected culprit, my counts are still dropping. This afternoon my lovely nurse practitioner called to let me know that this week’s results were low enough that I’ll need another bone marrow biopsy on Monday, and possibly a transfusion. My doctor is not too concerned about a relapse at this point, given that my last biopsy was only a month ago and came back completely clean, but she’s not exactly sure why I’ve stopped producing hemoglobin.
Monday will be my 11th bone marrow biopsy in 16 months. I still have pain from the last one - whenever I sit for too long I get a sharp and uncomfortable pain in my tailbone. It’s alleviated by standing and walking, but, thanks to the low hemoglobin counts, I get tired from too much movement. It’s a fun game of balancing pain and fatigue.
Thankfully it hasn’t been too debilitating. I’m not bed-ridden, and I’ve even managed a few days of work this week! It's just frustrating to be feeling exhausted and headachey all the time.
I’m hoping my medical team are able to figure out what’s causing this current dip from the biopsy. In the meantime, hemoglobin goblin, be gone!
Those of you following along for the past few weeks will know that my counts have jumping up and down like a yo-yo. It started after my one-year-post-transplant check-up — I couldn’t seem to recover from the day of tests. I was constantly tired, headachey, and puffed out from shorts bursts of walking, and as a result I had to drop out of the 5km run which I’d spent 12 weeks training for.
My blood work showed that my hemoglobin (an important component of red blood cells), levels were dropping. My doctor thought it was caused by one of the drugs I was on, and took me off the drug. To keep an eye on the counts, I had to go back to having weekly blood tests.
Four weeks after stopping the suspected culprit, my counts are still dropping. This afternoon my lovely nurse practitioner called to let me know that this week’s results were low enough that I’ll need another bone marrow biopsy on Monday, and possibly a transfusion. My doctor is not too concerned about a relapse at this point, given that my last biopsy was only a month ago and came back completely clean, but she’s not exactly sure why I’ve stopped producing hemoglobin.
Monday will be my 11th bone marrow biopsy in 16 months. I still have pain from the last one - whenever I sit for too long I get a sharp and uncomfortable pain in my tailbone. It’s alleviated by standing and walking, but, thanks to the low hemoglobin counts, I get tired from too much movement. It’s a fun game of balancing pain and fatigue.
Thankfully it hasn’t been too debilitating. I’m not bed-ridden, and I’ve even managed a few days of work this week! It's just frustrating to be feeling exhausted and headachey all the time.
I’m hoping my medical team are able to figure out what’s causing this current dip from the biopsy. In the meantime, hemoglobin goblin, be gone!
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