Health

So, it’s been a while since I have been inspired to write anything in my blog.  For a long time, as my regular readers know, it was Oprah who would move me to write.  Since she has gone off regular daytime TV, my writing has slacked off.  But, at least for today, I am back.

And what has moved me today is good new from my recently acquired Hematologist!

It all started in mid-December 2011.  For whatever reason I started thinking about how long it had been since I had a physical and I decided to go visit my primary care physician.   My thoughts started roaming toward the fact that it had been 15+ years since I had seen my doctor for any reason.  The last time was for a sprained ankle. 

Yes, I do see on a regular schedule my dentist, eye doctor, dermatologist, gynecologist, etc.  But they only check out very specific parts of my body, not the entire thing…as a whole.  So, I made the appointment.

I have often thought of how blessed I am with extraordinarily good health.  I suppose in part I can blame that on my Mother.  She passed at 89, was never sick a day in her life even though she was a regular smoker and paid little attention to her health until her later years. 

I cannot thank my Father for my fine health.  He had ongoing issues all his life and even though he did make it to 86, it was only by the skin of his teeth!!!

So, while I did not expect to learn any negative news, I thought it was probably time to visit the doc and get checked-out.

Surprise, surprise…my lab work did not come back as expected.  The Doc called and asked me to come back in and have my Platelets and Potassium retested.

One week after that she called and told me I needed to see a Hematologist.  My Platelet count was way too high…dangerously so and could trigger either strokes or heart attacks.  

So, days later I was sitting in the examining room of a Hematologist.  I liked her immediately, sort of an Earth Mother type which appealed to me.  After a brief few minutes of getting acquainted she got down to business.  She let me know that she was pretty sure I had something called Essential Thrombocytosis…which in regular speak means my bone marrow is making too many platelets. 

ET, as it is commonly referred to, is a spontaneous mutation at the gene level of your bone marrow.  There is no known cause, but it can be genetic.  Brought to mind the many times my Dad talked about his ‘thick blood’, would love to see his medical records now, just to compare.

She explained that in her world this was a very common ailment.  She wanted to do further blood work to rule out any other possibilities.  And that I needed to come back in two weeks.

Today I was back in her examining room.  She confirmed her diagnosis.  Weirdly, my platelet count was back down in the normal range so she did not prescribe medication, just an aspirin a day for the rest of my life, unless the platelet count climbs again and stays there.  Then we move on to medication.  So I have lab work done monthly and see her quarterly until she is convinced that my counts are stable. 

The moral of the story… your body keeps all kinds of secrets from you.  In my case there were absolutely no symptoms of any kind.  I could have gone on indefinitely with a dangerous situation lurking in the shadows of my biology.  By shear coincidence I thought it was time to see the doctor.  I was extraordinarily fortunate….this could have been leukemia or any other number of very serious blood diseases…instead it is something I can easily live with. 

So I think from here on out, I stay in touch with my doctors and maybe not assume that I am healthy.

How long since you had a complete physical??