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Sounds like good news on the elbow.
Not so good on the hemoglobin count. Does your system respond to iron pills? Has anybody found out why your system isn't picking it up from your diet? Do you know if a dietary change will help? Have they determined where it's all going yet? Have them take care of your heart: it'll want to enlarge in an attempt to get what hemoglobin it has to work with to the various body parts. (Ask me how I know this one). It can enlarge itself right into a heartattack due to insuffuciency./trying so hard to get everything oxygenated. Be sure they're watching it.
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The hematologist asked me not to take the iron pills until he gets all the test results back. I do respond to the pills, but in May, they had to give me a series of five iron infusions. My S-I-L says they're good for about 6 months. The CT scan was to determine if there were any problems with my liver, spleen, or pancreas, as well as the intestines. One of the blood vials was sent to the Air Force's Genetics Lab in Mississippi to determine if I have a mutated gene that prevents the absorption of iron from my food. He said it's a possibility worth investigating. I've tried to add a bit more red meat to my diet, though not every day. I need to start working at getting motivated enough to grab a spinach salad every so often, though if I'm not absorbing iron, it might not do me much good. At any rate, it can't hurt.
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Well, it's a start. Hope those results show up soon.
Might want to try to add kale, cabbage, broccoli and/or beets (and that spinach) to the diet, rather than overload on the heavier red meat thing. If previous tests have shown that iron pills improve the count (a "plastic" response" a good thing), then there's systemic absorption. Retention is the thing they're after then. I'd be interested (idly curious) to hear what the special genetic testing shows.
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Hope you feel better soon Joe
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I moved to Virginia in August and still haven't replaced my computer, haven't checked in for months,
a quick note from the phone to say I'm alive and hope everyone else is well. Caught up on Joe's saga, sending good wishes for a resolution to the anemia.
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*waves in nighthawk's general direction*
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Thank you!
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Another CT scan this morning. The radiologist said he didn't need contrast, so no IV. I go back to the medical center on Friday to first pick up my watch/fitness tracker that I left in the CT scan room, and to get a blood draw for the hematologist for iron, and for the rheumatologist for the things he wants, including a Humira antibodies test. We might be taking me off the Humira and switching to another biologic. He's asking me to research Xeljanz (oral), Orencia (injection), Actemra (injection), and Anakinra (injection). The Anakinra is an every day injection, the other meds are taken every 2 weeks.
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Colonoscopy and endoscopy this afternoon. Prep didn't go as planned, and I hope he can still do the procedure. Damned solution is a 2-part solution, part 1 is "mango flavored" and I don't like mangos, and it wasn't down more than a half-hour when it came back up. The second part tastes much better, but I still get queasy, but it stayed down. I just want to get this out of the way, I haven't had solid food since Saturday evening.
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Toes crossed it can all go as planned.