March 31st
I went to my scheduled appointment with Dr. Ward. I had figured that he was going to order more blood tests and start trying to figure what kind of infection I may have.
Instead, he really threw me a curve ball and told me that because my lymphocytes were what was high (part of the white blood count), he was going to send me to a hematologist! Not just a hematologist, either, but a oncologist hematologist. And I don't know about you, but I certainly know what the word "oncologist" means! He and I also talked quite a while about the many things it could be - Epstein-Barr, Chronic Fatigue, Lymphoma, Lymphatic Leukemia, just to name a few - which is why he was not comfortable doing any more testing himself, and so it's off to the specialist.
As soon as I got out to the car, I called and made an appointment. Since I wanted to go over by Clermont Mercy Hospital, the first open appointment was April 18th. They wanted to get me in within a week, but I assured them that urgency wasn't necessary. This is more exploratory at this point, to try to figure things out, and a 2-week wait was okay with me.
Now, during this 2-week period, I did plenty of research. I researched high white blood count, and all of the 'diseases' that Doc had mentioned, and then I researched any others that came up while doing this research, including Hodgkin's and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma(s), so I felt that I was pretty well informed when the time for the appointment came. I also asked my friend Bert to come to the appointment with me, just for an extra set of ears and eyes, as well as a brain, to digest the information and possibly come up with questions.
April 18th
I felt ready for anything the hematologist would tell me. I knew what I thought would be the best thing to have - Chronic Fatigue - and that if it was anything worse than that, I would have to deal with what it was and deal with it then. I just needed a diagnosis to start from.
The day came, and the appointment went about as I expected. They first drew blood to compare my blood count with the one from March 25th. It was almost exactly the same, which, I suppose, was a good thing. As the doctor came in, I was surprised to see how young he was (I guessed early 40s - ye gods, I'm getting old!), but that's neither here nor there. We did the pleasantries, then got right down to business. He explained things very well, and he also said a lot of the things that I had read in my research, so it wasn't new to me. As the visit went on, he had me get up on the table so he could listen to my heart and all that, as usual. I told him about the lumps on my back that I thought were sebaceous cysts, but Ron, Doc, and Dr. Shiff couldn't feel them, and he tried to feel them, too, and could not. He also pressed up and down on my spine and I couldn't help reacting when he got down at the degenerated disc. I had told myself not to move, not to move, but it didn't matter - my body just jumped. Then I had to explain about the fall, the broken back and the degenerated disc, arthritis and all that. That part was frustrating!
We continued talking about all the what-it-could-bes and he said that he was pretty positive that it was asymptomatic Chronic Lymphatic Leukemia, after listening to my answers to his questions and looking at my history and my blood counts and all. He will have to do a couple more blood tests to be positive, but that is what he is thinking. That was my second 'guess,' so I was rather relieved to hear him say that instead of anything else. It would have been nice if he had said Chronic Fatigue instead, but - not to be.
He ordered his blood tests, and they took my blood, and this visit is over. I will come back in 2 weeks to get the results, and, hopefully, my final diagnosis.
We go out to the car. I let my close family and friends know the news (the second best of the worst news!), and Bert and I go to lunch.
We went to Longhorn and I was good - I had one of my almost-perfect salads!
Now
Chronic Lymphatic Leukemia. They used to call it "Smoldering Leukemia," because there is nothing to do but watch it. You, the patient, are asymptomatic, and they can only treat symptoms. As long as there are no symptoms, you are "fine." They will just keep an eye on you. If the white blood cells overwhelm the red cells, they will give you a transfusion of red blood cells. That's it.
TO BE CONTINUED...when there is something to tell!
