He called me that night with the test results, at around 7:30 pm. I was on my way to the grocery store to do some shopping. He told me that my blood levels (white blood cell, red blood cell, and platelet) were critically low, and that I would need to be admitted into the hospital that night for further testing. At bit worried at this point, I followed his orders and had my girlfriend drive me to St. John’s Mercy Medical Center. The doctor on staff ran through the gamut of what could be causing my abnormally low blood counts – stressing that we needed further testing. Very early the next morning, at about 6 or 7 am, I was awakened by another new doctor – an oncologist/hematologist named Dr. Mary Klix. She introduced herself, and then started talking almost exclusively about Leukemia. While I couldn’t get her to absolutely confirm that Leukemia was my diagnosis, she did say that she was about 90% sure. Further tests, especially in the form of a bone marrow biopsy, were necessary, she said.
The bone marrow biopsy was done on Wednesday morning. Thursday afternoon the results came back. I did not have Leukemia. I have Aplastic Anemia. As I write this, that diagnosis was 17 days ago. I spent 10 days in the hospital, 4 of which were devoted to my chemotherapy – ATG (Antithymocyte Globulin). Now I’m back at my apartment, continuing drug therapy (Methylprednisolone and Cyclosporine) and returning to the hospital’s cancer center several times a week for blood tests and transfusions as needed. How much more do I have to go? Weeks? Months? Years? Will this treatment need to be repeated? What about transplant? These are only a few of the questions I don’t have answers for. With time I hope to research and answer what I can, and minimize those questions for which modern medicine does not yet seem to have an answer.
UPDATE 3/17/2010: I now have a copy of my medical records. These are results from my first CBC & Platelets upon admittance to SJMMC. Click image to enlarge it.
