Dracula wouldnt want anything to do with me....

Life is nothing but interesting & full of adventure, right?

Adventure can totally be used in loose terms here, but hey, its all how you look at it.

I thought I'd give an update on my latest appointment with the hematologist that I went to 2 weeks ago.

First of all, did you know that most hematologists you go see, they are in cancer centers, which is sort of disturbing when you get phone calls & paper work in the mail from local cancer offices.  Sitting in that waiting room & seeing all the people all around you, it makes you take a breath in & realize everything you're going through - aint so bad. & your heart breaks for those who look weak & sick, & smile at the ones who you can tell dont feel good, but keep smiling & chatting & laughing through it all.  Heart tug just sitting in the waiting room.

I mentioned before, but I really did enjoy my doctor. She was very thorough & made me relaxed to be with her.

She gave me a lot of information, but basically told me that I am 2150g LESS in hemoglobin than I should be.  No iron in my body basically.  & she said if you take an iron table every day, you are lucky to get 1g of iron from it each time with the way it processes in the body - so basically, I will NEVER catch up on getting my hemoglobin raised up on my own.

She did all the math right there on the table to explain it all to me... hands on class right here....

So what do we do?

Well, she told me that I would have to do some iron infusions. I thought I would have to do one.  Nope - I have to do FIVE!!!! One every week for 5 weeks!!!!

The bad thing, they are like 2 hrs long & then they have to watch you for an hour - which, um, freaks me out - watch me for what??? Do you all know me? My mind is racing & I'm doing everything I can to stay away from Google to tell me it's impending doom to do this.... with my luck anyways....

But they wanted to schedule me during the week & I'm like - hello, I have a job. No way can I take over 3 hours a week for a lunch.  They were like, "cant you take a longer lunch?" & I'm like, maybe ONE time but for 5 weeks? I dont think so.

So I thought this chapter was closed.... but the doctor was adamant & telling me that this is really bad. Especially when they found out I had other levels - like my Ferritin - which I've learned is like the proteins in your blood that hold iron - mine is like non existent.

it's crazy to look up side effects of this & they are:
*Ringing in ears
*Dizziness
*Shortness of breath
*Leg Pain
*Unexplained weakness
*Unexplained fatigue
*Headaches
*irritability .... which I just thought was a side effect of marriage

The doctor told me that I'm so used to feeling bad, I forgot what it feels like to feel normal. PREACH Dr. PREACH!!!!

They have since found me an infusion center that does chemo treatments on the weekend that I now will be visiting every Saturday.

If you need me for the next five Saturdays, I'll be hooked up to an IV bag, sitting in a chair.  This is going to be a long five weeks.

I thought I'd take my yarn & knock out some projects I'm working on, but not sure if I can swing my arm around a lot with a needle in it.... so I'll also be stopping at the library & picking up some books - especially since the Readathon has taught me I can basically get through a 300 page book in 3 hours.

So that's where we stand with my blood....

I also have an appointment today with my colorectal surgeon to discuss why pain is still so strong. They had sent me for a CT scan a few weeks go & they called me freaking out - which freaked me out - to tell me that there was a mass in my uterus.... I was all like, "calm down - that's old news"... just add that to the list of things I need to get taken care of.  Which ironically, my doctor for that had called that same morning to schedule a follow up to see if its grown any over the past few months.

Let me tell you - getting older is not for the weak.

So, if you think about it - can you lift a prayer for some good results with these infusions?... & that no weird side effects occur.... & that the 3 hours fly by every Saturday... especially five weeks feels like a blink.... & that God just leads me to meet some incredible people over the next few weeks.

Watch me come out of this feeling like I can tackle the world... that would be a change. One I'll take.