Things Take a Strange Turn

To continue on from the summer of 2017 forward into the Fall I am going to try to describe what was going on leading up to a supposed stem cell transplant that I was taking all these tests for to make sure the rest of my body was running like it should leading into this major life change.

Still taking transfusions I was noting that my hemoglobin was dropping quicker. My white blood cells were really low. One of the immune fighting white blood cells is the Neutrophils. The minimum reading is 2.0 to 7.5. My reading jumped between 0.1 and 0.2 only with some bloodwork results showing 0. Yes just 0 and my total WBC was below 2.0  when it should have been at least 4.0 to 11.0.

So with the constant sniffles I was getting those soon spread to my chest. I had pneumonia in September and ended up in the hospital for the first time of what was many visits over the next couple of years. Walking around with an oxygen tank was a new thing for me. I had another bone marrow biopsy to bring things up to date as to my condition heading into the stem cell transplant which looked like it was going to take place in the New Year now.

Meanwhile my gut seemed to be getting bigger and because I was afraid to catch a germ and get sick spent my whole time looking out the window day after day.

Then in late October we went to Juravinski Hospital to visit the doctor in charge of getting me a stem cell transplant. She came in and broke the news. Now I was not going to have a stem cell transplant because my blood results did not call for it. I couldn't be diagnosed with anything that would warrant one. In other words no transplant because without a firm diagnosis the board would not pass it. I guess it was not urgent enough either. There were others who were more serious than I was and had maybe a few weeks or even days left to get their transplant before it was too late. That I understood but why couldn't they just decide on this outcome sooner?

She said she would pass on the news to the hematologist in Kitchener and then added what she was confused about and did not understand was with my immunity as low as it was usually people normally catch a germ and get sick and die within 3 months! With me she said it was strange that my body fought off colds etc. and bounced back. There had to be something working but wasn't sure what it was. That was sort of like hearing I had 5 years to live from my hematologist on my first visit unless I had a stem cell transplant. So what now?

So here I was with that to think about then she added the spleen has to come out.

Well at least that was a decision finally made to do something. After all these years hearing that my spleen was enlarged it was a logical way to go I thought. So we said goodbye and walked out thinking that was our last trip there.

We saw the hematologist shortly thereafter and you could see the bewilderment in her eyes. She was convinced this was a slam dunk. She said she would be contacting a surgeon who would discuss the splenectomy with us. She didn't really agree with this decision thinking that the transplant would have cured everything. But I sensed the spleen was no good and was causing the problems. I thought it was a good call. The spleen is like an oil filter on a car. It is for cleaning the impurities in the blood before it hits the liver but non-essential. Although it was better to have one as opposed to not having one.

Tomorrow I talk about the splenectomy and the infamous meeting with the surgeon before the big day.