To Where I am Today

To finish off my saga of the last three years I went from September to April 2020 without any transfusions but slowly the hemoglobin was not holding firm. It went slip, sliding away till it began hanging around 78 and I had to return to getting blood transfusions. I went for four in a row every other week.

I was finally given the official diagnosis by my oncologist as hemolytic anemia then when I talked to my family doctor she said I was missing one word autoimmune. So I have what is known as Autoimmune hemolytic anemia . You can click on it to know more. The oncologist added it was a non-hodgkin's lymphoma which is cancer but I prefer just to say I have an autoimmune disease. One thing for sure is I was told it is very rare which explains why it took all this time to diagnose.

So now that I know what I have it is a bit of a relief really. I looked up what I can do to help my cause because apparently there is no cure so I have to manage this for the rest of my life.

Well since I have been walking briskly each morning about a mile and a half, drinking lots of fluids, eating more granola cereal and fruit I think that has helped. I have to continue this on throughout the year not just when the weather is hot but during the cold winter as well. Also I am taking a Liver Support vitamin and Vitamin C along with my Folic Acid which helps build Red Blood Cells. I am not taking anything else other than the Iron Chelation tablets so I can get rid of my iron. It still rankles me I cannot seem to budge on that. The last reading was 7550 and it is supposed to be less than 25 if you can believe it.

My hemoglobin remains in the 80's but holding steady. It has been 6 weeks since the last transfusion so maybe I can get on a roll again. I would like to avoid the cyclosporine again because it weakens my immune system which causes me to get things like pneumonia. Especially with a pandemic always present I need all the immunity I can get if I ever get it.

My hope is that I can beat these T-cell fighters over time and be back to where I once was. The doctors cannot really do much else. It really will come down to my self discipline and how I live each day to stay ahead of the game.

Throughout this journey as I think back I can recall a few falls I had during the bad days. Really bad I  couldn't lay down and sleep so I had to try to sit  in the living room. You know now I am better than I was. The past is a blur really. Truthfully my whole life seems like a blur sometimes. So many things that passed that I cannot remember. Maybe that is good because most of the things I remember were great. We cannot live in the past and the good part is we can cherry pick the things we want to remember and forget the rest.

In writing about my experiences with being in hospitals and going through stuff I can now look back and remember most of it. So now it is logged I can forget about it and move on. Thanks for reading and from now I will talk about a wide range of stuff.

Note I have a new look on the blog with everything being accessible through links if you care to check them out. It is just fun and entertaining if you have the time.

Hope you  all had a great Canada Day and Happy 4th of July to the USA today!