Monday, March 29, 2010

When 73k is not so bad

With everything that has happened lately, I decided to step out of the world of CML, and have an annual physical with my regular doctor, here in Woodinville. He was the one who diagnosed me with Leukemia about 1 1/4 years ago, and I hadn't been back to see him. They actually had me come in a few days early to give a blood sample so that we could discuss the results in person. The strange thing is that a blood draw these days is so routing that I don't think twice about it.
It was a surprise to me, but he knew most of everything going on with me, my results from SCCA and OHSU. I guess I didn't think much of it, but I always listed him as my primary physician, and he gets a copy of all reports and results. I was pleasantly surprised to find that he knew a lot of my case, although not the developments in the past month. So it wasn't so hard to get him caught up. He pointed out that I have the distinction of being his record WBC patient, something I'm not necessarily proud of.
He shared with me a funny story, that he got paged on Thursday night, at 12:02 AM. The page was from the lab, and he called back and they reported that there was a problem with my tests, and that they found my platelets to be 73k. They had double checked, and they were sure that the tests were accurate. He thanked them, and then looked up my latest test results from OHSU and saw that they had been 63k just a couple of weeks ago, so he knew right away that wasn't a problem. In fact, 73 is actually a positive sign for me :) It's strange how reality changes when you're dealing with something like Leukemia.
Otherwise, things were not bad. I have to improve my good cholesterol, but on the plus, my bad cholesterol was outstanding. My Triglycerides are very high, but they have been bouncing more than a 3 year old on a trampoline....My thyroid is slightly high, although steady compared to when they measured in over a year ago. The only thing we will really do short term, is healthier eating habits, get more exercise, and work on stress reductions.

Monday, March 1, 2010

Back and Public

I locked down the blog, but have decided to reverse the decision. I will defer from publishing any of my results on Ariad. GIven that people can have from a great response, to no response, it's safe to say I'm somewhere between those points. For now, it's a wait and see, all I can safely say is that I'm not any worse off.
 
For those looking to learn more about Ariad, please do contact me, while my results may not be typical, there are clearly people out there that are helped by the drug. I can also help anyone that is trying to learn more about trial procedure, it's been an interesting past 3 months. Thanks agains for the kind words of support