All,
Like many of you are (or have been), I am in "watch and wait" mode... my blood counts have been slowly declining over the past 10 years -- more or less predictably. It appears that I have MAA at this point (last count: platelets = 36, RBC = ~2.9, HGB = ~10.2, Neut. #: ~1.2)...
I don't know if this is a legitimate thing to do or not, but I took my CBC readings from the last 5 years and sort of extrapolated where it appears things will be in the next 5 years. If things continue as they have (and of course, who knows what is going to happen!), here is what it looks like could happen... In about 2.5 years (possibly less), my platelets project to be below 20K. HGB projects to be around 8.0, and Neut's project to be around 0.5-0.8. I know these are "guess-timates," and things can change unexpectedly -- for good or ill. As Yoda said to Luke Skywalker: "Difficult to see, the future is."
But regardless of what happens in the future -- here's my question: What should I do? I am sort of in "watch and wait" mode... that's a given, but what should I be doing during this time to prepare for what appears to be an inevitable "showdown" some day?
There are lots of folks on this forum who have been where I am. Maybe you did not have a lot of time during your "watch and wait" phase, but I thought maybe it would be a good idea to tap into the collective wisdom of the people on this forum and get some suggestions. What do you suggest I do to prepare?
Thanks for your suggestions, and I look forward to hearing what you have to say!!!