View Single Post
  #1  
Old Fri Feb 10, 2017, 05:59 PM
grueter grueter is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2016
Location: Colorado Springs, CO
Posts: 4
New to AA, my story

I'm a 61 YO male who has always been healthy. I enjoyed running, didn't smoke or drink and so didn't think much about my health. My Odyssey began the week after Thanksgiving 2016 when I was out of breath while exercising. I called my regular DR who saw me in his office that day, he drew blood and scheduled a treadmill cardio test but no outstanding issues he could see at the time. On the way home from his office he called and told me I was anemic and needed to see the hematologist the next day. My counts at that time were Hemoglobin at 10.2 and platelets at 30k. Three days later I had a Bone Marrow Biopsy and the Aplastic Anemia diagnosis from the local Hematologist here in Colorado Springs. I was then referred to the Colorado Blood cancer Institute in Denver to see Dr. Nash the following week. Dr Nash wanted to run some tests (16 vials of blood) and wait and see. Blood counts continued to fall but apparently were not critical yet. At my next appointment with Dr. Nash I was told there were no obvious causes for the low counts so more waiting and another appointment in five weeks set for Feb 20, 2017. Meanwhile my local Hematologist here in Colorado Springs is doing CBC's every other week and just got the latest results from that today, Hemoglobin at 8.3 and platelets 17k. A call from his nurse wanted to know if I was bleeding in any way (I am not) so after consulting with the Dr. said no transfusion for now but another CBC scheduled for Monday.
Overall, my counts have been in steady decline since the end of November and I appear to be headed steadily down the AA path. I now feel worn down most of the time, don't sleep well and gasp for breath at the top of a single flight of stairs.
I have been reading this forum for the last few weeks and have been inspired by everyone's experiences with the condition and it's treatment. You have given me hope for the future and so I thought it was time to jump in and introduce my self.
Reply With Quote