Follow up to Dana Farber

I went back to Dana Farber on March 10. My hematocrit had remained unchanged from a week before. The good news is that the crit had not fallen farther and the docs were not saying that I need a transfusion of red blood cells. Additional good news is that the drop in red blood cells is from Hemolysis (I am destroying the red blood cells) not cancer or myelodisplasia.

The plan is to start me on a course of infusions of Rituxan which is used to “turn off” the Hemolysis. I’m writing this email from Dr. Kasturi’s offices in Worcester where I am receiving the first of the 4 infusions of Rituxan. As is usual, when I got to the doc’s office this morning the first thing was to draw a little blood for labs. Surprise of surprises, my hematocrit is back up to where it started before the 6 pt drop a couple of weeks ago. Medical mysteries are just to keep me on my toes I guess. There is no reason to think that the Hemolysis is gone but it may mean that I am now producing red blood cells faster than I am destroying them.

As usual I feel fine.

Monday at Dana Farber

For quite a while there hasn’t been much medical news to write about, so I have only written occasionally and mostly about other stuff.

I went to my regularly scheduled monthly visit to Dana Farber on Monday.

For months I've been saying that my recovery has been at a plateau, no real change in the lab results, no further improvement in my recovery. And I follow that with the reassuring news that I've not had a set-back. Monday's news feels like a set back. It feels like a set back to have my hematocrit (% of red blood cells) drop 6 pts in a month. What it means we won't know till next week when results of additional labs come in. This problem with red blood cells is not likely to be because of the cancer or myelodisplasia. It is more likely due to hemolytic anemia, which I have had to deal with before.

The doc at DanaFarber was optimistic that we could figure it out and fix it. I think he's right. I initially indulged in a dark funk of mood but could not sustain it. I feel OK now and know that I'm in good hands. I also know that there is not anything that I can do anyway. (I asked.) Next Monday I will know more and in the mean time I can be easily distracted by the current election politics.