Blood in Stool

Well, this was a busy week with a few surprises. Last Sunday night after my last blog entry, I had stomach cramps and then a strange bout of diarrhea. It had some dark stool plus something that looked like a worm. I took a sample in for test on Tuesday and blood was found. The "worm" must have just been something undigested. On Wednesday, the doctor said it looked like it might have been from a hemorrhoid, but gave me some cards to collect more samples. I have not been constipated and my hemorrhoids have not been hurting or itchy lately. This morning, I had another loose stool with another bloody piece. It has been about 18 months since I had a colonoscopy, but maybe I will need another.

I also had a transfusion on Thursday starting at 7 am and was back to work by noon. Friday, I had an all day conference at the Mystic Lake Casino, almost an hours drive south of here. I left home at 6:30 am (again) and did not get home until 6 pm. Even with a blood test, dr appt and transfusion, I still worked 42 hours for the week. When I got home Friday night, I went straight to bed for a couple of hours.

On Wed, my Hgb was 8.8, white cells were 5.0, platelets were 638 and Factor 2 was 15. Because of increased platelets and itchiness that I have had recently, I have to increase my Anagrelide again. I am also taking Benedryl for the itching from the histamine produced by excess platelets. I also have more headaches and take Tylenol several times a day. Today, I had vision distortion coupled with the headache and took a two hour nap after lunch. Also since it doesn't appear that the Procrit is helping any, I will stop taking it for a month to see what happens with my Hgb. That will at least save the insurance company $2000 per month.

I did get outside today, shopped at Sam's Club, raked and blew some leaves around and fired up the old '76 Malibu. It started right up after I borrowed the battery from the van. It had not been started for close to a year and took a little cranking to get gas to the carburetor. One of the spark plugs is broken, so it misses a bit, but runs surprisingly well. I need to get rid of it since it is just rusting away next to the garage. It has not been on the road for three years.