Email from October 31, 2011 (Edited April 1st 2013 to remove names of any Duke Medicos per the edict of the Duke School of Medicine Compliance Office )
Dear Friends,
Anne and I went to Duke on Monday and met with Duke (All Doctors at Duke are now named Duke) Great guy, and very knowledgeable, but he is a bit
baffled too by my blood test results,
which go up and down for no discernible
reason.
He had read The Emperor of all Maladies , and agreed that my humors were imbalanced,
and offered to get out his leeches.
Suggests wait and watch,
See him again in Three months
Saw Dr. Loynes, my hematologist on Wednesday, and we agreed to drop back to weekly Raab clinic visits, (down from daily ) with scaled back blood production stimulants. (Neupogen and Aranesp ) If my check engine light comes on, I can request a transfusion.
See him again in a Month
After 60 yrs of use, systems start to fail, just like on an engine.
A lot of people have pump problems, and wind up getting a stent or maybe a
quadruple bypass,
or maybe replacement parts Some have filter problems, and maybe can get a
transplant or commit to dialyses.
With MDS it is low oil level, and the refinery is on strike, with only limited production. One gets transfused,
goes the chemo/drug route, and probably still will be transfusion dependent,
OR, through changes in diet and lifestyle, and some pharmacopoeia, and of
course attitude, the refinery workers
may be encouraged get back to work and step up production.
There is talk of the Marrow transplant, which is sort of the last resort, and a big deal, fraught with it's own set of challenges.
Later,
Chris and Anne
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Fortunately, after transfusions my check engine light would go out, and we have been able to spend a bunch of nights camping out on our beloved catboat, NIP
I love this photo of Nip. Watching her transform from the condition you received her in to Bristol Fashion was a treat. I'm glad you get to enjoy her.
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