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Brief doctor visits
On Tuesday I saw a gp about the results of a blood test. I’m honestly not sure why I had to have an appointment. I had a cytomegalovirus test that came back equivocal in December and then had a repeat test a couple of weeks ago. That one also came back the same and that’s why I was called in. It could just be a false result or perhaps a reactivation of a virus I’ve had in the past. But it’s not really of any concern since I have no symptoms and it’s not causing any problems.
This morning I saw the specialist regarding my CT scan and blood tests and that was a short and easy visit. My iron levels are so good I am almost on the upper end of normal. She doesn’t think there’s any need for further investigations so I won’t be having the capsule endoscopy after all. I do have a follow-up blood test and doctor visit to do then, just to monitor things. I suspect if everything is still good I won’t need to see her again.
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Iron levels
I had several blood tests done and went to the doctor yesterday to review the results. So the good news is my ferritin is now something like 275 whereas it was 15 before. All the other numbers were fine too. I still don’t feel particularly energetic but perhaps I am not quite so tired either. Less good was the fact I had raised liver tests again although they are only slightly above normal. It seems they alternate between normal and slightly raised lately. I had to see yet another doctor because the ones I’ve seen before are no longer there. One of the reasons I moved to this practice was the lack of continuity of care at the previous one. But I think the problem is much worse where I am. It seems all the doctors aside from the main one are registrars (training gps) and so have less experience. The main doctor isn’t taking new patients although I did see her the one time. There’s another main doctor who is on long-term leave at the moment.
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Specialist appointment
I went to see the gastroenterologist on Friday to follow up on the gastroscopy and colonoscopy in November. One weird but good thing was I didn’t get charged for the visit. I am not quite sure how that works but I won’t complain. :) Anyway, I had a good visit with the doctor and after discussing the recent paint job in the rooms, we got on to more important business. What I got from the visit is that it’s quite likely my iron levels will be fine now I’ve had the infusion and we may never know the reason for the drop. But she ordered more bloodwork and a CT scan of my abdomen and it’s possible I may end up with a capsule endoscopy. I’ve been given the information but it’s not a sure thing at this point. There is a small risk of complications on the endoscopy, part of the reason for the CT scan. I go back to see her on the 3rd.
I did the CT scan today and it all went fine. I had to have dye injected. I was asked if I’d had this before and I couldn’t recall for certain. I definitely have had a couple of CT scans before though. The whole process only took about fifteen minutes and most of that was prep time. As often happens the wound from the injection took a bit longer to clot but was fine with an extra couple of minutes.
I have some other bloodwork that needs to be done for my gp so will do it all later this week. I am doing a follow-up with yet another gp next week. It seems every time I find a doctor I like, they end up leaving. The one I was seeing was only there for a few months and now she has dropped off their list of doctors. The other one I saw has no appointments so I am trying a different one who was away but came back recently.
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Short term
As I posted yesterday, I was in to see the doctor about my test results today. My usual doctor is currently away so I saw a different one, who is a registrar (sort of gp in training although not really training). I saw this one before about my fracture in my foot and she was fine then. This time her inexperience was really obvious.
Since my iron stores keep dropping so fast, the plan right now is to have an iron infusion, which is scheduled for Friday. I’ve had one once before when I had iron deficiency from menorrhagia and it worked well. This one should keep me in good shape for a few months and hopefully, answers will be available on the dropping iron before I need another one. I must admit I’m not very confident the capsule stuff will uncover anything but you never know.
Most of the other irregular results weren’t anything to be concerned about in isolation. A couple of tests will need to be done again. And then there is the antibody testing that again showed super-high anti-nuclear antibodies. That’s nothing new though. There was, however, mention of cytoplasmic antibodies and my questions showed this doctor knows almost nothing about them even though it’s a fairly common finding. There is also a positive test on a liver antibody which can relate to autoimmune liver issues. This had a note but was not highlighted and she would have missed it had I not pointed it out. She’s not concerned since my liver is looking really good right now. But in the past, I’ve had an ANA pattern that has had some associations with autoimmune liver disease. If something is developing I would rather know earlier than wait for it cause issues. She’s going to consult with my regular gp when she is back. Also, my liver results are “deranged” which apparently means they are up and down. About every second test shows some abnormal results. While they look great right now, they might not be quite so good next time. I never heard of deranged results before but on searching, I found it’s a common term in the medical community. Weird. They weren’t that high last time so I can’t help thinking my doctor had concerns when she ordered the tests.
All that said, my main concern is the low iron and that will hopefully be sorted, at least temporarily, after Friday.
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Not so good results
Last Monday I went to get some bloodwork done and it was ten tubes or more that were taken. Not all were full and there were various colors involved. Plus a midstream urine test. Fortunately, I didn’t pass out after losing all that blood. :D
On Thursday I got a message saying my results were ready so I downloaded the pages and was a bit surprised by some of them. I think most relevant was the fact my iron levels are actually much worse than over a month ago. My ferritin went from 24 to 15 and my iron is down to 9, getting close to low. Fortunately, I am not anemic at this point, just deficient. The only thing that stayed the same was saturation which is at the top end of the normal range. At the rate I’m going, I will likely be anemic by next year as iron stores will be gone by then.
There were some other out-of-normal range results, some that I don’t understand and so I need to talk to the doctor next. I have an appointment tomorrow morning and hopefully, some of this will make better sense. The helicobacter pylori and celiac came back normal which narrows down possible causes for my iron deficiency. I do have a follow-up appointment in January with the doctor who did my colonoscopy and gastroscopy where I understand I may have a capsule endoscopy where I swallow a camera to get more images of my gut.
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Not fully functional
That’s kind of how I am feeling today but I know it will pass. The past few days I have had to really push to do exercise and I must admit I didn’t feel better afterwards either. I got a new workout routine on Monday, having gone a full eight weeks going to the gym already. This one uses the machines less and requires more abdominal work, which I hope will improve my core muscle groups, which have been really weak since having kids. I’ve noticed my foot/toes are handling activity a lot better now than they did before. The exception is when I am doing yoga moves that require me to be on my toes. I suspect that may just be painful activity when the toes are stretched like that. Anyway, I have started walking a lot more than I have been and have even gone on short hikes in the hills, which I hope to continue through the warmer months.
I had a bunch of blood tests recently and went for a follow-up to discover I have low iron stores. There’s been a gradual decline over the past couple of years. My last test was borderline normal but it dropped quite a bit over three months. Since I am post-menopausal, the usual reasons don’t apply so I’m going in to have a gastroscopy and colonoscopy later this month to check for any internal issues. It’s been several years since my first colonoscopy so I guess that’s okay. Not looking forward to the prep for it, of course. I have been put on iron supplements but they are wreaking havoc with my digestive system. I am trying to eat more red meat but it’s a struggle since I don’t have much appetite for it on a regular basis. I came up with the idea of having small amounts more often and seeing if that works for me. I will also see about switching to a gentler iron supplement since I am not even taking the current one daily and I am having a lot of issues. Tonight I made a stir fry with potatoes, green beans, mushrooms, and a spinach/kale mix along with some stir fry beef and that worked okay for me.
I’ve been feeling what I call draggy the past few days. I’m not sure if that’s due to low iron or something else since I wasn’t feeling like that much before I was told about the iron deficiency. I also learned that I shouldn’t have iron and calcium together either as it affect iron absorption.
My liver tests haven’t been consistent lately so I also had an ultrasound which I imagine will show fatty liver disease, which was there before. I’m hoping it’s not so bad as the last one in 2016. I’m due to have repeat blood tests plus a panel of liver and celiac and other tests at the end of the month so it will be interesting to see how things go. I did find that after two months of exercise I had not only gained weight but my muscle mass hadn’t changed at all. I am sure I have more muscle in some areas so it doesn’t make much sense to me. I’m not that fussed about the slight weight increase and it actually has dropped in the past few days.
After a pretty mild October, we’re getting some warmer weather now but it’s not constant. We go to eat at the food trucks on Monday nights and it’s not been all that comfortable since the first week when we had some lovely warm weather. We even missed a couple of weeks, one of them due to wet and chilly weather. Tomorrow’s forecast is quite positive so I am looking forward to it.
A Lego store opened in Perth about ten days ago so we had to make a first visit. I was expecting really long lines and big crowds but it turned out to be reasonable when we went. But there wasn’t a lot of merchandise still available by the time we got in on day four. We only had to wait for about 15-20 minutes to get in and it was fine in-store. It was worse finding parking at the shopping center, which has mostly doubled in size very recently. I found I didn’t recognise much there and it took a while to find the area of the original structure. I suspect we’ll be visiting there more often once the excitement over new stores dies down (lots of new shops just opened, enough that there was an electronic sign advising there was an “event” ahead on the road.)
I had been considering an upgrade to my Apple watch but finally decided to wait another year. My watch is working fine and although there are features I’d like, I don’t know if it’s enough to upgrade yet. Assuming the iPhone gets a couple of features I want next year, I will update both watch and phone.
Our state finally has a plan for opening up to the world set so I have a more likely chance of going home for a visit next year. No definite dates but our premier is waiting for vaccination rates to reach 90% before we open up properly. Once that happens, I think it might be doable, if things like travel insurance will provide sufficient coverage. I’d really like to get home to see my family, especially my dad. He’s doing okay but has had a couple of scares lately and his blood pressure is definitely not under control.
There’s surely some other stuff I meant to write about but I can’t recall all of it lately. So hopefully I will update again soon.