Blood Doping and Ogden Nash

This was an email to my siblings, August 10th, 2012:

i figure Mom/Dad have let you know the basics from your "eat steak" comment [Stephanie].

the run down is this. i am either not producing blood like a normal person or i am hemorrhaging like a vampire's dream. 3 weeks ago i had my last maintenance dose and blood levels all looked really good [for me anyway]. but i have been so tired and feeling fatigued, which is different than tired, and really dizzy weird. so i called oncology and they had me come in for blood tests. in the last 3 weeks, i have averaged losing a pint a week. not good.

a blood cells life span is 2 or 3 months. your body produces as much as dies off to keep your blood levels fairly even. so like i said, either i stopped producing, or i am bleeding out like crazy. now since i have not had any blood spills like a crude oil company, the blood could be deteriorating at a rate much faster than the production can keep up with. [bad grammar, i know] but that is less likely.

so the immediate fix is get a transfusion to top me off, then check what might be the cause of the problem. yesterday i went into the hospital to have them do a blood draw so they can match it with a donor. since the transfusion part takes 5+ hours and the matching process 2-3 hours, they like to split them up to different days. my part was pretty quick. give them a sample, answer a few questions then be on my merry way while they get to work.

i could do the transfusion today, but the hospital was already pushing maximum capacity for today and i need to work, so i go in tomorrow to get blood. i will practically be a Tour de France rider after my blood doping experiment. [:)] i told them to give me something with super powers. i don't think it's going to work though. i should feel a lot better after the transfusion. energy levels up, oxygenation and everything good... i will try a mellow stationary bike ride tomorrow evening to see how i am doing.

then Monday, "...So good to me, Monday morning, It was all I hoped it would be," i start tests again. i will have a CT followed by a bone marrow sample. that is no bueno. i have only had one done before, when i was first diagnosed. it messes you up for the rest of the day and i still have a bb sized lump in my butt from it. results will follow in the few days after those tests. the worry is that lymphoma has spread to the marrow and is causing the lack of production. which would mean harder heavier treatment than i have previously had. ...merde! to borrow a good frenchy word.

oh well. we don't know what is up and the rest is speculation. and Ogden Nash says "God in his wisdom made the fly, And then forgot to tell us why."

-R