luvmydog2 Posted October 18, 2004 Share Posted October 18, 2004 I went today and had my dreaded colonscopy done. Doctor removed 1 pollup (sp) and told me that my colon looked good. This depends on how the test comes back on the pollup, which I won't know for about a week. Doctor said he didn't see anything to worry about tho. Now, as to the problem that led up to this test. As you know I was in hosp early part of Sept. with pneumonia and they discovered I was anemic. The doctor told me today that I needed to see my oncologist ASAP. Told him I had an appt for Nov 4 and he said that was too long. He said my blood was approx 2 pints low and if I waited till then it could be 3. My blood has done that since I left hosp on Sept 13. No explaniation yet. Got onc appt moved up to Wed. Anyone else experiance this? I think MOSugar had to get blood often. Can't figure this out. Dr said something about he would suggest oncologist look at bone marrow. I know nothing about this situation except I don't like the sound of it. There are no signs of loosing blood so he thinks my body is not producing blood? Anyone heard of this? Thanks everybody. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NellW Posted October 18, 2004 Share Posted October 18, 2004 Hi Bruce, I sure dont have any wisdom on this, but will start praying immediately for you! Bob has some internal bleeding of some sort they are trying to locate also. Lots of prayers Love Nell Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tnmynatt Posted October 18, 2004 Share Posted October 18, 2004 Bruce, Sounds very odd. Hope oncodoc can help (PM'd him). Praying hard for you! Take care. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kaffie Posted October 19, 2004 Share Posted October 19, 2004 Prayers headed your way, I have no idea what the problem could be. Let's just hope it's something easy to fix. Let us know as soon as you find out Kathy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
betplace Posted October 19, 2004 Share Posted October 19, 2004 Bruce, Like Mo I had to get trans fusions after chemo rounds 2 through 6, it is not that I was low on blood, I just didn't have any red blood cells. Mo had the same problem, her counts kept bottoming out. I would usually get 2 pints of red blood cells, but on the 5 th round of chemo had to get 3 pints it was so low. I had a lot of trouble with platelets the last 2 rounds as well. Doc had me on 60,000 iu of Procritt and it barely helped. I think some people just don't handle the chemo and radiation real well. I was one of them and you may be as well. A simple CBC test will tell your onc if your RBC's are too low. Anything under 9 usually signalled a transfusion for me. Good luck with it, praying for you. Blessings Betty Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MayFrog Posted October 20, 2004 Share Posted October 20, 2004 Bruce, I'm hoping it's something easily remedied....you're in my thoughts Mary Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kimblanchard Posted October 21, 2004 Share Posted October 21, 2004 Hi, sorry I've been away but has been an extremely busy week. The list of potential causes of anemia is very long but I usually try to simplify it by breaking it down into 2 categories: you either aren't making blood or you are losing (or destroying) it. The colonoscopy was to look for the most common source of blood loss which is the GI system. A negative colonoscopy does not rule out GI blood loss because you still have a stomach, esophagus and many yards of small bowel that could be oozing a little blood (ulcer for example). I'm assuming they checked your stool for blood (the little hemoccult cards which they should have had you collect stool samples for)? Other potential causes of blood loss would be hemolysis (an autoimmune process in which you develop antibodies against your blood) which can be triggered by an infection (such as pneumonia) or medication or for no reason whatsoever. Women of course lose blood naturally but I'm assuming you aren't menstruating. The list of causes of not making blood are fairly huge. Nutritional deficiencies (iron, folic acid, B12, etc), infection or other acute illness, medications, kidney problems and bone marrow disorders are all potential causes. The good news is that lung cancer would be a very unlikely cause of anemia. You will probably have about a gallon of blood drawn when you see your doctor to look for numerous causes and if no apparent reason is found then as a last resort you may need a bone marrow. Or your doctor may just look at your bloodwork and say "well it's obviously blah blah blah". Hope that sheds some (probably very dim) light on the subject. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TeeTaa Posted October 21, 2004 Share Posted October 21, 2004 Bruce - Hope your appointment with the oncologist went well today . . . please let us know ASAP. Dr. Joe - thanks for the That was great. And no one deserves it more than Bruce! Praying for us all, TeeTaa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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