my blood matters

Things leveled up in the last month. (Leveled down actually.) Really been too exhausted to make any update. I have experienced a severe immune system reaction to a combination of things in succession, including but not limited to: Bad Pegasys (interferon) reactionGot Respiratory infection #1 Rhinovirus NegativeTook Pegasys and NucalaGot Respiratory infection #2 Rhinovirus PositiveTook

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The day after I did my last triumphant post on how everything was going better I did another interferon injection. Then the next day I was on my bike on a beautiful fall weekend afternoon pedaling towards a new place to try for lunch. It should have been an easy ride. I was struggling going

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Today I learned a new medical term: supranormal. It means “better than expected” and that is my theme today. I did a pulmonary function test today. Last go round with that in January I crashed physically and emotionally when I got home from it, I wrote about that prior. Today my result came back “Supranormal.”

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From where i left my last post: the third interferon round was not a charm, but was also not as bad. However, as this world is bound to do, we’ve moved through some time since then, to round seven, day two. My platelets are showing very good signs of improvement since I started February 28,

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Round one of interferon was pretty intense. After signing off the last post, I started feeling really tired. I woke up day 2 with body ache and strong fatigue, which continued to day 3. Day 4 (Monday) I had tentatively taken off work, with some optimism I could potentially work from home. I woke up

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I injected my first dose of interferon at noon today. It was supposed to be 10am. I did some waiting, waiting, and finally checked-in at the front, being like did you forget me? I think they did. Here’s me with my little Michigan cherries cooler, part of a bday gift from my mom, with the

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Since I last wrote, I’ve had several tests and labs and doctor appointments and added medications to my list. The cold has made my neuropathy much worse. Ringing in my ears and pain in my shin bones has increased. Have been having some gnarly digestive issues. In December I had some very bad breathing episodes

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My first post this year was 1/3/24 on my one year CALR+versary. My unrelated traumatic incident occurred on 3/3/24 and my next post was on 6/3/24. I was feeling like I wanted to write an update recently and really wanted to make it for 12/3/24. I stressed myself out trying to get this written to

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Despite the hope-springs-eternal vibe on my New Years/ CALR-versary post five months ago, things have still been kind of intense this year. First of all, I don’t know what I was thinking in short-sightedly wishing not to meet my health insurance deductible in 2024. I met it ($4K) by mid-April. Three months ago I experienced

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One year ago, the third of January, I had a doctor’s appointment with Dr. Ullah. I had seen him once prior in late November, when he took a bunch of blood to reinvestigate my eosinophilia. At the January 2023 follow-up, he walked in the room with a printout and gave me a fist bump. He

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