Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Newest of the new for hubby...

According to what the Dr. has told us, it very well may have been a TIA. The problem is that most TIA's, even if he was in the hospital when it happened, leave no lasting discrepencies that they would see on an MRI or a CAT scan. If it were a stroke, then there would be something, but she didn't think it was a full blown stroke because there was no residual effects. His smile was even, he had grip in both hands that was sufficient, he could touch his nose with his eyes closed with both hands evenly.....

The bad news is that he is extremely iron anemic. He's now taking 325 mg of iron TWICE per day to see if the severe anemia lets up.

His BP is alway still very high, and hypertension can now be added to the list of my poor hubby's woes.

The blood test also had a lot of other information in it. According to the information they found, his blood cells are all abnormally sized. Because so many are small, they aren't carrying enough oxygen, so his body is making LARGER than normal sized red blood cells and many, many of them. His WHITE blood cells are of normal number so that may be good news, or it may not, she couldn't really say. AND to top it off, because he has all this other stuff going on his body is making cells that are called poikilocytes. "What's a poikilocyte?" you ask....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poikilocytosis

"A poikilocyte is an abnormally shaped cell...... Generally, poikilocytosis can refer to an increase in abnormal red blood cells of any shape where they make up 10% or more of the total population........ Rather than being seen as a sign of any one disease, poikilocytosis is a rather general condition. There may, however, be a predominance of one particular type of abnormally shaped red cells, some of which may indicate possible presence of a specific disease or disorder....... For example, poikilocytosis can be caused by a vitamin deficiency (e.g. Vitamin B12 or folic acid), in which case the treatment is to replenish the deficient vitamin. It can be caused by a digestive disease, such as celiac disease, in which case the solution may lie in treating the underlying celiac disease so that nutrients can be properly absorbed....."

According to the Dr, a poikilocyte can also be a sign of cancer. {sigh} Love it when they say "can be" and "maybe" and "not going to rule it out" and "not until we do more tests".

1 comment:

Unknown said...

"Love it when they say "can be" and "maybe" and "not going to rule it out" and "not until we do more tests"."

- LOL. I love it too when they play it safe ;p But vitamin b12 deficiency is no joking matter. Hope all is well with your hubby!