A quick medical question

[Lord Ash]

Hi everyone,

Hate to come here to ask, but I feel like this is better than googling.

So my wife had a physical, and her blood work showed an abnormally high number of immature white blood cells in her blood. The doctor seemed to think this was a concern, and got us into a cancer doctor first thing in the AM.

I just wanted to ask... if there are any health care folks here... I am assuming this can be an early sign of leukemia... but are there other illnesses that this could be a symptom of?

Thanks so much... just really want to avoid googling, because you can find all sorts of crazy stuff there

[johnb]

Hi everyone,

Hate to come here to ask, but I feel like this is better than googling.

So my wife had a physical, and her blood work showed an abnormally high number of immature white blood cells in her blood. The doctor seemed to think this was a concern, and got us into a cancer doctor first thing in the AM.

I just wanted to ask... if there are any health care folks here... I am assuming this can be an early sign of leukemia... but are there other illnesses that this could be a symptom of?

Thanks so much... just really want to avoid googling, because you can find all sorts of crazy stuff there

Sorry to hear—that’s gotta be stressful.

This isn’t my area, but…

you’re probably getting sent to someone who specializes in hematology/oncology, which does sound like a cancer doctor, but don’t forget that first word, hematology; those doctors specialize in blood disorders, including cancer. My understanding is that there are multiple possibilities for that lab finding outside of cancer: infection, inflammation, false positives, lab errors. It’s good to go check it out, but a single lab value abnormality often means nothing.

[Lord Ash]

Sorry to hear—that’s gotta be stressful.

This isn’t my area, but…

you’re probably getting sent to someone who specializes in hematology/oncology, which does sound like a cancer doctor, but don’t forget that first word, hematology; those doctors specialize in blood disorders, including cancer. My understanding is that there are multiple possibilities for that lab finding outside of cancer: infection, inflammation, false positives, lab errors. It’s good to go check it out, but a single lab value abnormality often means nothing.

For sure. I think the concern is that she has a history of cancer, and her white blood cell count has been steadily increasing over the past year. I guess the last few weren't a cause for concern, but this one apparently is.

And the doctor is a hermatologist, but does work for a cancer care center, which doesn't seem like great news...? But what do I know.

Hey, thanks for the feedback. I trust DBR, and the people here, to be careful and moderate and thoughtful far beyond most places. Silly, I know, but...

[Lord Ash]

Oh, I should mention... she had a slightly funky mammogram maybe two or so weeks ago. A biopsy turned out nothing wrong. Just thought I should mention.

[sagegrouse]

Oh, I should mention... she had a slightly funky mammogram maybe two or so weeks ago. A biopsy turned out nothing wrong. Just thought I should mention.

We're hoping for the best.

[PackMan97]

Thoughts and prayers to you and your wife.

My wife and I both recently had cardiac "events" that turned out to be nothing. There gets to be a point where this health stuff gets to be real.

[Lord Ash]

Thanks, guys. The biopsy a few weeks ago was a bit frightening… so having this, on the heels of it… it sucks.

[OZZIE4DUKE]

Thoughts and prayers to you and your wife.

My wife and I both recently had cardiac "events" that turned out to be nothing. There gets to be a point where this health stuff gets to be real.

Rooting for the Pack this year could cause many “events”. Glad yours were nothing.

Lord Ash - thoughts and prayers.

[budwom]

Thanks, guys. The biopsy a few weeks ago was a bit frightening… so having this, on the heels of it… it sucks.

Hang in there. How high is the white count now? Hopefully all turns out well...I've had a form of leukemia now for 18 years and it doesn't bother me, the point being there are many varieties, and tons of treatments that didn't exist even a few years ago.

emphasis: just make sure that your wife is going to a large teaching hospital environment where the docs stay up to date on evolving treatments. You would think this would be true everywhere, but it definitely is not.
feel free to PM me if you have any question...

[Lord Ash]

Thanks Ozz and Bud. Saw the doc, who examined slides with another doc, and amazingly they think the issue is a serious b12 deficiency. Still sending blood out for aging tests of the blood cells because they do look “young” and further tests, but overall he felt there was no evidence of chronic or acute leukemia.

We will know more next week, but wanted to let everyone know. If anyone in the field knows anything, I’d appreciate any insights, of course. Thanks so much, everyone… it’s been a stressful few weeks.

[budwom]

attaboy, that's good news.

[Bostondevil]

Thanks Ozz and Bud. Saw the doc, who examined slides with another doc, and amazingly they think the issue is a serious b12 deficiency. Still sending blood out for aging tests of the blood cells because they do look “young” and further tests, but overall he felt there was no evidence of chronic or acute leukemia.

We will know more next week, but wanted to let everyone know. If anyone in the field knows anything, I’d appreciate any insights, of course. Thanks so much, everyone… it’s been a stressful few weeks.

Whew.

B12 deficiency is a hot topic in research now. I know a couple of docs who are looking at it. That's not very helpful information. But, it may have lead to the docs checking that before doing anything else invasive to your wife. I don't know if prior chemotherapy treatment puts one at higher risk for this deficiency, but given what I know about long term effects of chemo - it might.

[Skydog]

Sorry to hear about all the stress you are dealing with. Glad to hear it is likely a B12 issue though. That is much better than the alternative.

Btw I respect your decision to avoid googling health issues. Two weekends ago I found a dark red cancerous lesion in the right back of my mouth. I had a cancerous tumor removed a few years ago and while I was past the time of expected recurrence it clearly had returned and spread. I obviously was stressed - so I tried to think about how I've been convinced I had cancer a few times before and it ended up turning out fine. But I was pretty sure this was the real thing. I was scared to look but I went ahead and googled mouth cancer. Sure enough some of the pictures looked exactly like my lesion. Then I went through the usual thoughts after a dreaded diagnosis. How would I handle it? It had obviously metastasized, how would I handle the painful end of life situation? I then mentally rewrote my will, a rewrite that was overdue. I would take care of it the following week. Then I thought about how I had a couple drinks a night and how research showed frequent alcohol use often caused mouth cancer. Why hadn't I listened? And then I went into 'what if' mode. I had just retired Jan 1. If not for this disease how great it would be to have my days completely free to do what I want, when I want, wherever I want and how unlucky I was not to get to experience this freedom for at least a couple years.

So on Monday I called my dentist, told him what was going on and convinced him to squeeze me in for a same-day appointment. He looked in my mouth, looked a bit taken aback and confirmed that I wasn’t imagining things - I had an unusual medium size dark red patch in the back of my mouth, behind my molar. What was it? A harmless hematoma that would go away in a few days. I mentally did a relieved face-palm.

By Wednesday I was bored - I had too much damn free time on my hands!

So lesson re-learned. If you have any hypochondriac tendencies don't google health symptoms! And especially not on a weekend, when you can't see a doctor!

[budwom]

^ yes, there are some very good web sites run by very qualified people, but overall self diagnosis on the Web is just an anxiety producing endeavor...

[sagegrouse]

^ yes, there are some very good web sites run by very qualified people, but overall self diagnosis on the Web is just an anxiety producing endeavor...

Agreed, Also, there are trillions of documents and sites out there -- searching can often produce spurious relationships. One friend told me, very seriously, that the use of the sleep medicine Ambien caused hair loss. Sure enough, you can get some hits with "hair loss and Ambien." But I searched "side effects of Ambien" and found no reference to hair loss. and, she seemed to have a full head of hair.

[budwom]

Agreed, Also, there are trillions of documents and sites out there -- searching can often produce spurious relationships. One friend told me, very seriously, that the use of the sleep medicine Ambien caused hair loss. Sure enough, you can get some hits with "hair loss and Ambien." But I searched "side effects of Ambien" and found no reference to hair loss. and, she seemed to have a full head of hair.

Perhaps I should have clarified that there are some great web sites for conditions for which a qualified doctor has already diagnosed you. Diagnosing via the web is generally not encouraged.

[Lord Ash]

Hey Boston, Sage, Sky... I appreciate the feedback and stories... and yeah, I figure the internet is something I should avoid.

Still anxious, but definitely feeling better.

Its amazing to me that the human eye can look at blood and figure things out better than a computer.

[rasputin]

Sorry to hear about all the stress you are dealing with. Glad to hear it is likely a B12 issue though. That is much better than the alternative.

Btw I respect your decision to avoid googling health issues. Two weekends ago I found a dark red cancerous lesion in the right back of my mouth. I had a cancerous tumor removed a few years ago and while I was past the time of expected recurrence it clearly had returned and spread. I obviously was stressed - so I tried to think about how I've been convinced I had cancer a few times before and it ended up turning out fine. But I was pretty sure this was the real thing. I was scared to look but I went ahead and googled mouth cancer. Sure enough some of the pictures looked exactly like my lesion. Then I went through the usual thoughts after a dreaded diagnosis. How would I handle it? It had obviously metastasized, how would I handle the painful end of life situation? I then mentally rewrote my will, a rewrite that was overdue. I would take care of it the following week. Then I thought about how I had a couple drinks a night and how research showed frequent alcohol use often caused mouth cancer. Why hadn't I listened? And then I went into 'what if' mode. I had just retired Jan 1. If not for this disease how great it would be to have my days completely free to do what I want, when I want, wherever I want and how unlucky I was not to get to experience this freedom for at least a couple years.

So on Monday I called my dentist, told him what was going on and convinced him to squeeze me in for a same-day appointment. He looked in my mouth, looked a bit taken aback and confirmed that I wasn’t imagining things - I had an unusual medium size dark red patch in the back of my mouth, behind my molar. What was it? A harmless hematoma that would go away in a few days. I mentally did a relieved face-palm.

By Wednesday I was bored - I had too much damn free time on my hands!

So lesson re-learned. If you have any hypochondriac tendencies don't google health symptoms! And especially not on a weekend, when you can't see a doctor!

Skydog, thanks for posting that, and for encouraging people to look to real science (in this case, your dentist). And I'm glad that it worked out for you.

[Lord Ash]

So, thought I would share... we are waiting for some more testing to come back. My wife is under orders to only call me if the results are BAD... otherwise, just text, bc I'm at work.

Guess who butt dialed me not once, but TWICE yesterday.

So TWO TIMES yesterday I got to experience that mind-melting adrenaline rush of "Oh I'm a real wanker for saying this.I'm a real wanker for saying this.I'm a real wanker for saying this.I'm a real wanker for saying this., here we go, she has cancer again". By the second one I was so upset I couldn't even text properly.

[Lord Ash]

Hang in there. How high is the white count now? Hopefully all turns out well...I've had a form of leukemia now for 18 years and it doesn't bother me, the point being there are many varieties, and tons of treatments that didn't exist even a few years ago.

emphasis: just make sure that your wife is going to a large teaching hospital environment where the docs stay up to date on evolving treatments. You would think this would be true everywhere, but it definitely is not.
feel free to PM me if you have any question...

Hey bud,

So, turns out it is leukemia...chronic myelogenous leukemia. If you don't mind, I might send you a message, just to check in... thanks.

And if anyone has any good things to say, I'd welcome it, bc I'm a bit shaken up