Dale and the Big Angry Spleen

  Quick update: Yesterday we met with the latest addition to my care team, a lipid specialist. This guy is thorough! We spent three hours with him going over my entire medical history, my family's medical history, possible diagnosis and which new tests he was ordering. Some of the new tests are being sent to Mayo Clinic because they have one of the few labs in the country that can process these specialized tests. Also doing some genetic testing. So we're back in the waiting game (at least six weeks for some of the tests). Overall we were very pleased with this new doctor.  Hope he's the one to solve this mystery. Side note, I have been keeping a spreadsheet logging all the different  blood tests since this began over a year ago. Today I logged the 100th different blood test.  Not the 100th blood draw (way over 100 draws) but 100 totally different tests.  This doesn't include all the PET, CT, MRI, and Ultrasound scans. Crazy.

Hello Everyone: Sorry it's been awhile, here's the latest: Surgical biopsy slides have been reviewed by both Beaumont & Mayo Clinic and.......I don't have lymphoma!  Good news..... Some blood values have improved to normal range (white cells & platelets) but not others. Some have gotten worse. So now we are turning our attention to my liver which was enlarged prior to surgery. The spleen was the priority and the doctors wanted to see if removing the spleen would have helped the liver. Unfortunately not. After consulting with my internist and gastroenterologist I have been referred to a lipid specialist. I'm sure there are more tests forthcoming. We will meet with the new doctor this week so I'll post again after that visit. Hard to believe this has been going on for a year now. In the meantime I'm doing okay, still tire easily but definitely better than a month ago. I hope everyone is safe and well.