Answers, Next steps and a New Doctor

After additional lab work and testing and a few weeks of waiting and pondering the possibilities, I returned to the hematologist for the results. It was a tough wait, but I tried to not dwell on the outcome and tried not to worry about what I could not control. My follow up appointment came and I was called back, vitals taken and taken to a patient room to wait for the physician.

When she came in, she sat at the computer in the room and pulled up my lab results. She made some small talk as she looked over the results and then got up and went to the white board in the room. She started explaining the results, drawing some figures on the white board. My eyes glossed over a bit, as what she explained was highly technical and all I was waiting to hear was if there was concern of cancer or not. Finally, after a few minutes of her in-depth explaining of results, she said it "you do not have cancer" and actually I had no hematological issue that she was seriously concerned about. The only thing that was abnormal, from a hematological perspective, was that my blood counts were a little off. There were other abnormalities, but she explained that she "cleared" me from a hematologic prospective and recommended that I follow up with a rheumatologist.

I felt immediate relief. No cancer. No major hematologic issue. This was all really good news to me. But now rheumatology?

I asked her what she thought may be going on. She said she did not really know, but thought it was best that a rheumatologist evaluate me for potential autoimmune conditions, as some of the abnormal labwork was consistent with what may be seen with someone who has an autoimmune condition.

While she cleared me from a hematologic perspective, she wanted me to follow up with her just to re-check the blood counts in a few months. I felt okay with this, not concerned about the need to continue to follow up with her.

I left her office feeling a great sense of relief, but then got home and started researching autoimmune conditions. Yikes. Have you ever looked up all of the various autoimmune diseases? Dr. Google was really freaking me out and I was feeling nervous again about the possibilities. My sense of relief was short lived as I dug deeper into autoimmune symptoms and conditions. While many of the autoimmune conditions do not have an immediate death sentence, many of them seem to really impact quality of life. As a mother of two young girls, having quality of life was important to me - really important - actually, essential. I wanted answers and began looking for a rheumatologist. My internist gave a few recommendations - both of which could not get me in for an initial consultation for over 3 months. Thankfully, I worked at an institution with a surprisingly good rheumatology group and called to make an appointment. The first available - 5 months. I decided to lean on my contacts at work and was thankfully able to get an appointment in 6 weeks. I was relieved to have an appointment, but the wait for answers continued....