Anemia - update

Clementine_P
Clementine_P Member Posts: 518 Member
in Breast Cancer #1

Soooo, the good news (very good news!) is that it is not cancer and probably nothing serious.  The meh news is that they don't know why I got so anemic.  I'm off the baby aspirin that I have been taking for the past 2.5 years.  I had my second colonoscopy/endoscopy last week and the results came back normal (this time my bowels behaved and so no summer school for them!).  Today I had my sixth and last iron infusion (just call me iron lady!) and my levels are close to the low end of normal.  I'm told that over the next month my levels should really shoot up a lot more.  I don't have to see my oncologist until October now and we are just going to wait and see what my levels are then.  While I would prefer a definitive answer as to what caused this I am really fine with, it is NOT a recurrence. 

Thanks to all for listening to my irrational fears!

Clementine

PS, I really was eating all of my spinach!

Comments

  • SIROD
    SIROD Member Posts: 2,194 Member
    #2
    Anemia

    Dear Clementine,

    How often do you have an iron infusion?  

    I had one and what a difference it made.  Iron FE was 24 (50-170) % Saturation was 9 (20-55).  I was so tired, I didn't dare to drive.  My RBC are always out of range but I am on chemo for cancer and use a chemo drug for uveitis.  I see my primary care at the end of the month, I will ask for another test to measure my iron levels.  My oncologist ordered something called Provigil by the insurance took 2 1/2 weeks to approve.  Now that I feel better, I wanted to talk with her before trying.

    Do you have the iron infusion month?

    I am happy that you are glad with the results.

    Doris

  • New Flower
    New Flower Member Posts: 4,294
    #3
    SIROD said:

    Anemia

    Dear Clementine,

    How often do you have an iron infusion?  

    I had one and what a difference it made.  Iron FE was 24 (50-170) % Saturation was 9 (20-55).  I was so tired, I didn't dare to drive.  My RBC are always out of range but I am on chemo for cancer and use a chemo drug for uveitis.  I see my primary care at the end of the month, I will ask for another test to measure my iron levels.  My oncologist ordered something called Provigil by the insurance took 2 1/2 weeks to approve.  Now that I feel better, I wanted to talk with her before trying.

    Do you have the iron infusion month?

    I am happy that you are glad with the results.

    Doris

    Congratulations good news

    Enjoy your summer

  • Clementine_P
    Clementine_P Member Posts: 518 Member
    #4
    SIROD said:

    Anemia

    Dear Clementine,

    How often do you have an iron infusion?  

    I had one and what a difference it made.  Iron FE was 24 (50-170) % Saturation was 9 (20-55).  I was so tired, I didn't dare to drive.  My RBC are always out of range but I am on chemo for cancer and use a chemo drug for uveitis.  I see my primary care at the end of the month, I will ask for another test to measure my iron levels.  My oncologist ordered something called Provigil by the insurance took 2 1/2 weeks to approve.  Now that I feel better, I wanted to talk with her before trying.

    Do you have the iron infusion month?

    I am happy that you are glad with the results.

    Doris

    Sirod

    I had one infusion a week for 3 weeks and when they saw that I was tolerating it well, they gave me three in a row this week.  I am definitely noticing a difference now.  My Ferritin levels were down to 3 and hemoglobin was at 10 but as of yesterday my hemoglobin was up to 11.7 (12 is the low end of normal).  I'm told that it takes about 2 weeks to really feel the effects to start to kick in and then they can last as long as 3 months.  I believe the kind I had was called Venofer.  Other than feeling flushed and having a metallic taste in my mouth for a day, I had no side effects at all.

    Good luck to you Doris.

    Thanks so much, New Flower!

  • SIROD
    SIROD Member Posts: 2,194 Member
    #5
    Clementine_P said:

    Sirod

    I had one infusion a week for 3 weeks and when they saw that I was tolerating it well, they gave me three in a row this week.  I am definitely noticing a difference now.  My Ferritin levels were down to 3 and hemoglobin was at 10 but as of yesterday my hemoglobin was up to 11.7 (12 is the low end of normal).  I'm told that it takes about 2 weeks to really feel the effects to start to kick in and then they can last as long as 3 months.  I believe the kind I had was called Venofer.  Other than feeling flushed and having a metallic taste in my mouth for a day, I had no side effects at all.

    Good luck to you Doris.

    Thanks so much, New Flower!

    Thank You

    Thank you Clementine I will ask my primary care about it all.  Could be related to the fact I had bleeding ulcers.  My hemoglobin went down to 9.0 for about 3 weeks the last was blood test it rose to 9.6.   Since, I began chemo the range was 10.9 to 11.2 then it plunge into the 9 range.

    I feel great and it is my 2nd week I believe but it's my 2nd week off chemo too.  I start my 3rd cycle of Taxol next Wednesday.  I never want to feel that weak again, especially if there something to help it.

    Appreciate your responding to me.  While I am glad you did not have a recurrence, your like me, I need to know what causes things to go amok.

    Doris

  • Clementine_P
    Clementine_P Member Posts: 518 Member
    #6
    SIROD said:

    Thank You

    Thank you Clementine I will ask my primary care about it all.  Could be related to the fact I had bleeding ulcers.  My hemoglobin went down to 9.0 for about 3 weeks the last was blood test it rose to 9.6.   Since, I began chemo the range was 10.9 to 11.2 then it plunge into the 9 range.

    I feel great and it is my 2nd week I believe but it's my 2nd week off chemo too.  I start my 3rd cycle of Taxol next Wednesday.  I never want to feel that weak again, especially if there something to help it.

    Appreciate your responding to me.  While I am glad you did not have a recurrence, your like me, I need to know what causes things to go amok.

    Doris

    Fingers crossed

    That is works for you and that you continue to feel really good.  You are truly amazing.

    Clementine

  • TraciInLA
    TraciInLA Member Posts: 1,994 Member
    #7
    Clementine_P said:

    Fingers crossed

    That is works for you and that you continue to feel really good.  You are truly amazing.

    Clementine

    So glad you finally got a "passing grade" on your colonoscopy!

    Clementine!

    I don't know how I missed this post, but have been thinking about you, and was just about to send you a PM to see if your and your bowels were going to have to take "colonoscopy summer school"! Wink

    SO glad that the important tests are coming back normal, and hope that you're going to continue to feel better.

    Traci

  • LoveBabyJesus
    LoveBabyJesus Member Posts: 1,679 Member
    #8
    :)

    Clementine, I missed your previous posts. I have been so busy that I have missed many posts. But I am very happy to read the good news. 

    I have a friend with iron problem. I didn't know you could take shots for iron. I will mention it to her.

     

    Hugs

  • Clementine_P
    Clementine_P Member Posts: 518 Member
    #9
    TraciInLA said:

    So glad you finally got a "passing grade" on your colonoscopy!

    Clementine!

    I don't know how I missed this post, but have been thinking about you, and was just about to send you a PM to see if your and your bowels were going to have to take "colonoscopy summer school"! Wink

    SO glad that the important tests are coming back normal, and hope that you're going to continue to feel better.

    Traci

    Thanks Traci!

    I had a stern talk with my innards and this time they toed the line.  Ha ha ha!  Seriously, thank you.  You are so thoughtful and your sense of humor never ceases to have me in stitches!

    Clem

  • Clementine_P
    Clementine_P Member Posts: 518 Member
    #10
    LoveBabyJesus said:

    :)

    Clementine, I missed your previous posts. I have been so busy that I have missed many posts. But I am very happy to read the good news. 

    I have a friend with iron problem. I didn't know you could take shots for iron. I will mention it to her.

     

    Hugs

    Thank you LoveBabyJesus!

    I hope that your friend looks into this.  It was an infusion but only took about 10-15 minutes.  It is definitely helping me feel better so I hope it works for her too if she decides to go that route.

    Best,
    Clementine

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