A Tale of Two Blood Counts
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.
Give me but a few moments dear reader, to unfold the events of the past couple weeks. When I last left you, I was awaiting the results of a biopsy of matter in the pancreas. It came back benign, which is a good word when your body decides to go into the tumor manufacturing business. That's a total of four, the benign and one (the prostate) that rises and falls with testosterone and injections of said hormone. Armed with that, it was off to the endocrinologist for my pre mri screening, which includes blood work. I got the form and headed down to the lab and walked in and I was the only patient there. Now usually the place is full. One of the things I've noticed about facilities such as that is that just because the waiting room is full, it doesn't mean all of them are there to get their blood drawn. I took an unscientific survey and found that white folks usually come to the lab alone. African American folks usually have one person with them. Hispanics bring the whole apartment complex. What is a quiet personal thing to one is a great day out to another. And when you think about it, it makes sense. It's like a trip to the zoo only it doesn't cost anything to get in. There are leather chairs and magazines and elevators. There are wheelchairs and old folks. It just doesn't get any better.
When I got to the lab and was the only one there, I thought "sweet, this will be a breeze!" I turned my paperwork in and a moment later they asked me to come to the window. A very severe looking woman with "Supervisor" embroidered on her shirt said, "you have two tests from July that haven't been paid for. If you want us to draw this blood you've got to pay us a thousand dollars." I said, "I use this lab because it's a hundred percent covered with my insurance, how could it not be paid. Plus, I don't think you can deny drawing me for something my doctor has ordered." When it came to this argument I quickly found out I was arguing from a position of wrong. Blue Cross hadn't paid and Labcorp did have the right to deny my blood being drawn. The next day I got Blue Cross on the phone and we called Labcorp and come to find out Labcorp sent the bill to Blue Cross in North Carolina who promptly rejected it because they didn't have a David Yasko on their medical plan in North Carolina. So once Labcorp figured out they had sent it to the wrong people, they gave me the OK to go and have my blood drawn.
Except Monday was a holiday and they were closed. Tuesday I had a funeral to attend and found a Labcorp office close to where I was going to be. They were a delight and even managed to find my vein that I thought had shut down. My go to vein is back in business!
And then it got exciting.
This has to do with an off the chart white blood count and an off the chart red blood count. My doctor called me to tell me personally. Said we would need to consult with a hematologist. I asked him what the best and worse cases were and he said, "best case, an infection along with some dehydration. Worst case, leukemia." Now there is an answer that opens the door for about anything that comes down the canyon. He said, "have you had any sudden bruising?" I said, "why yes, I have. Huge bruises that come from nowhere. Bruises that you look at and think, "I'm sure I should have remembered that whack." He said, "have you had small blood blister looking things come up on your legs and chest?" I said, "I thought it was just what we used to call prickly heat." He said, "I'll talk to your PCP and we'll get a hematologist in the loop here." Then he said, "just to be safe, we are going to start you on some new medications." Even with my insurance this was a whopping $233.00. New hormones, new stuff to break down proteins.
For the record, I feel really good. Better than I've felt in months. I well and truly believe that there is no way in the world this is the second diagnosis. I don't even want to use the word because I don't want to acknowledge its possibility. I googled it all on the web and a the explanation that was most reasonable to me was that sometimes these get high with the use of anabolic steroids. Of which I take a healthy dose of depotestosterone every week, sometimes twice a week, depending on levels.
However, please keep me in your prayers.
I've decided against participating in the previous entry's money making scheme. I would like to point out that the origin wasn't Nigeria, which from what I understand is a hotbed of internet scams. It was Senegal. Had it been Nigeria, I would have been leery. (For those of you who have written and asked if I was ever seriously considering this, the answer is heavens no. I was just trying to see if I could out poor mouth her and I think I performed adequately in the poor mouthing category. I did email her back and ask if she would forward me the money to get my steel legs and I could pay her back out of the proceeds and have heard no reply. Compassion is dead as we know it.)
So, there you go.
Dave
www.bpdfamily.com
Give me but a few moments dear reader, to unfold the events of the past couple weeks. When I last left you, I was awaiting the results of a biopsy of matter in the pancreas. It came back benign, which is a good word when your body decides to go into the tumor manufacturing business. That's a total of four, the benign and one (the prostate) that rises and falls with testosterone and injections of said hormone. Armed with that, it was off to the endocrinologist for my pre mri screening, which includes blood work. I got the form and headed down to the lab and walked in and I was the only patient there. Now usually the place is full. One of the things I've noticed about facilities such as that is that just because the waiting room is full, it doesn't mean all of them are there to get their blood drawn. I took an unscientific survey and found that white folks usually come to the lab alone. African American folks usually have one person with them. Hispanics bring the whole apartment complex. What is a quiet personal thing to one is a great day out to another. And when you think about it, it makes sense. It's like a trip to the zoo only it doesn't cost anything to get in. There are leather chairs and magazines and elevators. There are wheelchairs and old folks. It just doesn't get any better.
When I got to the lab and was the only one there, I thought "sweet, this will be a breeze!" I turned my paperwork in and a moment later they asked me to come to the window. A very severe looking woman with "Supervisor" embroidered on her shirt said, "you have two tests from July that haven't been paid for. If you want us to draw this blood you've got to pay us a thousand dollars." I said, "I use this lab because it's a hundred percent covered with my insurance, how could it not be paid. Plus, I don't think you can deny drawing me for something my doctor has ordered." When it came to this argument I quickly found out I was arguing from a position of wrong. Blue Cross hadn't paid and Labcorp did have the right to deny my blood being drawn. The next day I got Blue Cross on the phone and we called Labcorp and come to find out Labcorp sent the bill to Blue Cross in North Carolina who promptly rejected it because they didn't have a David Yasko on their medical plan in North Carolina. So once Labcorp figured out they had sent it to the wrong people, they gave me the OK to go and have my blood drawn.
Except Monday was a holiday and they were closed. Tuesday I had a funeral to attend and found a Labcorp office close to where I was going to be. They were a delight and even managed to find my vein that I thought had shut down. My go to vein is back in business!
And then it got exciting.
This has to do with an off the chart white blood count and an off the chart red blood count. My doctor called me to tell me personally. Said we would need to consult with a hematologist. I asked him what the best and worse cases were and he said, "best case, an infection along with some dehydration. Worst case, leukemia." Now there is an answer that opens the door for about anything that comes down the canyon. He said, "have you had any sudden bruising?" I said, "why yes, I have. Huge bruises that come from nowhere. Bruises that you look at and think, "I'm sure I should have remembered that whack." He said, "have you had small blood blister looking things come up on your legs and chest?" I said, "I thought it was just what we used to call prickly heat." He said, "I'll talk to your PCP and we'll get a hematologist in the loop here." Then he said, "just to be safe, we are going to start you on some new medications." Even with my insurance this was a whopping $233.00. New hormones, new stuff to break down proteins.
For the record, I feel really good. Better than I've felt in months. I well and truly believe that there is no way in the world this is the second diagnosis. I don't even want to use the word because I don't want to acknowledge its possibility. I googled it all on the web and a the explanation that was most reasonable to me was that sometimes these get high with the use of anabolic steroids. Of which I take a healthy dose of depotestosterone every week, sometimes twice a week, depending on levels.
However, please keep me in your prayers.
I've decided against participating in the previous entry's money making scheme. I would like to point out that the origin wasn't Nigeria, which from what I understand is a hotbed of internet scams. It was Senegal. Had it been Nigeria, I would have been leery. (For those of you who have written and asked if I was ever seriously considering this, the answer is heavens no. I was just trying to see if I could out poor mouth her and I think I performed adequately in the poor mouthing category. I did email her back and ask if she would forward me the money to get my steel legs and I could pay her back out of the proceeds and have heard no reply. Compassion is dead as we know it.)
So, there you go.
Dave
www.bpdfamily.com
I love you and you know that I pray for you daily....hang in there Yaz!!
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