I would like to take a moment and apologize. Due to circumstances beyond my control, my articles for 9/10-9/12 will be late, and not nearly as thorough as I would like. If possible I will go back and elaborate more later.

Today we’ll be talking about Myeloma. Myeloma is cancer of the plasma cells. Myeloma cells interfere with plasma’s proper functions, which leaves the bod with a weakened immune system, and susceptible to infection. Like with other blood cancers, the multiplication of cancer cells interferes with normal production of other cells. In this case, red and white cells. Also, the kidneys can be damaged from the high amounts of dysfunctional cells in the system. Myeloma cells can also produce substances that destroy bone, which leads to bone pain and breaking. Since the myeloma cells originate in the bone marrow as plasma, the cells sometimes collect in other bones (after passing through the blood stream) and is found in other sites in the marrow. This is where referred to as multiple myeloma.

Tomorrow we will be talking about Myeloproliferative Neoplasms (MPNs)

Until tomorrow,

Lina

Today is the 9th day of Blood Cancer Awareness Month. So far we have talked about  types of  blood cells, blood tests, bone marrow and bone marrow biopsies. Today we will finally be starting to cover blood cancers.

Blood cancers, or hematological malignancies are abnormalities that affect the blood, bone marrow or lymph nodes.  In a blood cancer, normal blood production is interrupted by the uncontrollable growth of abnormal blood cells.

There are several different blood cancers, each with their own specific sets of symptoms. Over the next several days we will go into each type of blood cancer; Leukemia, Lymphoma, Myeloma, Myeloproliferative Neoplasms (Polycythemia Vera, Essential Thrombocytosis, Myelofibrosis).

Tomorrow’s topic: Leukemia

Until tomorrow,

Lina

Today we’ll be talking about blood tests. I’m sure many of us are familiar with  that long list of numbers, and acronyms we get from the doctor’s office. I don’t know  about the rest of you, but until I was diagnosed with ET, I really didn’t care what the acronyms meant. It was more out of morbid-nerd-curiosity, than actual necessity that I bothered to familiarize myself with blood counts, what they mean, and why they’re important for me. Let me elaborate: My family is a nerd family…we love words; bases, prefixes, suffixes..what other words do these parts appear in, and getting the definitions from context. This nerd-drive is probably what got me interested in my blood counts to start with. Seeing bits of Greek or Latin, and recognizing it, gave me a feeling of nerdy satisfaction. After I got to know the words, I started to familiarize myself with the series of numbers and ranges that followed the words.

OK..enough of my rambling..lets get started

A Complete Blood Count, more commonly known as a CBC, is a diagnostic and metering test for the blood. Your doctors can tell a lot about your body by what’s floating around in your blood. Do you have a high WBC, which can be a sign of infection? Do you have low HCT, or HGB, what about your MCV, or MCH, MCHC, AST, ALT, ETC…See what I mean, with all those acronyms?! Crazy! Until you break them down, and learn what they mean.

First, when looking at a CBC you will see the listing on one side for what is being measured, and the other side will have the typical ranges that what is being measured should fall into.

Some of this may be a little redundant, since we’ve already talked about our basic blood cells, but here we’ll go a little more deeply into what it means. The examples I’m giving below are from my own previous lab tests, so the ranges you see on your own, may be different. These are just examples!

1. WBC – White Blood Cells. Range: 3.8-10.8 thousands/uL (thousands per microliter). If your results are outside of the typical range, this can indicate infection, leukemia, allergic reaction, among other things.
2. RBC – Red Blood Cells. Range: 3.8-5.10 million/uL (millions per microliter) Abnormal results can indicate anemia (low) or polycythemia (high), among other things
3. HGB – Hemoglobin. Range: 11.7-15.5 g/dL (grams per deciliter) High HGB can be seen in people who live at high altitudes, or in smokers, but high HGB can also indicate Polycythemia, certain kinds of tumors, and emphysema. Low HGB can indicate anemia, sickle cell disease, or kidney failure.
4. HCT – Hematocrit. Range: 35-45% To have low hematocrit is to be anemic. And high HCT is also indicative of Polycythemia, and many other things.
5. MCV –  Mean Corpuscular Volume. Range: 80-100 fL (femtoliter) MCV is used to determine the type of anemia a patient may have. Microcytic Anemia – low MCV, Normacytic Anemia – average MCV, Macrocytic Anemia – high MCV.
6. MCH – Mean Corpuscular Hemoglobin. Range: 27.0-33.0pg (picogram)
7. MCHC – Mean Corpuscular Hemoglobin Concentration. Range: 32.0-36.0 g/dL (grams/deciliter)
8. RDW – Red Cell Distribution Width. Range: 11.0-15.0% High and low RDW levels are indicative of anemia as well.
9. PLT – Platelets. Range: 150-500 thousand/uL (Thousand per Microliter) High platelets can indicate recent trauma, surgery or Essential Thrombocytosis, Low platelets can indicate ITP (idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura). Platelets also decrease during pregnancy, due to an increase in blood volume.
10. Absolute Neutrophils. Rang: 1500-7800 cells/uL (Cells per Microliter)
11. Absolute Lymphocytes. Range: 850-3900 cells/uL (Cells per Microliter)
12. Absolute Monocytes. Range: 200-950 cells/uL (Cells per Microliter)
13. Absolute Eosinophils. Range: 15-500 cells/uL (Cells per Microliter)
14. Absolute Basophils. Range: 0-200 cells/uL (Cells per Microliter)
15. Neutrophils. Range: %
16. Lymphocytes. Range: %
17. Monocytes. Range: %
18. Eosinophils. Range: %
19. Basophils. Range: %

10-19 typically indicate infection, allergic reactions, reactions to medications, or different types of blood cancers.

As always, this information is very generic. For more information, talk to your doctor, or NP, and always take everything you read on the internet (including this blog) with a grain of salt.

Tomorrow we’ll start talking about blood cancers.

Until tomorrow,

Lina

So we’ve talked about the functions of our blood, and then covered each blood part (Plasma, RBCs, WBCs, and my personal favorite, platelets) individually. Now I think we should talk about where are blood cells originate.

As mentioned blood cells begin in the bone marrow. Bone marrow is a soft tissue that is found mostly in the long bones, pelvis and vertebrae. There are two types of marrow in the human body; Red Marrow which produces red cells, white cells and platelets, and Yellow Marrow which contains fat and connective tissue. When born, the human body only contains red marrow but by adulthood about half of the red marrow has been replaced by yellow. Red marrow can still be found in in the skull, spine, hip bones, ribs and sternum.

As many of you probably know, the way a blood cancer/disorder is definitively diagnosed is a bone marrow biopsy. This procedure is generally performed in the clinic, with the patient under light sedation.  When mine was done, my doctor was at a free standing clinic, with no anesthesiologist, or respiratory support available…so unfortunately for me, there was no sedation…just a local in the back of my hip. While laying on my stomach on the table, the doctor sterilized the area he had chosen. After the local had gone to work, the doctor made a very small incision, and inserted the needle.  The needle is screwed down into the bone, almost like a corkscrew to open a bottle of wine. After the doctor gets through the bone, they will use a syringe to remove a sample of liquid marrow, then goes a bit deeper with the needle to remove a small solid piece of marrow as well. Aspirating the liquid marrow is pretty painful, which is why there is usually a sedative given to the patient. After the samples have been removed, the doctor or nurse will apply pressure to the wound and then bandage it. There is usually some residual pain after the procedure. I was achy for about 3-4 days afterwards and the results came through about a week or two later.

Tomorrow we will start talking about blood tests and what they mean!

Until tomorrow,

Lina

As I mentioned yesterday in the White Blood Cell post, today we’ll be talking about my personal favorite cell, the platelet! As an E.T patient, platelets hold a special place in my heart 😉

Platelets, or thrombocytes, are really more like fragments of cells (because they lack a nucleus), as opposed to whole cells like WBCs, or RBCs. Platelets help with clotting in the body. When you are injured, platelets rush to the site of injury and form a clot. Preventing excessive bleeding but at the same time, the platelets also secrete chemicals that promote nearby fibroblasts (collagen forming cells) from other tissues to the wound site. This tells the wound to either heal correctly, or to form a scar.

Like all blood cells, a proper number of cells does need to be maintained. Too few platelets can lead to excessive bleeding. Too many platelets can lead to myocardial infarction, pulmonary embolism, stoke  or headaches. Luckily there are treatments for both issues, but we will talk about those more later this month!

Tomorrow we will be talking about bone marrow. So stay tuned!

Until tomorrow,

Lina