It was 5 to 7 years ago when I was mistakenly diagnosed to have a brain cyst. I was recommended to have a head x-ray then for possible presence of nasal polyps. I constantly had colds, itchiness and clogging of throat then. However, it appeared on the x-ray plate that there is a white mass somewhere below the ear area. It was evaluated by the radiologist as mass in the brain area.
It was very alarming for the ENT doctor and for me, of course! I thought about my children, my family. I thought I would die soon! Or at least I would suffer with too many medications and medical tests. Thank God, the xray retest showed negative results!
I was still bothered about the initial results and was thinking hard what could have gone wrong. As I tried to recall every detail, I suddenly remembered that I was wearing a pair of pearl earrings then and the man who did my xray never reminded me to take my earrings away. Probably it was the white mass formed just below the ear area when the xray was taken sideways.
Meanwhile, 2 weeks ago, another incident happened, which I thought would be the start of my physical and psychological suffering. I have been feeling flu symptoms, from dizziness, to headaches, weakness, to muscle and point pains, but I never had any fever! I rushed myself to the emergency room. Routine laboratory tests were made like urinalysis and CBC. I stayed and slept in the emergency room bed for around 2 hours and the doctor told me that everything is perfectly normal. I noticed that the WBC results is lower than normal, 3.7 c.f. normal of 4.5 but the doctor reiterated that it's normal, that my flu is just starting to invade my system. Feeling dizzy and groggy, I ignored everything, went home and tried to have a good rest. I was on 2-day sick leave then.
The following week, I was still not 100% feeling good but I at least felt better. I then went to the office and tried to consult our company doctor. Showing her my CBC results, she was very alarmed about it. She asked me a number of questions and even retrieved by annual PE records since 2005. She asked me if I have a family history for leukemia. It's positive because my 2 first cousins died of leukemia and this is another very alarming news for me. The doctor advised me to have a CBC retest on the same day. And so I did and results really showed that I had low WBC count. It made me worry more, with the retest results having the same trend as the initial one. The doctor did not give me any medication but wanted to have a close monitoring on my WBC. I was scheduled to have another CBC test a week after, this time a complete CBC test with fasting, as part of my annual PE routine test.
I had the latest blood extraction yesterday morning. At the same time, I consulted the doctor because of my severe colds, the usual flu symptoms without fever plus never-ending sneezing and eye itchiness. The company doctor gave me anti-histamine and paracetamol for the flu symptoms. She told me that it could probably be flu with allergy attack, could really last up to 2 weeks and may not have fever at all. But there is still a possibility that I may have fever. And so I had my late breakfast and went back to work after the consulation.
I worked the whole day, attended an workshop learning cascade and was really not feeling well after that. I went to the clinic again to have my temperature checked. I have fever at last! The doctor advised me to go home at once, have bed rest and just call up the clinic the following morning to check my CBC results.
Here I am, on a bed rest, but blogging! :) I actually had just taken my breakfast, had taken some medicines and will sleep again in a while. I am starting to feel groggy with the medications I took. I had just called up the company clinic and confirmed that my CBC results have normalized. The low WBC count in the past few weeks may have been caused by viral infection but since my immune system is strong, I never had fever. But this time, my immune system has weaken, having infection for 2 weeks, and so I started to have some fever and my immune system cannot fight the allergic reactions anymore. Taking is optimistically, this is a very good news for me! I thought I'm dying (again! hehe!)! But I will have continuous monitoring---another CBC test after a week. And of course, since we have family history of leukemia, include anemia and prostrate cancer (my dad), I need to be careful with my health. I just don't want to be suspected again to have any other serious illness, even though it's just a false alarm...
-maron-
05may2009
08:53 hrs
It was very alarming for the ENT doctor and for me, of course! I thought about my children, my family. I thought I would die soon! Or at least I would suffer with too many medications and medical tests. Thank God, the xray retest showed negative results!
I was still bothered about the initial results and was thinking hard what could have gone wrong. As I tried to recall every detail, I suddenly remembered that I was wearing a pair of pearl earrings then and the man who did my xray never reminded me to take my earrings away. Probably it was the white mass formed just below the ear area when the xray was taken sideways.
Meanwhile, 2 weeks ago, another incident happened, which I thought would be the start of my physical and psychological suffering. I have been feeling flu symptoms, from dizziness, to headaches, weakness, to muscle and point pains, but I never had any fever! I rushed myself to the emergency room. Routine laboratory tests were made like urinalysis and CBC. I stayed and slept in the emergency room bed for around 2 hours and the doctor told me that everything is perfectly normal. I noticed that the WBC results is lower than normal, 3.7 c.f. normal of 4.5 but the doctor reiterated that it's normal, that my flu is just starting to invade my system. Feeling dizzy and groggy, I ignored everything, went home and tried to have a good rest. I was on 2-day sick leave then.
The following week, I was still not 100% feeling good but I at least felt better. I then went to the office and tried to consult our company doctor. Showing her my CBC results, she was very alarmed about it. She asked me a number of questions and even retrieved by annual PE records since 2005. She asked me if I have a family history for leukemia. It's positive because my 2 first cousins died of leukemia and this is another very alarming news for me. The doctor advised me to have a CBC retest on the same day. And so I did and results really showed that I had low WBC count. It made me worry more, with the retest results having the same trend as the initial one. The doctor did not give me any medication but wanted to have a close monitoring on my WBC. I was scheduled to have another CBC test a week after, this time a complete CBC test with fasting, as part of my annual PE routine test.
I had the latest blood extraction yesterday morning. At the same time, I consulted the doctor because of my severe colds, the usual flu symptoms without fever plus never-ending sneezing and eye itchiness. The company doctor gave me anti-histamine and paracetamol for the flu symptoms. She told me that it could probably be flu with allergy attack, could really last up to 2 weeks and may not have fever at all. But there is still a possibility that I may have fever. And so I had my late breakfast and went back to work after the consulation.
I worked the whole day, attended an workshop learning cascade and was really not feeling well after that. I went to the clinic again to have my temperature checked. I have fever at last! The doctor advised me to go home at once, have bed rest and just call up the clinic the following morning to check my CBC results.
Here I am, on a bed rest, but blogging! :) I actually had just taken my breakfast, had taken some medicines and will sleep again in a while. I am starting to feel groggy with the medications I took. I had just called up the company clinic and confirmed that my CBC results have normalized. The low WBC count in the past few weeks may have been caused by viral infection but since my immune system is strong, I never had fever. But this time, my immune system has weaken, having infection for 2 weeks, and so I started to have some fever and my immune system cannot fight the allergic reactions anymore. Taking is optimistically, this is a very good news for me! I thought I'm dying (again! hehe!)! But I will have continuous monitoring---another CBC test after a week. And of course, since we have family history of leukemia, include anemia and prostrate cancer (my dad), I need to be careful with my health. I just don't want to be suspected again to have any other serious illness, even though it's just a false alarm...
-maron-
05may2009
08:53 hrs
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