I went to see my new Hematologist (Hemey) yesterday. After waiting in his waiting room for about an hour, I finally got called to the back to see him. They had some word puzzles posted on the wall, which makes me think that long waits are not unusual around there.
After solving most of the puzzles, Hemey finally came in and introduced himself. He explained that Rheumy had sent me to him to help discover the cause of my anemia. He asked me about my lupus, when it started, what I experienced, and what medications I was taking. He also had copies of my labwork. He said that they would run more tests to get to the cause of my anemia, but he thinks it could be due to:
1) Lupus
2) Hypothyroidism - he noted that my thyroid levels look low, and he was surprised that my medication dosage had actually gone down in the past six months. He decided to run some tests to check my TSH levels again.
3) the Azathioprine (Imuran) medication I am taking - he explained that it is a chemotherapy drug used to treat cancer patients and that it could also cause anemia.
He said that this was like detective work and that they would need to keep running tests to narrow down the possibilities. Once they found the cause of the anemia, hopefully they will be able to do something to fix it. An example he gave was that if he found the cause to be that my body wasn't producing enough of the hormone needed for red blood cell production, he could give me a hormone supplement to help.
He sent me to his lab to get blood drawn and scheduled me for a follow-up appointment next week. Hopefully we'll be closer to figuring this all out!
- a little lupie -
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