The "C" Word

End of February 2025, 2 days before my 43rd birthday, the doctor gave me my final diagnosis "You have Cancer"!

I was in shock! "I had what?!", "Why Me?!", "How?!", "Now Where do I go from here?!"!! Soo many questions and very few answers.❤️

Early 2024, I had been fighting low iron for months, partly my stubbornness and partly getting through medical systems it took longer than it should have to get into the doctor! I finally landed in the hands of an amazing hematologist who did a ton of bloodwork to understand why my iron was low. After reviewing everything, my hematologist agreed to give me an iron infusion to help with low iron. Of course the doctor was required to use a specific iron infusion which consists of 2 - 1 hour long infusions;1 week apart.

The first infusion went as planned and I felt GREAT!! My energy levels were up and I was ready to tackle the world (so I thought lol 😂). When I went for my follow up, my bloodwork showed a very high ferritin level and this caused the doctor to believe I could have a rare blood cancer. This required a genetic test (of course the insurance doesn't pay for it), and the results that came back were positive for missing the JAK2 gene. At the next follow up, my doctor confirmed the results and we started the next steps to keep my platelets from over producing. My final diagnosis is Myeloproliferative Polycythemia Vera. This is a rare blood cancer that is not curable and its managed with daily medication.

I received that diagnosis in January 2025, and mid month my iron was super low again. My doctor agreed that I needed another infusion which I ended up in the hospital for 3 days. I had an allergic reaction to the iron infusion, this caused a fever, severe pain all over my body and a rash everywhere (thats when I went to the ER). My liver enzymes were high and by this point the rash was soo itchy it took a lot of med changes to find the right combination to get it under control. Because of the severe reaction to the iron infusion he worked with a colleague of mine and I moved to a cancer center for more treatments.

2025 was just beginning, and it surely wasn't starting out well.

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