#got nerfed

So on the 30th of March this year (a wednesday), I woke up to a blind spot in my left eye. It was like this little semicircle of despair right about the centre of my vision. I figured that it would probably just go away on its own, so I didn't worry about it too much and went to class that day. Fast forward to Friday and it was still there being an annoying little shit. It was at this moment that I was like "hey I should get this checked out probably." Lucky for me, I had a very convenient pre-scheduled optometry appointment the next day.

So I go to this appointment and am offered this optional test for $25 Canadian dollars and because that is the only cost for the appointment today (subtle brag) I go yes please. It's that fancy one where they take pictures of the back of your eye. How neat. That happens and I go into the actual exam bit with the optometrist, tell him about my eye, and then he sits down to look at my pictures.

They are funky.

So he tells me that I have two swollen optic nerves and additional swelling in the adjacent vasculature. There's also this weird other swelling stuff that's going on that he can't explain. It turns out that the fuzzy spot was caused by a pre-retinal hemorrhage, so basically there is blood in my eye and that is not poggers. He thinks I might have high blood pressure, but the additional and weird swelling confuses him, so he sends me to the emergency room of a hospital across town to have some tests run.

So much for the rest of my Saturday.

So I go to the hospital and get a CT scan and some more eye pictures and meet with some specialists and a bunch of other little tests (like a colourblind one for some reason), and they send me on my merry way. The CT scan didn't show anything, so that was pretty neat, but they kind of ruled out high blood pressure, which meant more tests. I would like to note that I paid no money for this (brag >:)

Sunday April 3rd - I go for blood tests at this other place, again free. They took 12 vials of blood. Had to piss in a cup. Was wack.

Monday April 4th - I have like a 7:30am appointment (ew so early gross) with an eye specialist. I repeat some of the tests that happened on saturday, and then they sit me down for this dye test where they inject me with a yellow dye so they can see how the blood is flowing in my eyes and then take a whole bunch of pictures. The first one failed which was a wee bit painful but on the upside my piss looked like a blended up minion for the next couple days. Very surreal.

After that test I finally got to meet with the specialist in this nice little corner office. He was really nice, told me that the hemorrhage would probably get reabsorbed so I didn't need to worry about that (it's gotten a lot better now actually which is nice, still a little bit there though). He then went through the blood flow pictures and couldn't find anything funky there.

And then he brought up my blood tests.

This is where things become a lot less cool.

Cringe, even.

Basically, he tells me that my white blood cell count is incredibly high. Like super duper high. He tells me that the regular count is supposed to be like 20 and mine is at nearly 500.

And this is a symptom that coincides with leukemia.

Shit.

Let me tell you, that day was not poggers.

Nothing is confirmed yet though, so I go home and proceed to have a very unexpected day. I message all my profs and was like "hey, might die, please give me extensions thanks :)" (and then I got them). I got a call from a hematologist later that day to go over the testing plan going forward. It included things that sounded not so fun.

The next day was my birthday.

:|

Turned 19 though that was neat.

Before I go on, I would like to mention that the very first thought I had when that eye specialist told me it could be leukemia was "I'm going to need so many bald jokes." Because you know. Chemotherapy.

Wednesday April 6th - I go back to the emergency room. This time I go to a different place, where I get my very own hospital bed (in the corner :D). The game plan is simple. In no particular order: 1) get an MRI 2) get a bone marrow biopsy 3) get more blood tests and 4) get a blood transfusion.

What actually happened: 1) super quick blood tests, less blood this time, neat. 2) bone marrow biopsy (fuck that shit was so weird it wasn't painful because of the freezing stuff but hguieanbcbneuia did not like, would not recommend) 3) MRI could take a few days to be scheduled and they don't want to keep me overnight 4) ultrasound to look at my spleen and liver 5) no blood transfusion because apparently my hemoglobin count went up since last blood tests so hell yeah 6) I went home

What I learned that day: 1) i hate bone marrow biopsies they suck donkey balls 2) my spleen was twice the size it should be (25cm instead of 12cm) 3) I now need to go for blood tests twice a week

I got to sleep the next day. Liked that part.

I don't remember when I got the next phone call from the hematologist (she's been fantastic btw I would definitely recommend her, very helpful and great with explaining things to stupid little me) but it was sub-pog.

Basically, I was officially diagnosed with CML (chronic myeloid leukemia). It's pretty rare in people my age, and makes up for about 15% of total leukemia patients iirc. It's caused by a freak mutation in your chromosomes, and has three stages: chronic, accelerated, and blast. I got caught in the chronic stage, which is the super treatable one and where most people are diagnosed.

I don't have to go for immediate chemotherapy, and if I'm lucky I shouldn't need it at all (rip bald jokes L). It's treated with these fancy little pills, and there are like five or six varieties for me to try which is neat. I should start those soon.

Right now I am on two other drugs, though. The first one is called hydroxyurea, and it's designed to bring down my white blood cell count. I think I peaked at 527 by whatever measurement they had, but it was down to like 505 on April 21st, so that's some neat little progress right there. I'll probably have my dose doubled soon to get that count to come down super fast, but for now I'm still too white for my own good.

The second drug is called Allopurinol, and it's designed to preserve my kidneys, because the first drug could make things toxic down there and I would like to keep those body parts thank you very much. Everything is going swimmingly so far though so that's good. I need to drink like 2 and a half litres of liquid daily though so my toilet is very busy rn.

I have to take these drugs at 9:30am every morning which sucks though I just want to sleep in :/

I think that's everything.

And that's the story of how got a new zodiac sign :) If you have any questions or good jokes please let me know I will respond to them :) Please don't pity me though you would not believe how much of that I have gotten in the last couple weeks it is frying my mind I just want to make fun of myself.