Being Diagnosed...

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I had gone for my yearly physical in October of 2015. I had normal blood work done, a full panel. The results came back that I had extremely high platelet counts. My primary care doctor suggested there may have been a lab error and had me get another blood draw. This blood draw was done about a week after the first one, the results were similar in nature. I then had to wait a month for a referral to an Oncologist. I went to see my Oncologist and he ran his own set of blood work. The following day, the day before Thanksgiving, I get a call from my Oncologist. He told me I needed to be admitted to the hospital, he feared that with my platelet counts so high (in the millions), that I would have a stroke or a blood clot. I was admitted and was there for about a week. I had a bone marrow biopsy so they could see what was going on. I was put on several different combinations of chemotherapy medications; even still my platelet levels continued to increase. I was released from the hospital with several chemotherapy meds, asprin and iron supplements. I had my hospital follow up two days after being discharged. My Oncologist came in and said he figured it out, I have CML. I hadn't ever heard of it, he went into great detail on what it is and what we could do about it. I currently take Gleevac 400mg once a day. The medications make me very fatigued and my bones seem to ache from the inside. My teeth have become so fragile and I have lost a lot of hair; however I am alive, and for that I am blessed. Telling my daughter was a very emotional and hard thing to do, but she understands that it is something that couldn't have been prevented and sometimes happens for unknown reasons. I sometimes feel like a burden to those that love and care about me. I'm not the same mom I used to be, full of energy and always willing to go outsi