My MDS has this side problem of haemochromotosis - which means excess iron in the blood. A rating over over a 1000 can be dangerous to heart and other major organs. The solution is simple to take 500 mls (a pint) of blood every now and then. When I was at 800 they took a pint every two weeks. Now I am down to once a month - and today's ferritin (iron) level was 462. Only another 412 lower to go, to get to a normal 50.
The needle they use, as above, is huge in comparative terms. (My friend Bruce says '
I've seen smaller harpoons' ) I distracted myself by telling my left arm that it was not attached to me, chatting to the nurse and Barbara, and taking these photos.
The blood is drained into a bag, and then thrown away - which is a shame as there are lots of patients with very little iron in their blood.
This is a few minutes later at around 480 mls - 20 to go. And then they have to pull this huge needle out!! You do not want a trainee nurse doing this - believe me. This nurse was excellent. (I guess giving blood is much the same - so hats off to those that do it.)
Not only has my iron gone to a more acceptable level, but my neutrophils have gone up from a miserly .62 to .8. Nowhere near Ros' s latest 11 !! All my other blood counts at low compared to a normal person, but have got no worse for a while - so that is good.
The net result is that I feel a lot better - less fatigue.
I have a bit of a sniffle in my nose today - so cannot go to see Roz until it has cleared up. Barbara is with her
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