[-dustin]

girlfriend's mom had to go to the ER yesterday. she was complaining about feeling weak. she has a history of being a hypochondriac, so i don't think anyone took her seriously. until.......

the doc had to give her a pint of blood and from what i was told, had she waited another week, she'd likely be dead.

the doc was going to run tests today to see what the deal was, and why the family's normal doc didn't catch this, but again, her blood was too low, and they had to give her another pint. the ER doc was baffled as to why the original doctor never caught this problem. apparently Mandi's mom had been going to the doc and getting blood work quite often these past few months, complaining of not feeling well. he never said anything was wrong, which of course, led to a greater belief that she was a hypochondriac.

 

[SkaredShtles]

The body is supposed to *manufacture* a sufficient amount of blood for survival. This sounds very strange.............

 

[LordOpie]

Is the other doctor... Dr. Acula?

 

[Ciaran]

Maybe your GF's mom is a volkswagen and just needs a top off every once in a while.

 

[binary visions]

Maybe your GF's mom is a volkswagen and just needs a top off every once in a while.

I just thought of about sixteen puns, involving "going for a ride" or "checking her oil level". I really don't know where to start.

 

[Dartman]

Bleeding ulcer?

 

[lovebunny]

Is the other doctor... Dr. Acula?

RIP mitch

 

[LordOpie]

RIP mitch

Amen

 

[-dustin]

Bleeding ulcer?

they're going to check for that tomorrow. i didn't know they bled that much. my dad has/ had one, but he never got as bad as Mandi's mom.

 

[Toshi]

uh, this story is incomplete. please expand on tests, results, and what you mean by "her blood was too low"

 

[splat]

"Hello Everybody !!! "
"Hi Dr. Nick!! "

 

[-dustin]

uh, this story is incomplete. please expand on tests, results, and what you mean by "her blood was too low"

Dr. Toshi (you're in med school, right?) -

yeah, there's lots missing. and unfortunately, i won't know what all is missing because her parents and her younger brother keep info under wraps. they know mandi would take it really bad. one of her sisters doesn't know anything at all yet. the family has some weird traits. hopefully i'll know more tomorrow when more tests are run.

 

[Toshi]

yeah, i'm in med school, slogging through 2nd year now. and in our urinary system class we're actually learning about volume and salt concentration disorders, so i'm curious to see what's up and how it's worked up

 

[-dustin]

i'll keep you posted. i'll even try to use fancy words like leukocytes and erythrocytes.

 

[robdamanii]

Hrm....wonder if she is anemic, low hematocrit, etc, or just low plasma volume.

Interesting to say the least.

 

[scrublover]

1. your body can have sloooooooow loss (slow enough that you don't notice over time), that it slowly compensates for in terms of blood pressure and so on, until it gets to the point you can no loger compensate, then problems start cropping up. one of those in hindsite things: "you know, i have been feeling kinda' run down the last few months....."

2. i'll not get into detail, but your red cell (or other blood component) production can be off for a variety of reasons, so that you are not producing enough/any/the right kind of cells. or could be some sort of auto-immune thing: you are making the stuff, but your body is destroying it faster/more than normal.

3. the thing to do is figure out which is the case (or maybe a combo of both), and the root cause of it, and why her compensatory mechanisms aren't kicking in properly. could be a host of many things. can't really tell in her case,without labwork and so on to work with.

either one of these to a degree, or in combo can be trouble.
chronic anemic states; we see them all the time where i'm at, more prevalent in elderly population, or folks with some sort of malnutrition state (ie; folks with eating disorders)

dave, your friendly ICU and sometimes ER nurse.

 

[-dustin]

initial diagnosis - colon cancer. not a good time for this. well, it's never a good time for it, but now...it's just not good.

 

[Toshi]

initial diagnosis - colon cancer. not a good time for this. well, it's never a good time for it, but now...it's just not good.

good luck to her and to you as well. never a good time indeed.

 

[golgiaparatus]

Bleeding ulcer?

I have been through this... in my intestine. Blood count fell dramatically. Took a few docs to figure it out. Take her to a gastrointerologist or mention it.

They put me on asocol and I bounced back in a few months. Never had to have a transfusion but my RBC fell to 8 from 16 in 4 days (which is high but I was a pretty crazy athlete being a college swimmer and all).

 

[-dustin]

got a call today, and was told the cancer was found early enough and it is believe that it has not spread anywhere. she goes in for surgery tomorrow.