[Magdalen] Medical update (& honestly, getting' a little scary).

[Lynn Ronkainen]

Mike - I'm sure the autoimmune situation might be wreaking havoc on your 
blood work. So much good news here, hope it continues (and prayers for 
such).
Lynn

website: www.ichthysdesigns.com

When I stand before God at the end of my life I would hope that I have not a 
single bit of talent left and could say, "I used everything You gave me." 
attributed to Erma Bombeck
 "Either Freedom for all or stop talking about Freedom at all" from a talk 
by Richard Rohr

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From: "M J _Mike_ Logsdon" <mjl at ix.netcom.com>
Sent: Wednesday, May 04, 2016 5:16 PM
To: <magdalen at herberthouse.org>
Subject: [Magdalen] Medical update (& honestly, gettin' a little scary).

> Yesterday evening I left the Stanford dermatological people feeling pretty 
> good, because they seemed pleased with how things are going, if not 
> exactly well yet, with the legs and feet.  A new med was being added to 
> the gout med (the new one meant to shut down [slow down?] my autoimmune 
> system temporarily - yay), and the red rash on the tops of my feet I 
> thought was merely more vasculitis run amock, turns out to be an 
> unintentionally self-inflicted allergy to triple antibiotic ointment, that 
> which I've been using exclusively to both keep the wounds moist AND 
> prevent bacterial growth.  (Applying it exclusively to open wounds amounts 
> to introducing it directly to the blood stream, which doesn't like such 
> things, and hence the allergic reaction.)  So, no more of that, Vaseline 
> only, and steroidal cream to the rash until gone (hopefully).
>
> I had insisted on some hope this go'round, and got it.  Then today the 
> phone rang.
>
> 1)  Seems the red blood cell count in my urine is abnormally high, so 
> another doc enters the picture, a urologist, but thankfully down here in 
> Salinas.
>
> 2)  And it also seems that since January when they first started sucking 
> my blood on a regular basis, each time my white blood count has been 
> getting higher, and higher, etc, till now it's at a level that isn't 
> officially alarming, but way too high considering how cancer has not yet 
> been fully ruled out, AND what with my family history.  So, yet another 
> doc at the Stanford Cancer Center, this time a hematologist.  I've already 
> been warned that a bone marrow biopsy could be in the picture.  I'm 
> practicing my kicking and screaming just in case.
>
> The truly (and now appears, only) good news from yesterday was that when 
> they looked at my torso for the potential lymphoma rash I've been putting 
> the steroidal cream on, they said "Wow! Looks a lot better!", to which I 
> retorted "Aha! And you didn't even know I've not been using the cream as 
> regularly as I should! That means the progress is TRULY real!"  They 
> heartily agreed.