Has the Jury reached a verdict?

Your honor, we have...

not.

We need more time to deliberate, play with a few scenarios and then we'll get back to you.

That's pretty much how my doctor's appointment went yesterday.And I'm trilled about it!  Haven't been this hopeful since the initial diagnosis.

No, he didn't drug me in order to make me okay with it either...read on!

He's doing some blood work (sending it off to Mayo so we'll have the results in 3 weeks or so) but in the mean time he's ordered B12 & Iron infusions.  Every other day for two weeks.  They'll make me feel better in the short term, and let us know if we need to do more digging.

He used the example of a cup.  Right now my hemoglobin/iron cup isn't full.  These infusions will fill me back up.  If there is a leak in the cup (internal bleeding) my numbers will go back down. In that case I'll have to swallow a capsule with a camera in it to take pictures of my small intestine to see if the bleeding is there.

 If my numbers go up and stay up, then something along the way just knocked the cup over and the contents were spilled.  No harm, no foul.  No real reason to investigate further.  Who really cares which of your little brats knocked over the grape juice, as long as it gets cleaned up properly?

The best part?  I explained to him about my training going down hill in March/April and how I was anxious to get back at it.  He told me that the guy he had just seen was a VIP in the K-town track club.  "Its funny that today is my day to see athletes."

Yep - you got it.  He called me an athlete.  A medical professional considers me an athlete. 

I mean its cool and all when you reassure me that I'm one, but you're my friends.  You have to say that!!

Then when I pushed him about when I could get back to my routine he said "Its just a few weeks.  I won't hurt you to take it easy for a few weeks."  That statement gave me hope.  This is a small blip on my training schedule.  So tiny I'll look back and have to think really hard what went on.  Just a few weeks I can handle.  Indefinitely was intimidating.

Another thing that made me feel good was the nurse asked if I had to nap when I got home after working a full day.  Knowing my levels, she thought that could be a possibility.  Not only do I not nap, I come home from work, cook dinner, do dishes, and sometimes other household chores before collapsing in bed at 9 o'clock.

It only reaffirms what I suspected after I learned I had completed a difficult marathon (very steep inclines) while anemic.

I'm a bad @$$ motha who don't take no crap off of nobody.  (Cool Runnings anyone?)

They took about 6 viles of blood doing further testing, and one of the tests is for lead poisoning.  That one is a little scary.

Doc: How old is your home?
Me: It was built in the 1890s.
Doc: Anything before 1970 could have lead in it, we need to test you for lead poisoning.  How long have you lived there?
Me: We moved in a month before I started having symptoms.  :-O

So there you have it.  The summary of my day yesterday.  Or at least the interesting part. 

I'm very hopeful that the infusions will have me bouncing off the walls in no time!