My Health, Lately

Well, I give thanks that I'm relatively healthy when more medical problems hit.

On the afternoon of Saturday, Nov. 24, I felt tired and fatigued as I had when the battery of pacemaker had run down. I thought: Oh damn another malfunction -- and so damn soon!
and went to the local hospital's emergency room.

Seems that I had some internal bleeding that was being discharged in my stools. Out of a hemoglobin level of between 13.5 and 15, I had 5. I had noticed my stools were a different color -- dark black with a reddish tint -- but thought they were that way because of a food I had eaten.

I started to received the first of three units of blood (a unit = a pint plus) and was admitted Saturday night. I stayed until Wednesday morning, and I'm sure it was one day more than necessary because it was during the long Thanksgiving weekend.

Doctors inserted a camera through my windpipe to the end of my stomach/beginning of my small intestine. They found no bleeding there. The next day I received a colonoscopy after I received a liquid enema. I drank some foul liquid and spend about half the night on a portable commode. Even then I wasn't clean enough so I recived two quarts of soapy water to complete the cleansing.

During the colonocopy, the doctors found no bleeding.

I was released Nov. 28 and was told to eat a lot of iron-rich foods as well as take 650 milligrams of iron a day and get a lot of rest. I have had no relapse of any symptoms and my hemoglobin levels were at 10.9 on Thursday -- up from 8.9 on Dec. 1.

A follow-up appointment is scheduled for Dec. 17, a week from this coming Monday.

ADDENUM, JAN. 23, 2013: At my follow up appointment, my doctor told me to eat iron-rich foods, such as spinach and apricots. I'm lucky that I like both foods.

He also told me to keep taking the iron twice a day until April 1. Damn. I take them after I eat breakfast and inner because they leave a mildly nasty taste in my mouth.