Lori:

My reply was somewhat in jest, but not entirely. But, yes, for several years I would have my annual Medicare exam with blood tests including CBC, CMP, thyroid, lipids, PSA and a few others. Those labs were all relatively normal and every year my doc would say “see you next year”. But yet, I didn’t feel good with low energy, night sweats, itching to name a few.

I always found it interesting that my previous internist never ran an automated or manual differential along with the CBC each year. I then bought a direct-to-consumer CBC panel but with a differential and went to Quest Diagnostics to have it done. When the results came back my lymphocytes were extremely elevated, near 11,000 as I recall, although the CBC overall was reasonably normal.

Then I sent the Quest results to my new internist on MyChart and asked what could be causing my lymphocytosis. His PA called me back immediately and asked if I could come in the next morning. Of course I did and he then ran a myriad of additional tests and referred me to a hematologist/oncologist who ran another battery of blood, imaging, genetic, immune, biopsy, etc. testing. I’m sure you know the drill. It turned out I did have blood cancer like some of my other family members have.

So if I had taken my previous internist's word that I was fine, I never would have discovered I had SLL. It’s definitely worth it to be one’s own advocate.