Should I be concerned about Blood Cancer or other disease?

Lori's suggestion to ask for another CBC sounds wise to me.

I am 68, diagnosed with essential thrombocytosis CALR+ at age 60, but onset of ET probably age 55. Platelets swim around in 400s on hydroxyurea + baby aspirin. No clots yet, knock wood.

I also have moderate to severe mitral valve prolapse (heart) and an enlarged thyroid they're watching.

It seems like a no-brainer for docs to tell old ladies like me with these morbidities to get exercise to help circulation, eat heart healthy, and get good sleep--all of which may help reduce overall clot risk.

I sure wish a session with a physical therapist and a nutritionist were a standard of care for any of these ailments, especially for those of us with many of them.

Take care blood friends!

Just remember, you can have MGUS for many years and not show any symptoms. I had and still have a low grade fever for many years, 10 years at least. That’s the way your body defends itself my turning up the heat which kills many types of bugs. I never had many tests that showed different cells of the body like I get now. One blood test I get is for inflammation in the body. Its levels go from 0 to 5. For many of the tests, I registered a 1, meaning my body was fighting a bad guy like mild arthritis Then one test I got was during a kidney infection It registered a 3, meaning my body was fighting a pretty nasty bad guy. MGUS can also linger around many years. Take care. @becky1024

Just remember, when you sleep, that’s when your body begins to heal itself. That’s because when you’re asleep, many organs aren’t going full blast. Did you ever realize when you’re very sick, you sleep a lot, gee, I wonder why. And I’m one of those blood people with several rare and very rare blood disorders. Take care. @becky1024

I was tested for inflammation, too, to rule out some lurking autoimmune thing, but my sed rate was 20, within parameters for a woman my age.

Plus inflammation plays a role in many blood cancers, but I don't think anybody knows exactly how it works. Researchers are looking at anti-inflammatory diets to see if they help.

I have erythromelalgia (red and burning extremities), common for those with ET. It is intermittent and uncomfortable when it flares up, but it doesn't show up on tests.

It seems like people with good disorders and cancers drag a lot of weird symptoms around. The Mayo specialists in MPNs have been at the forefront of documenting these. Many clinicians are very skeptical of symptoms, but this us changing. Hard enough to have cancer without the doctor thinking you're a hypochondriac.

My last sed rate in May was 23 but my MGUS (blood disorder) is progressing into cancer. Either Multiple Myeloma or a rare form of Non Hodgkin’s Lymphoma called Waldenstrom Macroglobulemia. So my blood is all messed up and I’m classified as having Kappa light chain IgM MGUS. That’s a rare form of MGUS and is most likely to progress into cancer. Thankfully it’s a slow growing cancer right now but can become very aggressive and kill me in months. I remember my Oncologist/Hematologist used the inflammation test back in 2019 to check for RA till they determine I had MGUS.

It sounds like you have your troubles too. Hope things aren’t to bad for you. Unfortunately for me, the bad guy cells are on the move and in a new cycle of mutating. Between September 2021 and February 2022, they grew by 125%. Now they’re at it again but I don’t know by how much till I get my next blood test in November. Oh well, take care. @becky1024