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Prayers needed

I’ve got a prayer request, and for a change it isn’t for an HPS’er. Annette, the mom of my Godkids, was diagnosed with Leukemia on Thursday. She’s been sent from the small hospital where she was admitted to the University of Kansas Medical Center (my hospital) and will probably be there for several weeks at least.

Annette hasn’t been very well for some time. There’s a saying I’m told gets mentioned in medical school – if you hear hooves, don’t assume it’s a horse. It might be a zebra. Maybe it’s because I live in the land of the zebras, but something seems odd about this. Lord knows I know nothing about Leukemia etc. – but Annette has been collecting various diagnoses for years. She’s had Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Fibromyalgia for years. She’s also had all sorts of digestive issues over the years. About the time I was diagnosed with HPS (the second time) she was diagnosed with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease. She’s been on oxygen on and off for the last year. Then, this year she was told she had Lupus. The weird thing about the Lupus is that she’s tested positive for it, then another doc. will tell her she’s negative etc. The opinion seems to vary from doctor to doctor. And now this – does lightening really strike several times in the same place? Annette and I are the same age, 34.

The Lupus diagnosis had seemed like a good fit with all her other symptoms – I wonder if there’s anything about Lupus that would make someone more likely to develop Leukemia? Maybe some medication she’s been on or something? Or if she’s gone misdiagnosed for some time? Or if all these events are just independent events and good old Annette just has really bad luck.

Really, this is out of my league. I’ve been reading up on Leukemia as the family doesn’t have internet access and isn’t likely to do that sort of research. Just for grins I did a Google scholar search for Leukemia and Lupus, but all I found were antidotal stories. I didn’t get a chance to dig very deep though. I’ve been helping out with a few things here and there and had the kids for a bit today.

I know my hunch is probably a nutty hunch from the land of the zebras based on the fact that I’m not a doc. and know pretty much nothing – but if anyone out there knows more about this than I do, or can even make some suggestions about what we should be asking Annette’s doctors – I’d really appreciate it.

Comments

Anonymous said…
It sounds like your friend Annette will get the best care and diagnostic testing available in Kansas. It may be a good idea to wait and see what type of leukemia she has based on all the testing that they will have to do. I have heard of people with Lupus being more inclined to get lymphoma, but leukemia? There may not necessarily be a connection. What types of drugs she was taking and radiological examining may have a connection. I'm sure KU will get to the bottom of this. Thanks for sharing her story with us and we will certainly keep her and her family in our prayers.

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