Spring is Here - Finally!

It is a beautiful day in Baltimore. Spring is finally here after a long and arduous winter. This kind of weather makes everyone feel more energetic, don't you think?

I had my oncologist appointment with Dr. Doug Smith on April 10th. While he has big shoes to fill in Dr. Carraway's absence, he seems like a really nice guy and one that I will get along with just fine. I like that he's willing to give me his email address and he actually responds to any questions or concerns immediately.

As usual, I had my blood work done prior to my appointment. All of my counts were right where they were supposed to be, except my protein levels (the immune system makes these proteins) - they are still lower than normal and have been for about a year. Called Protein-Losing Enteropathy, this is an  indication that something might be going on in my gut. My GI doc, Dr. Linda Lee, ordered two tests - a specialized blood test, (my levels were fine which is good), and a stool-collection test (ugh!) that indicated that I was in fact losing protein (not good). An endoscopy, which examines the upper intestinal tract, was ordered with unremarkable results. The next step is a Capsule Endoscopy which means I will swallow a camera in a capsule that will take hundreds of pictures of my lower intestine (from my stomach down) to see if there is any kind of problem. Not sure when that is going to happen, but it certainly sounds interesting. I'm just wondering who is going to fish that camera out once the test is complete!  Will keep you posted.