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(((Lionne))) I hope everything gets better soon.

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Hi. How is your husband doing?

Thanks for asking, sweetie. He's still anemic but not worse, he'll have endoscopy and colonoscopy on Monday, in hospital. Mojo and prayers appreciated!

Mojo and prayers sent.

Is he in hospital now or at home?

How are you holding up?

Prayers sent!!!

I'm okay. I really believe it's a bleeding polyp that can be fixed easily. I realize it could be worse but I'm not focusing on that.

He's home. The only reason for the hospital stay is caution due to his July heart attack.

I think he's getting good care, appropriately considering his overall health.

I had a bleeding colon polyp in 2018, which was biopsied as "benign but high risk" and couldn't safely be removed by the usual colonoscopy. Sent my results to 2 top medical centers that do advanced GI procedures (Johns Hopkins in Baltimore being one of them). Both med centers called back wanting me to see their colorectal surgeons rather than their gastroenterologists. I believe they thought it was a 'bad news' polyp that would require surgery.

But thankfully, I found a great colorectal surgeon at the Cleveland Clinic, who uses a procedure called "Endoscopic Submucosal Dissection." He removed it - with a lot of difficulty - but no abdominal incision! (And he thought it was borderline whether I'd perhaps need a section of my colon removed.) A 6 month follow up was required. I can't say enough good things about them. Worth the 6 hour drive, for sure.

Hope all goes well!

Lionne - I had something very similar happen w/ my H.

As you may or may not remember when he was having his A he had a massive MI in the Widowmaker. He was very fortunate and got stented quickly and had no damage 3 months later. Then about 2 years later he started having shortness of breath, and weakness. I assumed it was his stent, and it was, the first one was not a drug coated, and the Dr stopped his blood thinner at a year.

So we had a second one placed. Then a year later same symptoms occured.

Prep for the cardiac cath showed his Hgb was 7. This is a transfusable level. So immediately I was on the horn getting him set up for colonoscopy. After his heart cath he had the scope. He had several small polyps, and one GIANT one in his lower colon, it was the size of a mans thumb, and if he had waited until his 50th bday for his first scope he would have had bad cancer by then.

He has since had follow up scopes, and he seems to grow polyps, always has 1-2 removed. He is in fact due this spring.

So here's to hoping that's all that wrong w/ you H.

Update...just picked him up from endoscopy and colonoscopy. No obvious reason for his low hemoglobin...small polyp, Barretts is stable. But, of course they found something else. Some sort of thickening near the appendix, probably nothing. But he has to have an abdominal CT and swallow a camera pill (he's going to HATE the retrieving of that!)

They did a bunch of biopsies, 7-10 days wait, but the doctor is not concerned there.

Question for those who know...his hemoglobin is still an issue, 15 in July, 10.8 in December, now 12.2 afterv2cweeks on supplemental Iron. Does that seem that he's trending up and it just needs time?

He's avoiding red meat, but eating healthier overall. Could that account for low hemoglobin?

I'll say it again, getting old isn't for sissies.

Lionne - is he taking a PPI? My hemoglobin, but more specifically my ferritin has dropped, and I was anemic. I had a colonoscopy and upper endoscopy last July, a couple of weeks before I had my labs checked, so we ruled out any GI bleed. I've been taking a high dose of PPI for many years, although in the last couple of years, have slowly weaned down to a lower amount (but still higher than they tell you is recommended on the OTC package). My internist feels the PPI is interfering with iron absorption, as well as some vitamin Bs. We've kind of decided that I am going to take somewhat regular B-complex injections on a regular basis (wow... the B6 in that shot stings!).

I've been taking Slow Fe for a few months now, and my ferritin, as well as hemoglobin, are slowly going back up.

Is he craving anything? When I was premenopausal and anemic, I could not chew enough ice in a day to satisfy my craving for it. Believe it or not, some ice satisfied it more than others. When I got my iron back up, the craving went away. I would also get winded just going up a flight of stairs. And I had restless legs at bedtime pretty bad.

Thankfully, my most recent bout of anemia did not lead to those cravings, although I did experience some restless legs.

Thanks, number4. He is taking PPI for many, many years. I know it can cause other problems, wawa the aware of the iron problem. I know its a benefit/risk issue.

I'm hoping his supplemental iron helps. And it's possible the protonix infusion in the hospital in December helped here.

Yes PPI's can slow the absorption of Iron.

But with his Barretts you don't want to stop that.

Yes it is slow to come back up especially w/o eating red meat. Cook in cast Iron, eat spinach, and have him eat some red meat. As long as it is low fat red meat he will be ok. Honestly.

But he has to have an abdominal CT and swallow a camera pill (he's going to HATE the retrieving of that!)

Yah they don't retrieve it. It is connected to a transducer that all the pic auto download to. And yes once it's out it gets flushed away. More than once on watching the photos have I seen the toilet bowl. He will go in in the am, drink it down just like any other pill while hooked up, and then in the evening or the next morning return the transducer.

I would ask if he needs to consult a Hematologist after all this testing is completed. Just to be on the safe side. Lastly if he has any divertiuli those suckers can bleed, and bleed a lot in short period of time, if something rubs a superficial vessel, and then stop just as quickly. So that could be what all this is from, but the Dr's can tell you if they think it is a slow leak vs a fast loss based on his blood counts.

Thickening at the appendix/ileocecal valve is usually nothing. If he had his appendix out as a kid could just be scarring even.

Now go feed that man a steak.

Now go feed that man a steak.

Haha!!! Exactly what I was thinking....what a wonderful excuse for some filet mignon!

Hope things settle down (((Lionne))) Dealing with this crap is a pain in "normal" times, but add in a pandemic adds in a whole other layer of stress.

And how do I get one of those "cleaning my emotions" genes?

Lol. That's exactly what I did! I eat red meat often, but not a lot at a time. I don't like most fish, don't eat pork, eat, but dislike chicken. I really wish I could become a vegetarian but I just carry tolerate a lot of beans and vegetables, dairy, etc.

So I've had to revise my cooking. I hate cooking. He's been good at making himself fish when I'm having something different. I think he's tired of salmon.

His A1C was a little elevated they want to keep an eye on that.

We'll have beef once a week and I'll make sure there are a lot of veggies to fill up on.

Thanks everyone.

Carbs and sugars are far worse for the A1C and heart disease than red meat unless he's eating fat and gristle all day every day nothing wrong with good lean red meat.

Right. He was a HUGE junk food eater, stopping at the convenience store virtually every day until his heart attack. He's lost the 25 lbs mostly by cutting that out. He does eat sugared cereal but only the "better" ones, Cheerios, etc. He's pretty much cut out bread, his other weakness. He's eating tons of fruit and some vegetables so hopefully with all those changes he'll be okay.

He'd hate being on a diabetic diet.

Tush or anyone, since they found no obvious bleed, is it okay for him to have a bit of wine now and then? He only has mixed drinks when we go out to dinner, and that hasn't happened since covid. Would a glass or two of wine be a problem?

I see no problem with wine, but I would check w/ his cardiologist.

I’m just trying to imagine being “sick of salmon”!

Update. Good news, we both got our first Moderna shot!

Bad news, they still don't know why my husband's hemoglobin is low.

CAT scan on Monday. Doctor (head of the gastroenterology department of this large teaching hospital) calls within 30 minutes of procedure. There is a mass in his appendix. Has to come out, hopefully through laproscope. Appendix is moderately enlarged, no sign of inflammation. But what really freaked me out is that the head of the colorectal department, having been alerted by the gastroenterology guy, called at 8:45 last night, telling us someone would set him up for an appointment on Wed of this week. The apparent urgency is alarming. We are in the midst of a major winter storm.

I know this could be cancer, also read that there is a very high success rate for treatment of appendiceal cancer, although it killed Audrey Hepburn. But this by itself doesn't seem to explain the occult blood and hemoglobin drop.

I'm very grateful for the care he's getting but freaking out inside my head. So is he but he'll never admit that.

Please hold him in the LIGHT in whatever format that takes for you.