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It's been a while, lots going on


At least we can start with some pretty video of the usual place, West Old LaHonda. This has been an interesting year; "Winter" wasn't all that bad, but Spring has been much colder than usual, at least on the Tuesday & Thursday-morning rides. Cold enough that it caught me off guard a bit with my Raynauds (a condition that shuts off blood circulation to fingers and toes when cold or stressed), so finally I had to seek treatment for chillblains gone wild.

The Kaiser blood lab
It's not much fun trying to explain to a new GP Doc at Kaiser that you have something (Raynauds) that some don't think a real thing, probably largely because it's largely women who get it, so it ends up being associated with things not typically associated with men. Incorrectly, they'll associate with being an emotional thing, or maybe driven by hormones. Which, of course, is really a sad state of affairs. She literally told me she didn't think I had "real" Raynauds because it's a women's thing. I had better things to do Thursday than feel kind of imprisoned for a couple hours by Kaiser. But, in the end, I got a bunch of tests done to show my Raynaud's isn't related to any sort of auto-immune issues (like Lupus), and a doctor who has learned a but more about Raynauds.

Funny to think that, just a few years ago, I wouldn't have made an appointment to deal with something like this in the first place, due to my extreme fear of having blood drawn. Now, it's just this thing I have to do, because of my diagnosis three years ago with Essential Thrombocythemia, a mild bone-marrow cancer that causes my body to make too many platelets. Hard to believe I have no real issues with blood draws anymore. I still can't look at the needle being inserted, but at least I've gotten to the point where I don't mind seeing the vials of blood after.
Post date: 2021-04-17 00:19:53
Post date GMT: 2021-04-17 07:19:53
Post modified date: 2021-04-17 00:19:53
Post modified date GMT: 2021-04-17 07:19:53
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