Tell me I'm not crazy
Stop and put on your thinking cap because I'm about to present a lot of information. I'll try to keep it structured and to the point.
#1 - Consolidated blood test results
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It has always bugged me to no end that there's no single location for my personal health record. There's over a decade of information in the Johns Hopkins portal and as much in the VCU Health portal. So, I decided to consolidate all of the information myself, my blood test results in particular. I keyed all of the information into a Google (Spread) Sheet. It compiles all of my blood work back to October 28th, 2002. You can see the Google Sheet itself right here.
Or, you can click the image on the right to get a static peek at what the spreadsheet looks like. |
Click to enlarge
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#2 - Better data analysis tools
I realize that you, as the physicians, probably have a set of tools for analyzing the data in my respective portals. Even if you do, I don't. I want to be able to understand as much as I can because any decisions we make will impact me. So, I decided to create an analytical tool of my own based on the consolidated data set in the Google Sheet. I focused on these blood test metrics because they seem to be of particular concern in my case:
- White blood cells (WBC)
- Platelets (PLT)
- Absolute lymphocytes (LYM Absolute)
- Absolute neutrophils (NEU Absolute)
- Absolute CD3, CD4, CD8 and CD19
where:
- (1) allows you to zoom to different date ranges (e.g. 1 year, 6 months, etc.)
- (2) is a slider (there's another on the right) that you can use to refine the date range
- (3) indicates annotated data points (the "A" and "B")
- (4) indicates the annotations for those data points
This is what I see
When I scroll through all of the charts, I see my results (WBC, PLT, LYM, NEU) bouncing around randomly with two exceptions:
- In early 2010, there was a sharp upward spike and then the results remained elevated from previously
- At the start of 2013, there was a sharp upward spike and then the results declined steadily until today
So, what happened in 2010 and 2013?
Well, in February of 2010 I was hospitalized at Johns Hopkins with my case of autoimmune hemolytic anemia. I was treated with blood transfusions, steroids and Rituxan. My blood work remained improved overall for almost three years.
In December of 2012, I was hospitalized at VCU Health after a bad reaction to a bronchoscopy procedure, itself initiated because of a 4-month lung issue. At this time, I was diagnosed with CVID and began my IgG therapy. My blood work has slowly and steadily declined for the four years that have elapsed since then.
So, now that all of that has been explained, am I crazy to think that my IgG therapy has sent me into my current tailspin? It sure seems clear to me.
Well, in February of 2010 I was hospitalized at Johns Hopkins with my case of autoimmune hemolytic anemia. I was treated with blood transfusions, steroids and Rituxan. My blood work remained improved overall for almost three years.
In December of 2012, I was hospitalized at VCU Health after a bad reaction to a bronchoscopy procedure, itself initiated because of a 4-month lung issue. At this time, I was diagnosed with CVID and began my IgG therapy. My blood work has slowly and steadily declined for the four years that have elapsed since then.
So, now that all of that has been explained, am I crazy to think that my IgG therapy has sent me into my current tailspin? It sure seems clear to me.