Hi.

Had infusion #3 today... #4 is on Thursday and #5 on Friday... I am counting them down.

I saw the doctor while sitting there... (he's a techno-geek, like me, so we were having a phone conversation! - love this man!!) Anyways, I told him that I thought I'd be feeling better and he said, "No, I told you that it will take a few weeks for you to say - wow, I feel better than I did a couple of weeks ago - but you still won't feel "great" yet!" A little discouraging, but I appreciate his honesty.

In your knowledgeable opinions:

1. What is anisocytosis? It says X2 beside it.

2. What is HGB? Is that hemoglobin that you all talk about? If so what is normal, it says mine is low.

3. What is MCV and MCH? Again, what are the norms? Mine both are low.

4. What is RDW-CV? Norms anyone? Mine is high.

My iron saturation is still low and my ferritin, serum is still low.

Any and all advice/information/guesses appreciated! ;-)

Thanks.

1. What is anisocytosis? It says X2 beside it.

2. What is HGB? Is that hemoglobin that you all talk about? If so what is normal, it says mine is low.

3. What is MCV and MCH? Again, what are the norms? Mine both are low.

4. What is RDW-CV? Norms anyone? Mine is high.

I found this information for you. HGB is hemoglobin and there should be a reference range given as to what is normal. MCV, MCH, MCHC, and RDW are measurements or calculations related to red blood cells (RBCs) Mean corpuscular volume (MCV) is a measurement of the average size of your RBCs. The MCV is elevated when your RBCs are larger than normal, for example in anemia caused by vitamin B12 deficiency. When the MCV is decreased, your RBCs are smaller than normal (microcytic), such as is seen in iron deficiency anemia or thalassemias.
Mean corpuscular hemoglobin (MCH) is a calculation of the amount of oxygen-carrying hemoglobin inside your RBCs. Since macrocytic RBCs are larger than either normal or microcytic RBCs, they would also tend to have higher MCH values.
Red cell distribution width (RDW) is a calculation of the variation in the size of your RBCs. In some anemias, such as pernicious anemia, the amount of variation (anisocytosis) in RBC size ) causes an increase in the RDW.

Thank you so much! Three more infusions this week - then re-testing!! ;-)