How did I find out I have Acute Leukemia (AML) Part 1.

June 2013

Well, I am not really sure when things changed from being sick with one thing and started turning into Leukemia.  For me things started happening around the middle of June 2013.  At that time I was diagnosed with a condition called Epididymitis.  It is a bacterial infection of the tubes of the testicle and causes pain and swelling.  It came on all of the sudden and unexpected.  So, of course with my luck I could not get into see my regular doctor, Dr. Mayle, so I ended up going to the walk-in clinic in Watervliet.  There they diagnosed it and began heavy doses of an antibiotic called Batrium.  I was getting a shot a day and taking a pill also.  So, by the fourth day they asked if it seemed like things were getting better.  They weren't, so they did an ultrasound on my testicle to see what was going on.  It basically turned out that the Batrium wasn't doing the job so they changed me to Cipro by mouth for 10 days.  At about day 7 it still didn't feel like things were getting better.  So, I made an appointment with Dr. Mayle and he called me in a prescription for 5 more days worth of Cipro.  As we were going on a camping trip that would have to suffice for then.  So we went camping and I went back to work, I was working all along, and I dealt with it.  Some of the swelling went down, but, it just didn't seem to be getting better.

July 2013

We went camping around the 4th of July.  As you can see things had stretched out for awhile.

August 2013

On August 15, 2013 I made another appointment with Dr. Mayle.  At that time my right testicle was still swollen so he put me on a penicillin based antibiotic for 10 days and told me that if this didn't clear it up that I would have to see a Urologist.   I also had been having a popping in my right ear and I thought I had an ear infection.  He looked at it and said it was probably allergy related and to try to use an over the counter allergy medicine and that the popping could be my Eustachian tube and should go away on its own.  At that time I had told him that "I really haven't felt well since the last time I saw you".  But, I was sent on my merry way.  So, after this round of antibiotic I did start to feel better, for just a bit, Then I started feeling tired and run down again.  Which is all how I had been feeling all along.

September 2013

So after this last round of antibiotics it is now into September.  I am starting to feel tired again but I am managing.  I start taking naps after work because I am not sleeping well.  I had started grinding my teeth in the last year.   Not sure if it is stress related or not.  But I did crack a tooth and caused some sensitivity in a couple of others.  I purchased a mouth guard and started using it at night.  Anyways it is September and the outage is coming at the end of the month and I am wanting to make time for one last camping trip before then.  Oh yeah at some point in time during all this we moved Karlye out of her room  for a couple weeks to paint it and add new trim.  I was tired more than usual so that is part of the reason that it took so long.  But, I sucked it up and we worked together and got it done.  She really seems to like it and that is all that matters.

After this I just started to get weaker and weaker.  Since I detailed much of it in a email that I sent to Dr. Mayle on September 29, 2013.  I will just post that here.

Dr. Mayle,

I am writing you in advance of my next appointment in an attempt to detail my medical problems that I have been experiencing over the last couple of months. In the event that you need to send me for some tests or you might want to recommend sending me to a specialist.

To begin I have not felt well since before my visit to your office on August 15, 2013. At that time you prescribed Amox TR-K CLV 875-125 MG Tab twice daily for 10 days. This was for Epididymitis that I had been dealing with since June 18, 2013. This appeared to help with the Epididymitis and for a few days after finishing the medication I was feeling a little better. Then I started feeling worse.

Symptoms:

• My right ear has had a pressure and popping since before my visit in August.
• Hearing my heartbeat in my right ear.
• Dry cough.
• Lack of energy.
• Muscle aches and pains.
• Neck stiffness.
• Weakness in my muscles.
• Occasional dizziness. Usually after kneeling or bending over.
• Any small amount of physical activity and my muscle start to ache.
• I get winded climbing a couple flights of stairs. My heart starts racing and I am breathing heavy.
• I have had a recurrence of canker sores. Several over the past couple months.
• Unexpected boil like pimples that appear in approximately the same places on my face.
• I have had what feels like constant sinus pressure and headache.
• Leg cramps in my calves and shins late at night after a long shift at work.
• Numbness and tingling in my arms while sleeping.

Since our visit in August my weakness and energy levels have been going down considerably. I have never gotten winded by climbing a couple flights of stairs. Now just the 1/4 mile walk into work has my muscle aching and by the time I climb the stairs to get to my shop I am breathing heavy and my heart is racing as if I had just ran a couple of miles.

I have been trying to rest and hope that my energy levels would start coming back. But, this has not seemed to help.

Things have seemed to be getting worse over the past couple of weeks which I can chronicle some situations that have happened.

My family and I went camping the weekend of September 20th and during that time there was many times that I would have to sit and catch my breath. For example I could not move a bundle of wood without getting winded. If I exerted myself in the least little bit I would have to stop and rest until my breathing and heart rate slowed down enough to resume whatever I was trying to accomplish.

After that weekend and because I couldn't get in to see you I made an appointment with Dr. Stockton. I thought maybe how I was feeling could still be related to the Epididymitis. I saw him on the 24th and he ordered some test and could not tell me what could be causing my symptoms but that he felt the Epididymitis was gone.

On September 26, 2013 I worked a ten and a half hour shift at work which consisted of basically no breaks and mostly standing and sitting on concrete floors. When I was done it was all I could do to walk the 1/4 mile to my car to go home. That was the night that I experienced the leg cramps at around 11 or 11:30. I have not experienced leg cramps like this since I was a teenager and had been doing two a days in football for two weeks. It was like the day just took everything out of me.

Last July we decided as a family to change our diet and start following the Ornish diet. We decided to be vegetarians and until the last couple of months I was mostly meat free with the exception of an egg for breakfast to provide protein. But, because of the lack of energy I thought maybe I wasn’t getting enough protein so I decided to add meat back into my diet. It really hasn’t helped with my energy levels.

Over the past year I have started grinding my teeth at night when I sleep and have done so to the point that I ended up cracking a tooth. This happened to be a lower molar and was confirmed by my dentist. I have also since then done something to one of my upper molars that was extremely sensitive but has begun to heal since I have started using a mouth guard at night when I sleep. I am not sure if this is stress related? I do know that I didn’t use to grind my teeth at night. Along with this it seems as if I am getting up ever hour and a half to two hours to use the restroom at night. I haven’t been getting a full 8 hours sleep in a long time and surely not even a straight 4 hours without waking up.

I know that I have a high tolerance for pain and I have not had issues like this in the past. As this has been going on for awhile now and nothing is getting better. If anything things are getting a little worse everyday. I am really looking for some help and insight into what could be causing all of this. It feels like my body is all out of sorts and it is not just one thing but the combination of them that has me feeling like this. I appreciate your help and recommendations.

Sincerely,
Anthony Krueger

So, as you can see I know something is wrong and I am not sure what it is.  I am starting to get desperate.  In the email there wasn't a lot of detail about the visit to Dr. Stockton.  So, I will detail that here.

So when I went to see Dr. Stockton on the 24th.  I made arraignments to be off work and thought I would be back to work that same day.  I explained to doctor Stockton everything that was going on and his approach was to run test for STD's, HIV and a chest X-ray.  He did tell me that it didn't look like I still had the Epididymitis.  But did agree that "I didn't look good."  and said.  "Sometimes we never find out what these things are.  They sometimes just go away on their own."  Not very promising and I know that he wasn't going to find anything in all his blood test.  I thought maybe the chest X-ray.  I took the rest of the day off so as not to miss too much work and got all his ordered test done that day.  But, within a week all the test results were coming back negative.  I could see the results via Lakeland's MyChart web access.  I made a follow up appointment for October 11th which was the soonest I could get back in to see him.  Because Stockton advised me to follow up with Dr. Mayle and because all his test were coming back negative I scheduled an appointment with Dr. Mayle and the soonest I could get in to see him was the 10th.

I kept working and resting as much as possible.  The response that I received from doctor Mayle was to order a blood test and a chest X-ray.  I sent him an email back to tell him that I already had a chest X-ray and to ask if he had access to the results?  I didn't want to pay for another chest x-ray since one was already done.  He let me know that one was suffice and just to get the blood work done.  I contacted Dr. Mayle by email because I didn't want to wait until the 10th and then have to wait 2 to 5 days for the results of any test to come back.  I also thought if he felt the symptoms that I listed was sever enough he would tell me to come in or go to the emergency room.  All he did was suggest to get the blood work done before the appointment on the 10th.

We started the outage on the 30th.  I sat down on Sunday the 29th and wrote the email to Dr. Mayle.  It took a couple hours to remember and detail everything.  I was just hoping for some relief.

I went to work Monday and was trying to make it til Friday which was my first day off of the outage.  That was when I had planned to get the blood work taken care of.  But, since the outage starts out slow they were taking volunteers to go home after 9 hours and as I wasn't feeling very well I decided to take advantage of that and thought I would get the blood work done on Monday.  So, I made it to get the blood work done before they closed and the girl at the desk ask if I had fasted for 12 hours.  Of course I say no because I didn't know I had too.  She says.  "Well they are checking lipids so you need to fast for 12 hours."  I tell her I guess we will have to do it another day and leave.  There was no way that I was going to fast all night and work all day to get that test done.  It would have to wait until Friday my day off.  Well, I didn't make it that long.