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Giant Spleens, Dry Aspirations, and Better Living Through Chemistry
Michelle takes a magical medical mystery tour.
November 2023
My appetite was off, and I had a little weight loss, which I thought was a good thing. Then I noticed this hard lump under my left ribcage. I didn’t recall that area feeling so firm. Worse, after a week I saw the lump had extended to just under the sternum.
I was sure this wasn’t normal. Laurie, my wife, thought I should have this checked out. I called the advice nurse and described what I felt. The nurse practitioner commented that a hard mass in the abdomen was something to be concerned about.
“Doctor, there’s a hard mass in my abdomen.”
The Nurse Practitioner I chatted with ordered a set of blood tests and an ultrasound exam to start the process of identifying what’s what.
Two days later, on November 21, I had an ultrasound result and the blood test results. Thrombocytopenia and the left upper abdominal swelling was determined to be an enlarged spleen.
“There is a massively enlarged spleen that measures 22.4 x 10.4 x 15.7 cm (volume 1923 cc).”
A few days later, during a video visit, I reviewed this with a GP. Additional complete blood count testing broadened the diagnosis for that symptom…
