I don't know about you, but I remember when I used to fix my own cars, tear down the engine and rebuild it and have everything run as if it were new. Can't do it now, too much specialization and advanced electronics. The engine is the same, it's just everything else that has changed. Kinda the same with medicine. It's become so complex anymore because doctors don't want to face litigation that every part of the body has a specialist for it.

Several years ago, I was on a diet and loosing weight like crazy. I thought that the diet was amazing because of how much weight I was loosing. Then came the fatigue which was attributed to the weight loss and I was told to back off on the diet. Kept loosing weight and getting more tired. Went for some blood work to see if I was anemic and walla, ..... extremely high white blood cell count. Went to a hematologist and was diagnosed with leukemia and was asked to make a followup visit to start my treatment. I did that and went in to see the doctor and he was called out of town for something and I saw his partner. His partner looked at the test results and wondered why a specific test was not run. So I had a BCBR Gene Rearrangement test done as well as a bone marrow biopsy and found that I did have leukemia, but instead of the acute leukemia that I was going to be treated for with chemo, I had a chronic leukemia (CML) that is treated very well with a medication and that was determined only by the BCBR test. The treatment for this type of leukemia would not have responded very well to chemo without other medications and had I not had that second test, the chronic leukemia would have turned into the acute type and I most likely would not be sitting here writing this message. I'm now seeing the second hematologist.

I've had the leukemia for a little over four years and also have anemia. We are trying to find the cause of it as my red cells, hemoglobin, and hematocrit have been constantly below normal since after the radiation therapy I received for my prostate cancer (another story in itself). However, that was three years ago and the effects of the radiation should have worn off to the point that it shouldn't be causing the anemia. So far, the anemia hasn't affected my riding as I am able to do fifty plus mile rides and I really don't feel tired. BTW, I will turn 65 in October.

Just don't let all this bother you. You can't worry about what you can't control. It will drive you crazy. Do what you think is best for you and keep enjoying live to the fullest. For me, just waking up in the morning means it's going to be a great day.