Test Results

I got the test results back from my doctor. No charge for the office consultation, though it would have cost me ten bucks to talk on the phone. They have a new online system which allows me to see all the results myself, so allow me to copy and paste.

Test results 04/12/11

GLUCOSE 90 mg/dL N
UREA NITROGEN (BUN) 15 mg/dL N
CREATININE 0.80 mg/dL N
eGFR NON-AFR. AMERICAN 109 mL/min/1.73m2 N
eGFR AFRICAN AMERICAN 126 mL/min/1.73m2 N
BUN/CREATININE RATIO NOT APPLICABLE (calc)
SODIUM 141 mmol/L N
POTASSIUM 4.8 mmol/L N
CHLORIDE 105 mmol/L N
CARBON DIOXIDE 26 mmol/L N
CALCIUM 9.8 mg/dL N
PROTEIN, TOTAL 7.4 g/dL N
ALBUMIN 4.8 g/dL N
GLOBULIN 2.6 g/dL (calc) N
ALBUMIN/GLOBULIN RATIO 1.8 (calc) N
BILIRUBIN, TOTAL 0.8 mg/dL N
ALKALINE PHOSPHATASE 67 U/L N
AST 18 U/L N
ALT 22 U/L N
VITAMIN D, 1,25 (OH)2, TOTAL 36 pg/mL
VITAMIN D3, 1,25 (OH)2 36
VITAMIN D2, 1,25 (OH)2 <8
TSH, 3RD GENERATION 0.87 mIU/L N
WHITE BLOOD CELL COUNT 4.2 Thousand/uL N
RED BLOOD CELL COUNT 4.31 Million/uL N
HEMOGLOBIN 13.3 g/dL N
HEMATOCRIT 39.2 % N
MCV 90.9 fL N
MCH 30.9 pg N
MCHC 33.9 g/dL N
RDW 12.0 % N
PLATELET COUNT 174 Thousand/uL N
ABSOLUTE NEUTROPHILS 1974 cells/uL N
ABSOLUTE LYMPHOCYTES 1680 cells/uL N
ABSOLUTE MONOCYTES 370 cells/uL N
ABSOLUTE EOSINOPHILS 172 cells/uL N
ABSOLUTE BASOPHILS 4 cells/uL N
NEUTROPHILS 47.0 % N
LYMPHOCYTES 40.0 % N
MONOCYTES 8.8 % N
EOSINOPHILS 4.1 % N
BASOPHILS 0.1 % N
SED RATE BY MODIFIED WESTERGREN, MANUAL 3 mm/h N
HIV 1/2 EIA AB SCREEN NON-REACTIVE N
HETEROPHILE, MONO SCREEN POSITIVE A
RPR (DX) W/REFL TITER AND CONFIRMATORY TESTING NON-REACTIVE N

I don’t know what half this stuff means, but the doctor talked me through a few items. I’m happy to learn that I am HIV negative. Also, I don’t have asthma. That isn’t listed above but they tested for it last week. Mostly, it’s a clean bill of health.

Except for one thing: I tested positive for mono. That’s EBV infectious mononucleosis, a.k.a. glandular fever, a.k.a. Pfeiffer’s disease, a.k.a. Filatov’s disease, a.k.a. the kissing disease. But mostly around here we just call it mono.

I was diagnosed with mono approximately twenty years ago. At the time I had three different doctors tell me three different things about my long-term prognosis. I was told you can only catch it once. I was told it can recur. I was also told I’d be feeling the aftereffects for the rest of my life.

According to Wikipedia:

Once the acute symptoms of an initial infection disappear, they often do not return. But once infected, the patient carries the virus for the rest of his or her life. The virus typically lives dormantly in B lymphocytes. Independent infections of mononucleosis may be contracted multiple times, regardless of whether the patient is already carrying the virus dormantly. Periodically, the virus can reactivate, during which time the patient is again infectious, but usually without any symptoms of illness.

Over the years I’ve noticed my lymph nodes have a propensity to swell up, often for no apparent reason. Sometimes they stay swollen for a long time. Since the mono virus lingers in the lymph system, this positive test result would seem to lend some credence to the idea that there’s a connection. I would not describe my immune system as particularly robust. Perhaps there’s something I can do to bolster it. I’ve been getting into herbal teas a lot lately. Perhaps a little echinacea and astragalus.

As for the lingering bronchitis, the antibiotic seems to have done the trick. I’m feeling fine, and better than fine. Hopefully I won’t relapse when the Z-Pak runs its course.

P1100765 / Thirteen of Clubs / CC BY-SA 2.0