I just came home and crashed, and I was asleep by 10:30 pm. The scheduling gig is taking a toll on me; it's a different kind of mental juggling than I'm used to, and while I am doing a great job, by the time I reach late afternoon I just want to go away from the hospital and do anything but work. It was so nice to just be in the library today, I have to admit. The clinic counts are out for next week, and an insane number of kids are coming in Monday through Wednesday, so I'm going to work an extra hour each of those days over in that department to help out. Heaven help me. I hope my co-worker who I'm subbing for is able to come back to work soon!
I did a little research today, and I decided I should approach my doctor about having a simple blood test that could indicate a condition called hereditary haemochromatosis type 1. It involves having too much iron in the body, and a close family member mentioned having too high of iron in her blood years ago. If it is that, not only is it genetic, but it can lead to the very issues she's dealing with now. It is particularly found in people of Celtic backgrounds, and also some English and Scandinavian heritages. The Celtic and English is my primary background on both sides. Since it's passed down through autosomal recessive inheritance, I'd have to get a copy from each parent to have it, but if I have just one, I would be a carrier--not of real concern because I don't plan to have children. The good thing is that it's easily treatable through phlebotomy, or giving blood regularly. I do have some of the related symptoms, including arthritis in the hands and knees, joint pain, fatigue, and insulin resistance/diabetes (the iron deposits in the joints, causing pain, and in the pancreas, contributing to diabetes). It wouldn't impact my life much more than avoiding multivitamins with iron, giving blood regularly, and a few dietary changes. But it would be good to know. It can lead to cirrhosis of the liver, as well as a type of liver cancer, and liver cancer, taken as a whole, has a 5-year-survival rate of only about 15%. So if it can be prevented with giving blood, then I'm all for it. Anyway, it can't hurt to ask about it.
It's only 10:30, but I think it's time to turn in, maybe listen to some music. I'd like to read (I renewed Hollow City by Ransom Riggs, and I'm over halfway through it), but I'm just a bit too tired, I think. Good night.
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