Update 8.4.1 Tempest in a Teapot

[hunter5582]

In my last post I noted that some odd numbers were found in my iron panel. I questioned what this might mean and was awaiting a response from my MPN care team. When I logged back into my patient portal, lo and behold, the numbers have changed. It seems that someone made an error posting the numbers to my chart. The iron panel numbers now posted are consistent with previous findings and in synch with my current CBC.

TIBC 352 WNL

Ferritin 20 WNL

Iron % Sat 18% Low (slightly but higher than previous)

Iron 62 Low (slightly but higher than previous)

With my iron levels creeping back up, so is the HCT, now resting at 44.2%.

The lead nurse at the hematology office is investigating what happened with the lab director. She says that this has never happened before and wants to know what went wrong. I certainly concur since we use these labs to make treatment decisions.

This just goes to show that we should always check out something that looks odd in our labs and ask questions. Occasionally, the answer might be that the oddity is a mistake. Reserving judgment and checking things out is much better than overreacting to any single finding.

Wishing all of you all the best.

[DiveGoddess]

Stay Vigilant Hunter, please share about conference unless you have and I missed the post. Glad your numbers were revived. Sometimes a clot in a machine causes odd numbers and the machine will require clean and recalibrate. Then same blood is rerun, that is why they take so much. lab can run same CBC on a baby with 0.5cc blood. Take care my friend. We are running again from the second unwelcomed guest in a week. First Helene and now Milton

[RoundTheWorld]

Glad it was better than first reported to you and that you got to the bottom of it. Good that the lead nurse and director are looking to prevent more slips - obviously no patient needs unnecessary additional cause for worry. Hope you have a more boring set of results next time round.

[Mishie14]

thank you very much for sharing. I’ve not experienced such an error but your experience is a wake up call that it can happen and does happen. Also thank you for demonstrating how to react responsibly. Stay safe!

[Mostew]

How right you are. Never be worried about asking questions

, it takes energy . But better to use our energy well than waste it panicking !!

[ainslie]

I am pleased you discovered there was error in your labs that have now been corrected. I think this is also a good example of why we should be wary of ChatGpt , it gave you a interpretation of the wrong labs but of course it was meaningless and potentially dangerous if you had taken action to correct the odd readings whereas a doc is likely to say wait a minute something looks off here let’s retest.

[Bluetop]

I am pleased it was an error and also that someone spotted the error -but well done you for questionning the results,as you say, it is important to find out how the error occured so it can be avoided in future.