Leukopenia. HIV. Autoimmune disorders. Bone marrow disorders/damage. Lymphoma. Severe infections. Liver and spleen diseases.  Lupus. Radiation therapy.

Rather unpleasant sounding, all of them, I’d say. For the second time in a year I’ve scored a low white blood cell (WBC) count–Leukopenia. The rest of them are common (but not all) conditions associated with a low WBC. None of which I’d rather have over the others. Some of which I know I cannot possess: radiation therapy and severe infections. In thoroughly researching this the last go-around (several months ago) I self-diagnosed myself as having none of them—to be fully exonerated when my retest  came back just over the OK lower limit per my physician’s guidelines.

I had a grandparent who was a bit of a hypochondriac. At least the way I remember it—I was a mid-teen when it was time for the nursing home so it’s a bit of stretch to recall details.  An infection sounds about right. Maybe early onset liver disease—after all I’ve consumed my share of alcohol. Autoimmune disorders. Now we’re talking. After all I’ve had a total of a dozen injections and seemingly endless tests in an effort to diagnose the pain and swelling in my arms and wrists. And my knees have been problematic for years. Fatigue, joint-pain, malaise. Check, check, check.

Death doesn’t bother me. Dying does. Watching the aging of my siblings and parents has been rather troubling. Unfortunately none of them takes particularly good care of themselves—surely they all must feel worse than I do. Have worse scores than I do. Why don’t I hear from them? In fact my parents seem convinced they’ll live forever. Well into their latter 70’s and early 80’s it seems they’re busier than 10-15 years ago. Maybe I do have something very specific to me–apart from any familial chain.

Stopping in my coffee shop after an easy run this morning the last thing on my mind was low WBC. Royals baseball, my paint store order and a quality cup of coffee were first on my mind. Five more weeks. Five more weeks before I’m allowed to have my arm re-pricked by the lab. Five and one-half weeks before I score either two of four or three of four low WBC. Let the distractions begin……