Hi Alice, I am one of those people who had a routine blood test for something else completely different. In 2003 I had a severely abnormal cervical smear test and had an operation, I recovered but I felt really rough, flu like, emotional, hot and cold flushes, weight loss, faintness, bruising, frequent infections, no energy and really, really exhausted all the time. The gynaecologist ordered blood tests and when I went for the results he said ‘I have never had to tell anyone this before but you have chronic lymphocytic leukaemia, I cannot do any more for you so go back to your GP’. All I could see was the word ‘chronic’ with zig zigs around it and I was outside his office with a nurse asking if I was OK. Of course I said yes !!. I kept saying chronic lymphocytic leukaemia so I did not forget the words. Because the gynaecologist said that he could not do any more for me I thought I was about to die. I felt in a bubble with the world going on around me. I met my husband in the car park and blurted out those 3 words and burst into tears. I felt so lonely and that I was the only one in the world with leukaemia. I could not explain to family, friends and work what I did not understand myself. I can still replay that day like a film with me feeling the emotions. When my husband and I saw our GP she said I would be put on quarterly blood tests. I do not remember what else she said. I felt I was seen as ‘Erica with leukaemia’ for a long time and not just ‘Erica’. People did not know how to be around me. My emotions were on high alert for a very long time and they come back immediately I have medical appointments.
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