My Blood Cancer Story: Polycythemia Vera (PV)

Aloha, my name is Maka. I am a 64 year old female who was diagnosed with PV in April 2020, just when the Panademic started affecting people's lives. I was at the going to see a podiatrist for some bunions on my feet, when the Dr. took my blood and couldn't believe my blood pressure readings were, so she took them multiple times. All the while asking me how I feeling, and my response was" I feel fine". She continues to tell me something isn't right and says you need to go to emergency right now, so went right across the street to the hospital emergency. They admitted me and started running all kinds of test, and multiple blood pressure readings to no avail they kept saying your BP is very high. They did a blood draw, and could not believe who thick my blood was. I stayed in emergency about an hour. They gave me high BP medicine. Once my BP had come down, the emergency room doctor explained a few things to me and said to setup my appointments with my Pcp. The following weeks of many blood draws and testing came an appointment with the Oncologist. So once that happened, I was told that I have PV Polycythemia Vera. All though I am able to manage this disease, it has changed my totally.