The hematologist is pleased with my hemoglobin numbers. Considering I was off iron pills for 5 days recently, plus had a session of Mother Nature doing something that depletes iron naturally, it was good news to see that my numbers actually improved from where they were at the time of my previous visit.

Next up: an ultrasound. This, apparently, is the normal progression of testing when a patient with my symptoms comes in. First they check the GI tract, and if that yields no results of note, next is the ultrasound.

At least ultrasounds don't involve discomfort. This test might involve keeping a full bladder, which would be annoying, but I've had ultrasounds of other areas before and the worst that the actual ultrasound process does is tickle.

All this doctor stuff is no way to start a decade. Just sayin'.