Azathioprine, the necessary evil

[Pierre42]

The eternal balancing act between dying of an incurable disease and treatments which have side-effects has taken a turn for the worse recently.

Apparently that "slightly lower than ideal white blood cell count" I've been having this year was an manifestation of The (necessary) Evil That Is Azathioprine.

It started with a bicycle ride (surprisingly enough) the other day which ended with severe and sharp pain in my right knee.

A swift visit to my GP secured a referral for an MRI.

Suspected meniscus tear, common enough for serious cyclists (not that I am, serious that is). But hey, we'll have a look-see and find something, won't we....(careful what you wish for)

Then the radiologist calls my GP and says "perhaps the patient has Bone Marrow Cancer" (dunh dunh dunh DAAAAAH). {oh looky! apparently also high blood pressure }

To which my GP replied ... "Or it could just be 'a typical side effect of Azathioprine'. I forgot to mention that incurable life threatening condition he's been under treatment for these past several years."

Of course "typical" in this case does not in any way negate connotations of "potentially life threatening". (where's the icon for "insert several loud expletives here"?)