Curveball
My name is Jazz and I was born with Sickle Cell Anemia. Sickle cell is genetic blood disorder. Long story short, my red blood cells are jacked up! They are shaped like a sickle versus round like normal. They don't live as long as regular red blood cells and due to the shape they can cause painful epsisodes, "vaso-occlusive crisis". I was diagnosed shortly after birth so all I've ever know was life with sickle cell. For as long as I can remember I've had monthly appointments to see a hematologist. For equally as long my life and any plans have had to be scheduled to accomodate my monthly blood transfusions. Every 4 weeks. Every 4 weeks on the tuesday before transfusion I have had to remember to go get pre-transfusion labs drawn. I learned early what could trigger a pain crisis. I spent a large amount of time on preventive care more than anything else. Transfusion to prevent pain crisis. Extra layers in the winter time to prevent a crisis. Not spending a lot of ti...