Rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic

I finished the workup of my leukemic relapse, having had a bone marrow biopsy and PET/CT over the last week and a half and in 2 days visit my oncologist to learn the results and find out what the next treatment regimen is. I had to have another RBC and platelet transfusion last week, less than a week after the last. These have become more frequent making me wonder if my anemia and thrombocytopenia are due to more than bone marrow failure, perhaps hypersplenia, which my oncologist has mentioned as a possibility in the past. Adding to this possibility is that I can now feel a very firm mass in my left upper quadrant that is probably spleen (confirmed by internist last week on routine followup visit, see below). I would think our first step would be to treat the leukemia and see how my counts respond to get a better idea about whether drug-induced marrow failure and/or hypersplenism are contributing to my significant and worsening transfusion dependence. My last count was Hgb 7.6, WBC 57K, and platelets a dangerously low 8K, see photo of my arm from a routine blood test, demonstrating how much we all need platelets.

So I also saw my internist this past week as routine follow-up, primarily on mild hypercholesterolemia and a previous slightly raised PSA. I was very worried about the latter since it could mean I had early prostate cancer, something I certainly did not want to deal with given my leukemia relapse. Thankfully the value this time was normal. My LDL (bad) cholesterol was low and I also had low testosterone (which is funny since one of my company's clients is the maker of a testosterone replacement product). I complained of my quite painful nighttime leg cramps and the doc said to either try CoQ10 (a borderline alternative product found in vitamin aisle that is not cheap) and/or stop my statin since my cholesterol never that high and have no significant or personal family history of heart problems. I asked about testosterone replacement but had to admit any symptoms of lack of energy, sexual interest, etc were more likely due to the leukemia. My doc actually had me laughing (?gallows humor) when he said these problems he was managing were like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. I think that this is no doubt true and now can just focus on getting better with the next treatment, God willing.  

Here is what my internist meant, the leukemia is my main problem and I could be going down, but I am here to tell you, NOT WITHOUT A FIGHT!