For Dr Chantale Cassis. Thank you Dr Cassis for your very helpful presentation. It was among the clearest and most useful of all the sessions. Would you help me with a few questions that are related together? There is an actual person for whom you advice can help me to help, and I would be grateful for it.. 1. You mentioned that very mild anemia is not worrisome. Would you comment on what is a very mild anemia? Did you mean not worrisome at all or only from a hematologist's point of view? Would this still leave open a worry from, say, a GI point of view? What is your Hgb drop threshold for having a GI worry? 2. Having said "the only way to become iron deficient is to bleed", what about being vegetarian? 3.When ferritin has been on the low side and stable (in the 30s), how does this inform how we understand a moderate and isolated drop in Hgb? The patient's context may offer an explanation for my questions: 70-year-old vegetarian with hemorrhoid and barely bleeding fissure; past 10+ years of Hgb in the upper 130s until recent drop from 141 to 127, and stable ferritin in the 30s. Colonoscopy snared a sessile polyp in ascending colon. Past history over 10 years ago of one transient episode of a drop in Hgb to 121 and ferritin to 13, with normal colonoscopy and urologic workup; treated with oral iron. Hgb and Ferritin stable subsequently until current drop. Medications (all new since 3-6 months): ASA 80, Rosuvastatin 20, Ezetimibe 10, Alendronate 70, Vitamin D. With my thanks and appreciation, David Weigens dwmd@sympatico.ca 514-945-6066