Good evening,
I've got another non-update. My blood count numbers have been in the toilet for the past few days, but they should start to go up any day now. Every night around midnight, they draw blood for basic labs, and the next day they write the white blood cell counts (WBC), absolute neutrophil count, hemoglobin, and platelets on the board. I'm now on day 11 after transplant, and I should be going through engraphtment, where the stem cells are making new blood cells and we start to see the numbers on the board go up.
The WBC have to be above 1.5 two days in a row before I can be discharged. I'm currently at .1. Once I'm above 1.5 for two days, they'll take me off the antibiotics to make sure I don't have a fever, and if I don't have a fever, I'll be discharged. I'm not sure how frequently I'll come in for checkups after discharge, but I assume it will be a lot.
I had a slight fever two nights ago, and they're doing cultures of my blood to determine whether I have an infection and potentially what kind of infection (and antibiotic) I need. Currently, they're giving me a broad spectrum antibiotic to take care of whatever might be brewing. This is normal and expected.
The other thing of note is that I've had two infusions of platelets because my numbers have been too low. Platelets are the things that help blood clot, and if they get too low, you can get random bleeds or have a stroke. I'm bruising easily already, and whenever platelets are less than 50, they want us to use a spongy thing for brushing our teeth (with no floss), and we also have to avoid sharp things while grooming, like razors and nail clippers.
The other thing that's perplexing to the medical staff is that this morning, my hemoglobin went up to 13.6, which is higher than it was when I checked in. In fact, I'm not even anemic at this point. Hemoglobin doesn't typically go up until after the white blood cells, but I'll take it. I hope it's not a lab error.
Physically, I've been feeling somewhat better. I'm still physically exhausted, but mentally I'm more awake and less foggy than I've been in a while. I've been more motivated to do things other than sleep, and I've had an easier time staying awake for it so I think I can definitely feel some improvement happening. Of course, I've been drinking more caffeine recently so that could be reason. 😏
Comments
Post a Comment