Got my weekly blood level check. ALL my levels are considered to be OK. See charts which show deltas 1) week to week and 2) this week versus start, pre chemo. Positive changes are in white boxes, negative changes are in pink, e.g. "11%" in a white box means the count went UP 11% whereas "-2%" in pink means the count went DOWN 2%.
CLICK ON THE CHART TO BE ABLE TO READ IT. THEN USE YOUR BROWSER'S BACK BUTTON TO RETURN TO THE 'BLOG.
Seems like the ones to watch are wbc, rbc, hemo, and absolute granulocyte. I probably represented a different subset previously, that would have been due to my own ignorance. This time the nurse wrote explanations on the printout. This is my take:
wbcs fight infection, rbcs carry oxygen and ALSO carry carbon monoxide to the lungs where it can be expelled, hemo carries oxygen, platelets enable your blood to clot, and absolute granulocyte is a representation of your "BEST white blood cells" to fight infection. The Marines of blood cells, so to speak. The few, the proud, the Absolute Granulocytes!
Levels this week: wbc 6.3, rbc 4.56, hemo 13.0, platelets 138, abs gran 3.8.
She had trouble w/my port, second week in a row. For some reason they poke me and then it's like a dry well, no blood comes out without a bunch of gyrations or a re-stick. This week same as last week, except she didn't have to stick me twice.
She was having me turn my head to the left, put one arm up, try both arms up, "bear down"(?), all kinds of stuff. It was the "HokeyPokey" for sure, but it could have been worse. It could have been "La Macarena".
She finally got it to work, but it was a struggle. Evidently the needle bottoms out or is too close to the side of the well to work effectively.
With regards to counts, she said sometimes levels fluctuate in 7 days, sometimes in 14, depending on the specific drugs used, physical condition, number of chemo sessions, etc.
She told me that whichever ones DO go out of range (she referred to this as "petering" which I found both funny AND strangely emasculating) there were things they could do to bring the counts back in line, whether it was medication to stimulate the bone marrow to generate new blood cells or a platelet transfusion.
I'm still feeling great and am scheduled for my second round of chemo on Monday, 8/16.
Thanks for checking on me.
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