1. The biopsy I mentioned yesterday? That I was pretty sure was going to come back as 456% leukemic cells? Came back as 0%. That's the first time that has happened, and we can kind of breathe a sigh of relief that I probably won't relapse before transplant. Yes, that is good news. But, being half Irish, I don't dwell on good news, I move on to the next thing to worry about which in this case is
2. My absolute neutrophil count (ANC) has dropped a little, or a lot, from its already-low level. Neutrophils are the component of your white blood cells (WBC) that fight infection. Normal levels are about 4000-7000. At a level of 500 or less, one has virtually no immune system, thus no ability to fight an infection. One also tends to get random fevers and wind up in the hospital for a week like some cancer patients I know. Mine are currently at 650. Meaning: I am pretty immuno-suppressed (you know how on the news they tell you about the latest megavirus outbreak or what have you and they say "Sensitive groups should..." Well, that's me). Again, the doctors are not worried since my other counts are going up and they claim that eventually this will too. The also say, "this shows how well the chemo worked this time." And that all I have to do is be super-diligent for the moment about avoiding infections by frequent hand-washing and avoiding crowded places. They were probably kind of thinking about places like the one I was at this morning:
3. Which is Pike's Market. But I didn't know I was severely immuno-suppressed at the time! I thought I had like 1000 neutrophils to toss around as I pleased. My nurse told me today that yesterday's count was 650. For all I know, I don't have any neutrophils at all today and I owe my life to Purel. However, even with my delusions of 1000 neutrophils, I wasn't entirely comfortable with the crowds at the market, to say nothing of the fish carcasses winging through the air. So we moved on to enjoy quieter times at the Olympic Sculpture Garden Park:
Hoping those neutrophils get off their lazy keisters in the next couple days.
Have a great weekend. Love, love, love,
~jessie
3 comments:
Tree in a forest, if you don't know you're low on neutrophils, are you really immuno-compromised? Age old question.
Looks like a fun day.
Good thing the seagull pooped on me and Kathy at the sculpture garden rather than you.
Hi Jessie! Great writing!!!
Keep up the PMN's (polymorphonuclear leukocytes, or granulocytes, most often specifically neutrophils). Haha (I tried to make an immunology joke...i'm not very good at making jokes).
Anyway....very much ejoying your commentary. Keep it coming! Love you, Mark and Girls.
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