I have just returned from the hospital and above you'll see my blood count results. It's fair to say that I am officially 'neutrophenic' now.
Have a giggle at what my 'value' is compared to what a 'normal range' is. Pay attention to the 'critical' Neutrophils.
Still, this is all to be expected, this is what the chemo does - kills cells.
They reckon I will be slowly dragging myself out of this hole in the coming week - the obvious danger is that I'm completely wide open to infections. I have to keep a close eye on my temperature. Rather surprising, I was told that I could call '999' if I get into trouble in the night. I guess potentially life-threatening is what Ambulances are for ... it just never really occurred to me.
I have a blood transfusion tomorrow - two bags of blood to be given, starting at 9am and will take all sodding day. Tedious isn't the world - lying on a day-centre couch, waiting for bags of blood to drip in. Still, it might give me some energy. And God bless iPad.
That's it - onwards, onwards ... more hospitals tomorrow *sigh*
5 comments:
That's nothing...when I had glandular fever (mono to those across the pond) I had a platelet count of 3 (yes three) against a norm of 270 (150-400 on your chart).
I was hospitalised because I was at severe risk of haemorrhage. While I was there, I nearly bled out from a nose bleed.
I was 13. There were steroids. And cute nurses. One of them kick-started puberty for me. Not sure which one.
Spencer! I am just 3 entires into my own blog and suddenly realise, for the first time, how imperative comments are for you to realise you are not simply typing to yourself.
Here's a 999 story for you. I had gall stones aged about 22, which is pretty rare. I'd been having a lot of pain with them over a few months but never got round to getting to the docs as it runs in the family to get them young and so I was pretty sure I knew what it was. But one night I started vomiting with the pain, and had to pace around all night as it was so painful, and eventually, at about 5am started almost passing out... i think looking back I was hyper ventilating a bit, but I wasn't sure at the time.. and suddenly I was scared maybe it wasn't gall stones, maybe something in my stomach had ruptured or something... so I called 999. When they arrived, the ambulance men looked at me with immense weariness, asked for the symptoms, and promptly diagnosed a stitch and told me to go back to bed.
I was... a little peeved shall we say.
Anyway, my story has no bearing on your situation at all, just hope it may have made you smile.
Fi x
The paramedics can diagnose you and refuse to take you to the hospital over there?! wtf?
Here in the US they don't refuse you; they are qualified to revive but not diagnose, so if you say you're going in, you're going in, and they happily give you a bill for several hundred dollars for the taxi ride later.
Hey Spence after the last comment, I just thought of a topic of interest (to some). For those not in the UK, tell us a little how all this works from a healthcare perspective. Here in the US it is a hot topic. Basically if I were in your spot right now, and did not have a great job with private health coverage, I'd basically be screwed.
Just saw this... Nice Spence!
http://www.image-line.com/documents/news.php?entry_id=1283920408&title=artist---delete-all-contacts
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