The last couple of days have been eventful, and I have been remiss by not keeping up with this blog. My annoying back itch finally went away, only to be replaced by rather painful hemorrhoids. I'll spare you the details. I'm not sure which is worse. However, with these being the only complaints I have, I know how lucky I am...no mouth sores, no bone pain, no nausea. I haven't been at all hungry and haven't eaten much, but nobody seems too concerned about that, even though I have lost another 5 pounds. Their big concern is that I stay hydrated, so I have been trying to drink about 2 liters of liquids a day.
My platelet count has continued to plummet, as you can see by this chart. By this morning, it had dropped to 13. Anticipating that it would surely be below 10 by tomorrow, they gave me a platelet transfusion this afternoon. My hematocrit numbers keep hovering just above the threshold level of 24, so I'm hoping that continues so as to avoid having to have a blood transfusion as well.
The big question now is when can I go home? I was encouraged when the possibility was mentioned that I might get out this weekend! It all depends on my numbers, specifically, my Absolute Neutrophil Count (ANC). This number has to be over 500 for two days in a row before I can go home. The ANC is computed by a formula related to my WBC:
ANC = WBC(#/ul)*[neutrophils(%) + bands(%)]
My WBC has steadily risen over the past two days, albeit slowly, as the following chart shows:
Using the above formula, my ANC is only 26 today, far short of the target of 500! It therefore appears unlikely that it will increase to over 500 by tomorrow. I'm starting to resign myself to probably being here until Monday, but I'll be really upset if it takes any longer than that. I WANT TO GO HOME!
I have been overwhelmed with the number of visitors I have been getting almost every day. That has really helped to keep my spirits up and has made the time pass quickly. Thank you all so much!
By the way, nobody has found the penny yet!
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