Week 10 – Sunday – Thursday – Blood counts are heading up!

You may have noticed that the frequency of the blog has dropped off a little – mainly due to the fact that nothing has happened of note with regards to my health.  I remain at home with HITH visiting daily.  No high temperatures, no headaches, no pain, eating well, sleeping well and no vomiting or diarrhoea – all the things that the nurses want to now with each visit!

I was due to receive two units of blood on Monday (blood transfusion basically) but when I arrived at the hospital the team decided that my red blood cells were doing OK and I didn’t need this now.  So from there I made a visit to the HITH office for the daily routine (saving them a trip out to Docklands) and proceeded home.

Most days follow a routine of a morning walk, breakfast, reading, knitting and filling in time.

Wednesday was an exciting one as I ventured out to the shops and purchased a bicycle, to save hiring one each time we decide to go riding.  I had been warned not to ride too soon when recovering but I think the time is pretty good now. Riding a bike around Melbourne is a great thing as there are so many dedicated bike lanes keeping you away from the traffic.

My blood counts have bounced around a little since being discharged.

The Red Blood Cells (Haemoglobin) have climbed from 84 to 101 but on Wednesday dropped back to 85 – very close to the cut off level of 80 where I will receive a transfusion, but back to 95 on Thursday.

The White Cells have climbed from 2.1 p to 3.0 (4-11 is normal) but then dropped back to 2.5 at one stage and are now back to 3.4.  Apparently this is normal when recovering from Chemotheraphy.

The platelets (for blood clotting) dropped from 31 down to 25 and then climbed back to 28 – all low numbers when the normal range is 150-400.  This is why my doctors don’t want me on a bike.  An accident with bleeding could be serious!

The all-important Neutrophils have climbed from 0.3 at discharge up to 2.3 (normal range 2-7.5) which indicates my immune system is getting back on track.

So on Thursday HTIH rang to say the nurse wouldn’t be coming out until the afternoon but as I was keen to get the new blood tests and not waste a day waiting around I suggested we come in and make a visit at the hospital which they agreed to.  (To make this easier we decided to take the bikes rather than walk.  Walking takes around 45 minutes but the bike around 15 or 20). Dr Jess if you are reading this I was very carefull and survived the trip!

HITH have informed me that they will only do blood tests every second day from now on – obviously the doctors are confident things are heading back up into the normal range again.

So armed with that information I have been happier to ‘venture out’ with the necessary precaution of wearing a mask when around crowds.  Jan and I biked over to Crown to see the film ‘ Murder on Orient Express’  We both enjoyed it and I’d recommend it.

I’ll update things when more information comes to hand.  Next week is a big one for me with lots of appointments and tests.