Week 33 – Chimerism 100%

Monday was the usual visit to the hospital but we had a pleasant surprise in that the IV fluids were kept to a minimum – just a litre of sodium chloride to help with my kidney function.

The good news was all blood counts were up slightly with the neutrophils up to 1.5 (from 0.7), being quite a relief.  The normal  range for neutrophils is 2.0-7.0 so hopfully I will get there soon. The GCSF injections are designed to increase the neutrophils so it looks like they are doing their job.

The Haemoglobin count was 90 and platelets 26 which is well above the level for transfusion – hence no need for extra products.

The doctors are very happy with my liver function which is normal but still slightly concerned about the kidney function which is still struggling.  The creatin level has dropped from 190 to 168, mostly likely due to the reduction in cyclosporin.

The good news is the latest Chimerism test has come back at 100% meaning  100% of the bone marrow is my donor’s (brother Tony).  This is critical as without a good transplant I can’t really move forward.  So all three Chimerism tests have been 100% which is reassuring.

Next week I see one of the senior consultants for the report on my 100 day tests.  There is some talk about dropping back to just a monthly visit to Peter Mac for checkups – a scary thought given at present I am still visiting twice a week.  When we go to monthly they will also remove my PICC line as well. The doctors are obviously happy with my progress but I will know more next week.

On the weekend we visited Lindsay Fox’s car museum which is located in Docklands.  He has around 70 cars in a beautiful heritage listed two story warehouse manned by volunteers.  It is a great spectacle with one car worth over $7m apparently!

 

We also had Katrina Weir drop in for a chat on Sunday.  Katrina (Millsy as we call her) was down from  Sydney for work on Monday so made an effort to call by.  We have been friends since our uni days (and in fact I am a very poor godfather for her daughter Harriet).