Week 65 – more blood tests in Tassie

This week I travelled into our local village, Campbell Town, for blood tests.  The doctor Myrle Gray was not 100% sure on how many tubes to collect but after a quick call to the pathology lab worked out that 5 was going to be sufficient.

She had some trouble with my veins telling me that they were quite calloused – no doubt from the repeated needles for blood tests over the past few months (and the blood donations over many years prior).

The results were encouraging although my haemoglobin had dropped from the magic 120 back to 112 this week (don’t tell CASA).

White Blood Cells were 5.3 and Platelets 74 (quite a drop from the last blood test of 97).  Neutrophils have also dropped from 5.4 to 2.9 and Creatinine is now 93.

My haematologist has indicated that the blood counts will bounce around somewhat from test to test  but I must admit I am a little concerned that most seem be trending downwards.  This may be due to the steroids which I am slowly being weaned off.

This week I have reduced the steroids from 5mg each day to 5mg every second day.  Hopefully I will  be able to drop them completely in two weeks, together with the other 30 odd tablets I take each day (well just getting below 10 tablets a day would be fantastic!).

Not a lot has happened in Tassie this week other than a few trips into town, some gardening, helping Dougall with some fencing and general farm duties.

I did attend a Firearms training course on Sunday, which is required to gain my firearms licence in Tasmania.  Unfortunately my NSW licence is not transferable.  The course was well run and I certainly picked up a few pointers.

 

Sparky made a trip to the Vet today as she has a few grass seeds in her legs that are causing her grief.  This is simply due to the fact that her legs are not long enough to get above the barley grass seeds – she really can’t compete with the Kelpies!

I must say it is great to be back home, with some fresh air and sunshine.