June 2019 – Blood counts drop

Things have been tracking along well for the past few months (apart for the Lichen Planus on my hands) and I was quite buoyed by my progress.

However my latest blood tests this week showed a significant drop in all parameters.  Amit was not overly concerned but thought it may have been as a result of a virus or some other infection.  The problem is that I haven’t felt unwell in the past few weeks – so of course my mind is asking “what can it be?”.

Red blood cells have dropped from 143 to 125, Platelets from 216 to 100 (of greatest concern), white blood cells from 13.5 to 6.6 and neutrophils from 9.6 to 2.7.  Creatinine and Magnesium are both steady at 75 and 7.9.

Amit has suggested we wait for the next set of blood tests in a fortnight before jumping to conclusions.

The good news is the Lichen Planus has improved considerably, although is still evident.  It is treated with a steroid cream which seems to be doing the job.  Once again it is probably a condition that will come and go over the years and something that I will have to live with.

The other issue that has been under investigation is the evidence of blood in my urine.  I have had an ultrasound of my kidneys and prostate gland but this did not reveal anything (other than the prostate is quite small) so the next round of tests include a CT scan of my urinary tract and a cystoscopy (internal examination of the urinary tract) which should reveal more.  My urologist is investigating for evidence of cancer.  Stay tuned for more information!

Other things

We have managed to experience a few interesting things in the last few weeks including:

A visit from my Mum and Dad to Tasmania for a week.  We managed to install the ‘family swings’ that my father built in 1966 for us – which has been moved from house to house over the years.  A family heirloom!

A day out at the Campbell Town show – Australia’s longest running agricultural show established 181 years ago!  I even felt tempted to join up with the local pipe band.

Returning to my old Rotary Club in Wagga, Wollundry Rotary, to thank members for their well wishes and to co-ordinate a fund raiser for the Leukaemia Foundation where 11 members (and one wife, Kath Wallace) shaved their heads!  We raised close to $20,000 on the day! Thanks to all who shaved and gave!

A trip to Kununurra and Broome to catch up with business partners Michael and Kate McConachy.  There are many new faces in the business since we last visited about 2 years ago.  This pic is of Tim Heasman (Head of checking and training for Aviair) with one of our PC12s at our Broome base.

Some great weather on our farm in Tassie – even though we are seeing minus 2 and 3 some mornings!

And of course a few bike rides with Ross Williams and friends in the great Tassie bushland.