Life's little mysteries.

Life is full of little surprises and little mysteries. For example, white Christmases are somewhat unusual in Dallas, OR. And although the snow didn't start falling in earnest until Christmas evening, we did have an accumulation of maybe an inch of the white stuff by the time we went to bed. The next day we awoke to about 4" on the ground, and the storm brought us another three or four inches during the day. And then, yesterday, we awoke to about three additional inches of snow. 

Mondays I have a standing appointment for my blood draws and PIIC line dressing change. We debated about pursuing the 23 mile drive to the clinic in Salem and back, given the road conditions. Then it occurred to me that to miss my appointment would mean having to go later in the week. Since the forecast doesn't sound encouraging for the weather conditions to improve before the weekend, "later in the week" would effectively mean next Monday. In other words, I would go two weeks without lab tests, and perhaps more importantly, without a dressing change, thus making me more vulnerable to infection in my arm. 

As you have no doubt guessed, we opted to make an attempt to get to the clinic. To alleviate the suspense, I will tell you now that we made the round trip with no mishaps, although we did find a few slick spots on the roads amid the packed snow and bare icy stretches. I am very happy that we did make the trip, not only for the peace of mind of having things attended to in a timely manner, but also because we got a new surprise and a new mystery.

This latest surprise has to do with my lab results. When they came back from the lab, I was surprised and a bit disappointed to see that my progress has taken a detour. 

First, my hemoglobin has dropped a tiny bit. I realize there are variations from one day to the next and from one sample to the next, but I was disappointed, because hemoglobin helps me avoid feeling light-headed, and the previous couple of labs showed mine was rebounding at a rapid rate. Frankly I had expected it to reach the low end of the normal range this time around. To be fair, my red blood cell count has increased, so I'm headed in the right direction, but the drop in hemoglobin, small as it was, was a setback in my mind. 

The more disturbing finding is that my absolute neutrophil count (ANC) dropped at an alarming rate. ANC reflects my level of immunity, so when it goes down, I am more susceptible to infections of all kinds. The level has not dropped into the area that is considered "neutropenic," that is to say extremely high risk, but it is getting close. ANC has dropped from 2620 to 1160 in the last three weeks. The normal zone is 1800 - 8300. Of even more concern to me is that the drops went in geometric progression week by week. The first week's drop was 350, the second week's was 400, and in the past week it dropped 710. Or to put it another way, 13%, 18% and 38% respectively. 

I was unable to speak to anyone in the oncology department yesterday for explanation/advice, but of course holiday time translates to "short-handed" in most businesses. So, I left a message with the oncology care coordinator requesting a call-back. I am hoping for a return call today. In the meantime, with my scores dropping at an accelerated rate, Jill and I have decided to go back into quarantine. 

It is interesting to me how God orchestrates things. Another surprise, this one brought on by the weather, is that we had to cancel our long anticipated New Year's weekend getaway to a condo on the beach in Newport. But in the bigger picture, this development turns out to be a good thing, or a God thing, as I like to say. If we had missed the blood draw and ventured to the beach and potential new exposures to various infections, without the knowledge of my plummeting ANC, it could have ended very badly.  As it is, we not only will be spared those exposures, but we will also be spared the potential of spending New Year's weekend somewhere in a ditch in an overturned car. 

And so, we have had some surprises, some disappointments and some mysteries. What, I wonder, accounts for the precipitous drop in ANC? How is God able to weave all of these developments into what appears to me to be a carefully planned pattern of events? Will the oncology department be able to reverse the trend of my blood counts? Will we be able to go to the coast later? Stay tuned for further adventures of "Red Cells and White Cells and Platelets, Oh My!" on most of these same stations. 

HAPPY NEW YEAR!