Red Cells and White Cells and Platelets, Oh My!

BOX SCORE 04/28/24 Element Current Std. Range Trend Hemoglobin 8.3 13-17 ^ Platelets 74 140-375 ^ ANC 1770 1800-8300 ^ Yesterday we met again with Dr. Meyers at OHSU. We also met a number of other people who will be an integral part of our lives for at least the duration of my hospital stay: Theresa, the MA who drew a blood sample and took my vital signs; Christie, the RN who will be my case manager; Kelli, who is the donor coordinator for OHSU; and Halli, who is the coordinator for the clinical trial I will be participating in to help the medical staff zero in on the best dosage of immune-suppressive medication to keep Graft versus Host Disease (GVHD) in check after transplant. What a won...

BOX SCORE Element Current Std. Range Trend Hemoglobin 7.7 13-17 ^ Platelets 42 140-375 ^ ANC 1150 1800-8300 v If there is anything that life has taught me it is that change is not only inevitable it is unstoppable. As Jill and I prepare for a sojourn in Portland, our lives have been like an evolving tapestry.  What I mean is that, like a tapestry, our lives are woven together from threads from many different sources and in many different colors. Day by day the tapestry unfolds, revealing a bit more of the picture, and yet there is more to come tomorrow.  My last post was about the myriad pieces of the puzzle we have been assembling for the past months(??), no, it's just over three we...

BOX SCORE Element Current Std. Range Trend Hemoglobin 7.5 13-17 ^ Platelets 20 140-375 ^ ANC 1210 1800-8300 v I would like for you to do a little exercise with me. The first step is get a piece of paper and a pencil. If you are cock sure of yourself, a pen will do. If you don't write notes on paper anymore, use the Notes App on your phone. OK, are you ready?  Step two) Write down all the things that you need to do to your home in the next four months.  Step three) Write down all the things you need to do for yourself in the next four months.  Step four) Write down all the things you will need to take with you, when you move to another city for four months.  Step five) Read...

BOX SCORE Element Current Std. Range Trend Hemoglobin 7 13-17 ^ Platelets 8 140-375 ^ ANC 1910 1800-8300 ^ Communication. It is, undoubtedly, a pillar of human thriving, and somehow we all seem to be pretty bad at it at times. God made us to live in community with Him and our neighbors. The word "hermit" was never in His vocabulary, or at least the word does not appear in the English Standard Version of the Holy Bible. The two greatest commandments are love God and love your neighbor as yourself. And how do we do those things?  Hymns are not very popular in contemporary evangelical churches these days, but there are a few that are dear to me. One of them is called Trust and Obe...

BOX SCORE Element Current Std. Range Trend Hemoglobin 6.6 13-17 - Platelets 7 140-375 v ANC 190 1800-8300 ^ How do you eat an elephant? Thus goes an old meme. The answer? One bite at a time. It's as if we have been eating an elephant a whole mouthful at a time the last couple of weeks. This week is a bit less hectic, although yesterday was the last big mouthful. I needed to have a dental exam and x-rays to clear another potential hurdle to the transplant process, then in the afternoon we had a virtual appointment with a Kaiser oncology social worker named Erick, whose job it is to evaluate our readiness to take on the challenges of intense medical treatment compounded by moving a...

BOX SCORE Element Current Std. Range Trend Hemoglobin 6.6 13-17 v Platelets 11 140-375 - ANC 0.0 1800-8300 v Spending as much time in quarantine as we do, Jill and I have had to find ways to keep ourselves entertained. We both do quite a bit of correspondence with friends and relatives by email and text messaging. We like to read books, especially mysteries, to each other, and I have to admit we spend a fair amount of time watching the boob panel (formerly the boob tube, but they don't have tubes anymore).  One thing we like to watch on TV at Christmastime is our collection of Christmas movies. Among them is a movie called "Remember the Night" from 1940, starring Fred M...