Red Cells and White Cells and Platelets, Oh My!

BOX SCORE Element Current Std. Range Trend Hemoglobin 9.5 13-17 ^ Platelets 156 140-375 v ANC 1210 1800-8300 v When I first met Jill, she was working as the "Building Technology Coordinator" at an elementary school in Tualatin. She was tasked with doing her best to keep the computers that were used by teachers and children, in classrooms and the computer lab, humming along. I was rather impressed, because I had been playing with computers for about ten years. Something in common!! As it turned out, it wasn't that much in common since my experience was all with Microsoft based machines and hers was all with Apple machines. Nevertheless, as she told me about having to reassem...

BOX SCORE Element Current Std. Range Trend Hemoglobin 8.8 13-17 v Platelets 198 140-375 ^ ANC 1900 1800-8300 v Sometimes in life you have to make a choice. Take last evening for example. I was faced with the difficult choice between spending Saturday night at home in Marquam Manor with my lovely bride or going to the Emergency Department. Can you see my dilemma? In the end, of course, I opted for the ED.  It seems that around mid-day I was not feeling 100%, so I took my temperature and found it to be 99 degrees. Ever the optimist, I opted to believe it was because I had just taken a nap under my heavy Afghan, made by said lovely bride. We went out to Terwilliger Blvd. (I dare you to ...

BOX SCORE Element Current Std. Range Trend Hemoglobin 9.6 13-17 ^ Platelets 169 140-375 ^ ANC 3190 1800-8300 v Wow! What was that?? Yesterday, we had no medical stuff AT ALL! That was weird. We did a curbside grocery pickup. We drove to the Knight Center clinic, just so we were sure we could find it for our clinic visit this morning. We went for a walk along Terwilliger Boulevard. It was almost like, dare I say it, a day off!  If you have never visited Marquam Hill, you don't know what lost really is. This is the most amazing tangle of winding roads that you can imagine. Most of the tangle is surrounded by gorgeous wooded areas...but that only adds to the confusion when you are t...

BOX SCORE 5/22/2024 Element Current Std. Range Trend Hemoglobin 7.9 13-17 v Platelets 83 140-375 ^ ANC 3300 1800-8300 ^ It's kind of ironic, I guess, that I failed to post on the second biggest day of my sojourn at OHSU Hospital. The first "biggest" day, of course, was transplant day. That was the main event, the raison d' être for being there. It was also biggest because it was a totally new experience and carried with it a certain amount of danger, or at least concern on my part, that something would go wrong, or I would get dreadfully sick afterward. Neither of those things happened. Yesterday was the second biggest day, because it was the day I was discharged...

BOX SCORE Element Current Std. Range Trend Hemoglobin 8.2 13-17 - Platelets 48 140-375 ^ ANC 420 1800-8300 ^ Just feast your eyes on that Box Score. My ANC is no longer missing in action (MIA). It took a big jump overnight, and the attending oncologist expects it to go up again overnight. The really good news is that these blood cells are being produced by my new bone marrow, and they are coming on strong.  Thank you to all the prayer warriors who have been diligently at work lifting me up to our Heavenly Father for His blessing. And thanks to anyone who sang my fight song from yesterday's post.  The battle is far from over. I will need to be seen two to three times a week in th...

BOX SCORE Element Current Std. Range Trend Hemoglobin 8.2 13-17 ^ Platelets 33 140-375 ^ ANC 0 1800-8300 -             Cheer, cheer for Old Notre Dame, Wake up the echoes cheering her name, Send a volley cheer on high, Shake down the thunder from the sky! * Thus begins the chorus of the Notre Dame Fight Song, arguably one of the best known college anthems in the US. It's melody and message are a source of joy and encouragement to ND students and alumni alike. I awoke about 4:00 am today. I had blood drawn for lab tests around midnight, so I decided to check out the results. They are recorded above, but there is another statistic that I don't generally...

BOX SCORE Element Current Std. Range Trend Hemoglobin 8.1 13-17 v Platelets 9 140-375 v ANC MIA      1800-8300 - There is an old Spiritual Hymn called "Good News." The refrain goes like this:  Good news, chariot's a-comin'  Good news, chariots' a-comin'  Good news, chariots' a-comin' And I don't want it to leave me behind.  I must plead ignorance as to which chariot this refers to in Scripture, but the song is a joyful one. Perhaps, it refers to the same chariot as appears in another Spiritual, "Swing low, sweet chariot, comin' for to carry me home." I think it is likely, because both songs seem to be about being taken to heaven.  I...

BOX SCORE Element Current Std. Range Trend Hemoglobin 8.5 13-17 v Platelets 10 140-375 v ANC 0 1800-8300 - Hospital life is kind of like any other lifestyle, once you get into. You begin to develop routines, and you rely on them to structure your day. Some days, something really remarkable happens, like a bone marrow transplant. Other days are pretty routine. You get up, take a shower, get dressed, order breakfast.  On those days, Jill and I make up our own routines. They usually involve walking. We love to hike, and when we are at home we have a route that we walk around the neighborhood that totals about two miles. Other times we go for a walk by the creek or in the nature prese...

BOX SCORE Element Current Std. Range Trend Hemoglobin 8.6 13-17 v Platelets 10 140-375 v ANC MIA 1800-8300 v When I was about five or six, my dad, who was a private pilot and had grown up building model airplanes before there were model airplane kits, used to take me and my brother to Vic's Hobby Shop in the Hollywood District of Portland. To me the place was like a wonderland. So many model airplanes hanging from the ceiling in such a way as to suggest an aerial dog fight, highly detailed model ships sitting on shelves; I could imagine myself as John Wayne in "Flying Leathernecks,"  or Jeff Chandler in "Away All Boats." It was like a turbocharger for the imag...