Red Cells and White Cells and Platelets, Oh My!

BOX SCORE 7/29/2024 Element Current Std. Range Trend Hemoglobin 12.1 13-17 v Platelets 152 140-375 v ANC 4690 1800-8300 ^ The long and winding road that leads to your door Will never disappear, I've seen that road before It always leads me here, lead me to your door .  The Beatles published The Long and Winding Road in 1970 as their 20th and final number one single.* In some ways the song reminds me of the journey Jill and I have been on through this battle with AML. Accordingly, I have taken the liberty of adjusting the lyrics a little:  The long and winding road that leads to our door Will never disappear, we 've seen that road before It always leads us there, lead us t

BOX SCORE 7/22/2024 Element Current Std. Range Trend Hemoglobin 12.4 13-17 ^ Platelets 166 140-375 ^ ANC 4620 1800-8300 ^ Today is my grandma's birthday. She is not here to celebrate, because she was born 133 years ago, in 1891. Grandma Brooks was a pistol. She was a very animated lady full of fun and laughter. She loved a prank, and she loved her family. Even after she had a stroke and came to live with our family, she was still full of "p*ss and vinegar," or P&V, as she liked to say of anyone who was a bit irreverent and full of joie de vivre. I can still see her sitting in the easy chair in her room, watching what was then called "professional wrestling." Sh

BOX SCORE 7/15/2024 Element Current Std. Range Trend Hemoglobin 11.4 13-17 v Platelets 147 140-375 v ANC 4870 1800-8300 v The number of leaves on a less than lucky cloverleaf. The number of baseballs you can put in your mouth. The number of times I have broken 100 on the golf course. The number of weeks until we return home. What do all of these things have in common? They are all less than four. That's right! Today is day T+73, which means we are within 27 days of finishing my post transplant care at OHSU. Our expected return to Dallas, should be August 17th.  One of my biggest fears of the transplant process was that I would not tolerate being away from home for more than 15 weeks.

BOX SCORE Element Current Std. Range Trend Hemoglobin 11.4 13-17 v Platelets 147 140-375 v ANC 4870 1800-8300 v In our culture, we like happy endings. It used to be that Hollywood films did not portray violence without, in the end, the bad guys getting their just deserts. I have to admit that was often when the good guys shot the bad guys, which isn't so cool, but nevertheless justice of sorts was done. We still like this theme, although it seems to me that from the few contemporary (meaning in the past 15 years) movies that I have seen (both of them) things have progressed from somebody getting rubbed out with a snub nosed .38 to massive explosions of bad guy spaceships (and of

BOX SCORE 7/12/24 Element Current Std. Range Trend Hemoglobin 11.9 13-17 ^ Platelets 163 140-375 ^ ANC 5490 1800-8300 ^ A week ago yesterday, we got in the Ford to go to the clinic for my Friday blood tests and an infusion of magnesium. When Jill started up the engine, I noticed it ran just a little rough for a few seconds. Before we started to move, it was back to its normal, reliable self. The following day, we were headed for Walmart for a curbside pickup of our groceries for the week. Again I noticed a little roughness when the motor fired up. As we left Walmart, the "Check Engine" light on the dashboard lit up. It took me a few minutes to noodle my way through what to do. We