Blood Counts!

As I watch the rise and fall of various factors in my weekly CBC (Complete Blood Count) certain trends have emerged. My hemoglobin levels were within normal range when I started this journey. However they have never fully rebounded since that first chemo back in November. They have been below normal range every week since then. They were sufficiently low last Monday that I needed a blood transfusion. I’ll be curious to see tomorrow’s CBC and find out how the transfusion of someone else’s blood impacted my hemoglobin levels. I don’t feel any different, but then I wasn’t overly out of breath or more fatigued than usual before the transfusion, which are symptoms many people have when they have low hemoglobin levels.

However, my bigger concern this week is where my platelet levels are. The last time I was scheduled for chemotherapy we had to postpone it a week, because my platelet levels had dropped below 75 (75,000 per micro liter of blood). Last Monday, they had dropped to 81. I can usually count on them to drop even further by the time I’m scheduled for my next chemo session. If they have fallen further, I’m likely to face another delay in receiving chemo, something I would really rather not have happen. I want to keep moving forward and any delay at this point is a bit hard to swallow. So, I’m keeping my fingers crossed that my platelets will somehow be at least a 76!  Is that too much to ask? Tune in tomorrow!