Not on My Time

Last week from Wednesday on, I kept waiting for my white cell count to rebound and start coming back up. A rebounding white cell count shows that the bone marrow is recovering again after all that strong chemo. I kept waiting and waiting. Oddly, on Friday, my platelet count was holding steady, but the white count and red blood cell count were lower than the time before. It was like my bone marrow was trying to turn around but just couldn't do it. Since my hemoglobin was low, I felt more tired and short of breath on my runs and walks uphill. I talked to my friend Susan about it over the w-e, and we were commenting on how it is not on my time. It recovers when it recovers. It is that patience thing again, and again, and again. It is obvious that my bone marrow doesn't recover as quickly when the rounds of chemo stack up. I guess that is not really surprising. More hits to the marrow.

But here's the good news. Today my white cell count is up to 0.9 from 0.3 on Friday. And the platelets are up to 67,000 from 21,000. The bone marrow is doing its thing. Yeah! I am going to get transfused 1 unit of red blood cells since the hemoglobin is 8.7. When it is below 10.0, I feel draggy and more tired. I can really notice it when I run hills; I get more short of breath and tired and have to stop to walk some. Later today, I'll be all tuned up after this blood and with my bone marrow doing its thing at last.

I saw my doctor briefly this morning. He agreed to see me in clinic Monday and will admit me to the hospital Tuesday to start the next round of chemo, another 5 day affair like before. I have been studying the calendar pretty closely because I don't want to get backed up on these chemo rounds and end up having my November chemo during Thanksgiving. I want to move, move, move on the next round (see I still haven't learned the patience thing...)