Well, there you go. The doc was right. He said last night that he thought my white blood cell count would jump to between 1.8 and 3.0 and this morning they’re at 3.0, which is a HUGE jump from yesterday. If I continue on this trajectory I’ll be well within the normal range by tomorrow. YAY!
My red blood cells and platelets are another matter though. I’m once again receiving transfusions for both and I’ll probably be a groggy mess for a good portion of the day today due to the Benadryl. I think I see a nap in my future! My nurse announced in a chirpy voice this morning that I’m no longer neutropenic, which basically means that my body’s ability to fight disease and infection has improved.
Wow. I’m finding out all sorts of interesting things about my physiology. Apparently one of my doctors, Dr. Bambo (omg, I LURV her!) was going through her patients’ chest x-rays to find an example of what she considered a good set of lungs to show another patient. My name and x-ray popped up and evidently I have exceptional lungs, both in size and capacity. She showed me both my x-ray and the x-ray of the other patient and the difference was pretty staggering. Whereas this other person’s lungs were clouded and cramped, mine were crystal-clear and very large. Huh. Guess all those years of being a gym rat paid off! Not to mention that I’ve never smoked. Okay, yes, I tried it when I was a kid but it was NASTY, like licking a dirty ash tray. I’ve been a bit concerned that regular exposure to secondhand smoke while growing up (my mom and sister both smoked) might have left its mark but apparently not. Whew! Good news.
I just finished my daily exercises. Since I’m confined to my room and can no longer wander the unit’s hallways, I have to do something to keep my body from falling apart at the seams, right? So I march in place for a total of ten minutes interspersed with exercises targeting my quads, glutes and biceps/triceps/pecs. It isn’t much at the moment but I hope to work up to using the free weights we have at home. For now it seems sufficient because I already feel some soreness in my muscles. Kinda nice, really. I haven’t felt that in a long time!