A little more good news? Maybe?

Things have been going on as normal: getting blood about every 6-8 days and platelets every 3-4... lots of trips to the doctor and sticks from the IV needles. On Friday I met with Dr. Joyce who works closely with Dr. Tzachanis while Dr. T is on a much deserved vacation in Greece. While I'm not seeing much improvement on the red cells and platelets, she was encouraged that my white cells were up from .2 to a whopping .6 (remember that the low end of normal is 4.0). While this is still a very low number, the fact that it is increasing at all means that marrow is likely regenerating. I believe her exact quote was "your red cells are crap, your platelets are crap, you're a bruised mess, but you'll get there...it won't be like this next summer." I like Dr. Joyce.

I went in to the doc again today and had to get some red cells, but was very happy to hear that my white cells are up to .9. That number is my overall white count, which is made up of a bunch of different kinds of white cells including neutrophils which are what fight bacterial infections. While my overall white count was higher before the ATG treatment (usually around 2.0), my neutrophil count is now higher than it has been since before I first went into the ER. I have moved from the "severely neutropenic" category to "moderately neutropenic" which means that if things continue to go in this direction, I can come off some of my antibiotics and can ease up on some of my diet restrictions (there goes my excuse to opt for Cheeseburgers over salads).

Hopefully my other numbers will follow the example of my white cells, but for now I'll take any good news I can get. I've almost finished my afghan and am steadily progressing through season 3 of "The Wire." As Dr. Joyce so delicately pointed out, I'm a bruised mess and I've been pretty tired, especially in this heat, but for the most part I feel good. Kevin keeps my spirits up and he is very good company...for a Canadian (kidding!). We even got to go to Gloucester to spend a day at the beach with the Corkerys last weekend and are really looking forward to going to New Haven next weekend to celebrate Chris and Melinda's wedding. Erin and I are re-watching "Felicity" for the millionth time and I get to Carlisle to see Elliott (and Mom and Dad and Ryan and Rebekah and the fetus) often too. Besides all this blood nonsense, I'm having a great summer.

Thanks again for all the well wishes and kind words. I can never get enough of those. More soon!