Today I visited the hospital as planned, and the blood-test results were actually very positive (I responded well to the GCSF). My neutrophils have bounced back to an impressive 4.0! In addition, my haemoglobin is up to 12.6 and platelets over 200. My lymphocytes are also above 1.0, but since I received a dose of them on Monday I am not sure it means very much. I did wonder if the result on Monday was due to a machine error, but they double check all the tests in the lab, and the result was accurate - something caused my neutrophils to crash, maybe a viral infection that has now passed? We will never know.
However, the doctor repeated to me that during my recovery my counts will fall from time to time, and the cause is not easy to determine; although I am in good health now, I think that it would be unwise for me to travel until I have a second positive blood-test result to show that things have settled down again.
Since I have no travel planned for the remainder of February, I will return during the first week of March for my next clinic appointment.
Friday 10 February 2012
Monday 6 February 2012
T+228: Mature lymphocytes
Today I went to the hospital to get my first dose of mature lymphocytes from my brother Harry. But I also got some disturbing news about my blood counts ...
It snowed a couple of days ago, but the roads to London were all cleared nicely, and I arrived just after 09:30. Harry was already hooked up to the apheresis machine, but the vein they were taking the blood from kept spasming and stopping its blood supply. Eventually things settled down after they put a warm blanket round his arm, and the cells were collected. They did not take much - only about 100ml - but each dose is also quite small. After Harry was unhooked we went for lunch (fish and chips, very good as usual), and then came back for a quick check of Harry's blood which was all OK. The harvested cells went off to the lab, I went to the pharmacy and Harry went home. Let me thank Harry very much for his ongoing donations - I would not be here without them.
The cells came back from the lab OK, so they put in a cannula and took blood (it is a month since my last blood count). My haemoglobin is fine at 11.6, platelets OK at 178 and lymphocytes continuing to increase at 0.89; but my neutrophils have dropped to 0.72 (less than 0.5 is neutropenia). It was a bit like a slap in the face! It happened back in November, and they recovered OK, but it is still worrying. They gave me a shot of GCSF (stem cell growth hormone) and I am going back to the hospital on Friday to have another blood count. Fingers crossed eh!
The dose of lymphocytes they gave me was 4ml - so not very much! It was given with 500ml of saline, so it took over 30 minutes, but was uneventful. They start to work in 4 weeks ...
Last week we went to our house in France for the first time in 18 months. Although it was cold, we have a wood fire that really heats the house well, and it was very pleasant being there and making plans for the year. I am looking forward to going back in the near future.
It snowed a couple of days ago, but the roads to London were all cleared nicely, and I arrived just after 09:30. Harry was already hooked up to the apheresis machine, but the vein they were taking the blood from kept spasming and stopping its blood supply. Eventually things settled down after they put a warm blanket round his arm, and the cells were collected. They did not take much - only about 100ml - but each dose is also quite small. After Harry was unhooked we went for lunch (fish and chips, very good as usual), and then came back for a quick check of Harry's blood which was all OK. The harvested cells went off to the lab, I went to the pharmacy and Harry went home. Let me thank Harry very much for his ongoing donations - I would not be here without them.
The cells came back from the lab OK, so they put in a cannula and took blood (it is a month since my last blood count). My haemoglobin is fine at 11.6, platelets OK at 178 and lymphocytes continuing to increase at 0.89; but my neutrophils have dropped to 0.72 (less than 0.5 is neutropenia). It was a bit like a slap in the face! It happened back in November, and they recovered OK, but it is still worrying. They gave me a shot of GCSF (stem cell growth hormone) and I am going back to the hospital on Friday to have another blood count. Fingers crossed eh!
The dose of lymphocytes they gave me was 4ml - so not very much! It was given with 500ml of saline, so it took over 30 minutes, but was uneventful. They start to work in 4 weeks ...
Last week we went to our house in France for the first time in 18 months. Although it was cold, we have a wood fire that really heats the house well, and it was very pleasant being there and making plans for the year. I am looking forward to going back in the near future.
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