Blood Counts

Mark has been feeling great the last few days. He has been taking about three or four walks a day around the hotel. His appetite is coming back with a vengeance. Last night he said that he talked Dianna into making him some goulash. He ended up eating two big bowls of it and then more later!

Speaking of Dianna, it sounds like Mark is taking full advantage of her willingness to help nurse him back to health. Remember what they say about paybacks, Mark (just kidding). Dianna has definitely been Mark's rock through all of this.

Mark's white blood cell count has dropped low enough (to 2.66) that he will no longer be able to leave the apartment except for visits to the hospital. He is at an extremely high risk for contracting infections. He will go to the hospital on Friday to see if it has dropped to zero. If so, they may be able to start stem cell collection a few days early.

Below are a few of his blood counts (as of yesterday) that they are watching closely right now:

2.66 - White Blood Cell Count (should be 0 by Friday)
3.85 - Red Blood Cell Count (normal is 4.5-6.0 m/uL)
13.2 - Hemoglobin g/dl (normal is 12-16 g/dl)
238 - Platelets (should be less than 30)

The following link will take you to a document that explains the counts in detail: Blood Counts

Oh, and one other thing -- NO HAIR LOSS YET!!!