Monday, October 20, 2008

The significance of a flu shot

Hello.
Today I got a flu shot. This is significant because I could not get one until the blood counts reached certain sorta healthy levels. (All things being relative in this post transplant world.)

My white count more than doubled. My hemoglobin is in the range I was accustomed to operating before I got sick. My platelets are high enough to use real toothpaste. The ANC (Absolute Neutrophil Count, which is some ratio of the others) is 800. So I can have salad.

I was so excited about having a salad I forgot to ask about guests. I will ask that when I return to the clinic, which is not until.......Thursday! A change of routine here.

I am getting rid of one prescription (not the expensive one) and am going to try an oral magnesium. If I can tolerate that (magnesium as in Phillips Milk of.....) then the central line will come out in 2-3 weeks. (central line goes from arm to just above my heart in a vein which just makes life simpler for cancer patients...aside from being useful for drugs I don't have to get stuck every day when they draw blood.)

I am excited. I am still bound by the isolation and companion for 100 days, but I appear to be at the point where the restrictions will begin to relax.

Thanks everyone again and again for your support, prayers and good wishes. And wish me luck as I go off to try to best Janice at Scrabble again.
Cathi

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

No salad for you! Soup! You eat soup before meal not SALAD!

Robbie Stanley said...

All good news! It's nice to log on and read all the good news. I'm in Monterey for another day; it's very beautiful. Today I rented a bike and rode along the coast; tomorrow I'll do some hiking. Taking lots of pictures. Anyway, it's all insignificant compared to your numbers! Congratulations and enjoy your salad.
Love, Robbie

Anonymous said...

What GREAT NEWS! I'll bet you're almost feeling human again. We are all so thrilled for you.

Enjoy your salads. It's been a pretty long time coming.

Keep up the blog, even if you think nothing happened. We worry a bit when we don't hear from you.

gail said...

YES TO MORE VEGGIES! :)

And, since chocolate starts out as some kind of seed pod, it definitely qualifies as a veggie too. Logic says, then, that you will be adding chocolate to your salad. Yea!!

This is such fabulous news, Cathi.

Sending more karma for continued good news.

love, gail

Unknown said...

Hi Cathi
Such fabulous positive news - and celebrating with a salad. Way-hay girl, there'll be no stopping you now! Let's hope those restrictions keep getting dropped one by one.

Enjoy your day(s) off from the clinic.
lots of love #2 GOT

Anonymous said...

Wow This is great news! Does this mean chocolate is on the menu too? It amazes me how fast numbers can change. So proud of you. Want to plan a trip to Kansas after the first, 100 days are up by when? Enjoy all those salads and more.
Love Diane

John and Janean said...

On Halloween we will put your name on several candy bars.
Dove, Hershey & Snicker I think.
Looking forward to your victory.

Unknown said...

Great news! Congratulations!! Very exciting!!

Sara Beth said...

And you don't have to go back until Thursday. Nice! I think I will eat a salad too. I forget to be thankful for the privilege of fresh vegetables. I hope you got to have a home grown tomatoe, there aren't too many left this year. Is soup nazi related to Nurse Ratchet?

Sara