Wednesday Morning.

Sarah arrived last night and has settled in. It's 8am here, I thought I'd post a short update on where I'm at.

My blood counts are continuing to fall, my white cell count which was originally good is now very low. Platelets are 34 and that's with the transfusion!
The biggest threat to me health-wise is an out of control infection. Without a decent neutrophil count a person can go from healthy to life support in a few hours..

Luckily, last night, just as I was about to turn in for the evening, I noticed I had a painful area on my left wrist near the elbow. It felt like it had a deep bruise, when I touched it it was painful, firm and hot. The skin had turned red. I called the doctor to my room and he has treated it with local antibiotics as well as a systemic one. It looks like one of the needle sites from the other day day has become infected around the vein. Yuk!. I half expected to wake this morning to find half my arm involved.. It isn't, but we are keeping a close eye on it.

I did manage to get out yesterday for a walk to the grocery store. It's well stocked with everything you could need, so when Sarah and I do finally leave here and stay at a guesthouse or similar, we should have no problems with food etc. I bought Sarah a nice bottle of Shiraz so we could celebrate the marrow results when she arrived. (I won't mention the pringles and chocolate I got for me ;)

I'm not allowed out today, in fact the doctor said I should wear a mask if I leave my room. I'll see what's happening with the counts. I got a shot of GCSF last night that should help. I would expect to have one everyday for the 5 days to see a sustained increase. I'll be suggesting that to Dr K today and asking for the neumega shots too.

Right.. breakfast! :)