Day 6

Hemoglobin 9.6
Platelets 55
WBC 0.7
|Neutrophils| 0.1
Creatinine 1.32

My counts have been bouncing around over the past few days - they'll be down one day and up the next.  This seems counterintuitive to what should be happening since I've received chemo - shouldn't my counts just be going down at this point?  Good question, so I asked my doctor.  She explained that the type of transplant I'm having relies on the donor system to, upon implantation, do the work of a strong chemo treatment in eradicating the cancerous marrow cells.  The pre-transplant treatments function to weaken my system, making it easier for the donor system to implement.  That being the case, the dose of chemotherapy and radiation given to me were relatively weak.  Thus, my cells are still dividing.  The chemo will eventually cause my numbers to completely drop, but when used in tandem with the growth factor I receive every night (growth factor = drug to make the cells divide = a rise in counts) an erratic downward trend is often seen.  I liken it to an engine running out of fuel.  It'll sputter a few times before it completely stops.

Right now I'm feeling really nauseous but I felt pretty good for most of the day.