Steve had blood drawn on Friday and just received the results: he's not normal yet. (Gak!!)
Blood platelets are created in your bone marrow and are rapidly dividing cells which are particularly susceptible to chemotherapy drugs. Platelets are part of your blood clotting system. Steve's level has continued to drop down from 46,000 to 39,000 making him more likely to bruise or bleed. Dr. Hu says it is part of the after-effects from the chemo and they will continue to monitor it. He is scheduled for another check on Thursday. When you have low platelets you are said to have thrombocytopenia. That's why the doctors get paid the big bucks, because they have long, latin-type words for things.
Creatinine numbers remained at their high level, the same as last week, indicating Steve's kidneys are still damaged. Terry was hoping they would improve this week and was disappointed in the results. I was expecting to hear from Terry today after she talked to the nephrologist but I couldn't reach her. I'll update you as I receive information.
As of yesterday, Steve worked his second day back to work, a nine hour day, and felt a little tired but he was still happy to be working. Today was his day to drive the carpool so I hope he had enough energy at the end of the day to stay safe and not over-tire himself.
I'm so glad to hear that Steve is happy at work! A little bit worried about the thrombocytopenia, (cool word!), but I hope we can expect them to rise, as well as his creatinine levels. :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comment, dahlin! Sometimes I feel like I'm writing to the air :)
DeleteYou write good air, Leese! Very glad to see Steve back at work and a return to some sense of normalcy. Hopefully, he'll just keep getting stronger as he gets more into his routine.
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