Day +12

My Blood Count Today:
Red Blood Count (RBC) 119 (Normal 130-180)
Platelet 11 (Normal 150-50)
White Blood Count (WBC) =0.3 (Normal 4 - 11)

I am well except with quite severe sore throat. The white blood count increased from 0.1 to 0.3, a very good increment. However, the platelet drops from 26 to 11.

I am given transfusion of another 4 units of platelet this morning.

After the chief haematologist (blood specialist) examined my mouth and throat to determine the extent of mucositis (mouth, throat, digestive tract ulcers) that I have, she decided that I am fit for the last dose of Methotrexate. The nurse then administered it to me at 2:00pm today.

I am taking Panadol soluble in the form of effervescent tablet to reduce the throat pain. The dissolving process of this Panadol tablets in a glass of water is amazing. The tablet creates so much small white bubbles in the cup in such a short time while disintegrating itself. It looks like the cup of water is boiling suddenly . It is really like magic show! After looking at the show, the Panadol solution tasted better to me :-) So if your children refuse to take Panadol when they are sick, get this type of Panadol for them. Let them dissolve the Panadol themselves. I am sure after looking at the magical effect of dissolving the Panadol, they couldn't wait to swallow the cup fo Panadol solution. However, please remember to lock the remaining Panadol soluble tablets in a safe place, else the children will consume all of them at once when you are not around.

The nurses suggested to me a couple of times to take "morphine syrup" to ease the pain, but I refused because the pain is bearable. The Panadol is more than enough to for me to control the throat pain.

The pain is experienced only when I swallow something such as saliva, food and drink. If I don't swallow anything, then I won't experience any pain at all. With this throat problem, I should be able to count how much saliva that I swallow within an hour more accurately than you because each of my swallow equal to "one pain". A healthy person will surely miss a lot of swallow count because he/she always swallow unconsciously - don't even notice he/she is swallowing. God abundant grace is actually embracing our whole body - making it works wonderfully, but because so many actions that we perform are completed unconsciously, we becomes ignorance of God's abundant grace upon our body. So, if you have nothing to thank God in your next prayer, thank Him for giving you a body that can swallow so well - so pain free, so smooth and so automatic!