Day +23

My Blood Count Today:
Red Blood Count (RBC) 96(Normal 130-180)
Platelet 49(Normal 150-50)
White Blood Count (WBC) = 5.2 (Normal 4 - 11)

I am fine today. The white blood count is now 5.2, it might drops later because I am no longer given "growth factor". The sharp increment of platelet is mainly due to the platelet transfusion yesterday. I received two single donor platelet transfusion yesterday, one in the morning and one at night. The red blood count drops a little bit, hopefully it will pick up tomorrow.

The BMA result is very positive. The doctor said that there are many blood cells engrafted and there are zero blast cells (cancer cells). We would assume for now that the new cells are produced from my sister stem cells. This will be confirmed by cytogenetics analysis which is a study of the chromosome structure from the bone marrow samples. If the blood cells are produced from my sister stem cells, then the last pair (pair 23) of the chromosomes should be XX (female) instead of XY(male). So you can imagine this transplant results in a male carrying female blood. However, you don't have to worry I would then become a girl because this involves the blood cells only. The cells from other part of my body are still carrying XY(male) chromosome. So at the end I am still a male:-) The cytogenetics analysis result will be ready about six weeks from now.

Yesterday, after the dinner, I noticed heavy bleeding at the wound due to the BMA. The nurse gave me another transfusion of single donor platelet. She then called the doctor in at midnight to stitch the wound. The bleeding stopped after 3 stitches. This is the first time that the BMA wound needs to be stitched to stop bleeding. I think the bleeding is due to low platelet count. Most of the previous BMA was done with higher platelet count.

If everything goes on smoothly, I should be dischargable from the hospital next Monday.

See you next post.