Day +40

My Blood Count Today:
Red Blood Count (RBC) = 104(Normal 130-180)
Platelet = 144(Normal 150-150)
White Blood Count (WBC) = 1.8(Normal 4 - 11)
ANC = 0.468 (Normal 1.5 - 8.0)
Potassium = 3.8(Normal 3.5 - 5.2)
Magnesium = 0.47(Normal 0.65 - 1.05)

I am well today. The white blood count drops further from 2.2 to 1.8, and the potassium also drops from 4.6 to 3.8. Since the white blood count is low, the doctor decided to give me "growth factor" injection, 3 times a week stimulates the bone marrow to produce more white blood cells. The magnesium level increase a little bit, but still below the normal range. The nurse gave me magnesium infusion straight away after the blood sample was drawn, without waiting for the blood count result first. So I am able to reach home at 12:30pm, about 2 hours earlier compared to the last followups. The platelet count almost increased to the normal range.

My Absolute Neutrophil Count (ANC) is 0.468, which is extremely low. ANC is the actual number of neutrophil in the white blood cells. Neutrophil is one components of the white blood cells that helps to kill and digest microorganism. The other components are macrophage, basophil and eosinophil. We wouldn't know if a person is proned to infection just by looking at the white blood count alone. We have to caluclate the ANC of a person to determine the risk of infection.

ANC is calculated by multiplying the white blood count with the percentage of neutrophils in the white blood cells. Based on the blood report, my neutrophil percentage is 26%, therefore my ANC is equal to 1.8x1000x26% = 1800x0.26 = 468. We then convert it to normal covention by dividing the value with 1000 = 0.468.

The risk of infection based on ANC is as follow:
Neutropenia = ANC < 2.0 (slight risk of infection)
Mild Neutropenia = 1.0 < ANC < 1.5 (minimal risk of infection)
Moderate Neutropenia = 0.5 < ANC < 1.0 (moderate risk of infection)
Severe Neutropenia = ANC < 0.5 (high risk of infection)

If you still have your last blood test result, try to calculate what ANC you have and I am very sure that it is way above 2.0:-)

See you next post.