Day +957 : Follow-up

My Blood Count Today: - Readings in square bracket [] are result from previous test.
Red Blood Count (HB) = 136[146] (Normal 130-180)
Platelet = 298[230] (Normal 150-450)
White Blood Count (WBC) = 6.2[6.9] (Normal 4 - 11)
Absolute Neutrophil Count (ANC) = 2.294[3.312] (Normal 1.5 - 8.0)
ALT = 88[79] (Normal 30 – 65)
AST = 57[57] (Normal 15-37)
GGT = 82[58] (Normal 15-85)

I am fine today.

My blood count result today is quite normal with liver enzyme level, ALT and AST, a bit out of range only. This means that the reduction of Ciclosporin daily dosage from 50mg to 25mg during last follow-up was a good decision :-)

The chest x-ray that I did today revealed that the right pleural effusion still exists. However, comparing to previous x-ray, the pleural effusion seems to be diminishing. Doctor scheduled another chest x-ray for me two weeks later to see my lung condition. Hopefully, the pleural effusion will be cleared by then.

Doctor also prescribed a course of antibiotic, Augmentin, for me, just in case the pleural effusion is caused by infection.

I also submitted the letter from the rheumatologist to haematologists and they confirmed the possibility of tendon contracture due to GVHD. However, the head of team, professor Gan, was strongly against doing biopsy on my tendon. She said that it is not necessary for me to take the risk to do the procedure as the joint stiffening that I experienced is not life threatening and it also does not impaired too much the quality of my life. I shared the same opinion with her.

The doctor referred me to  physiotherapist for this problem and I will have my first physiotherapy session next Wednesday morning.

Based on what I read on a forum regarding the same issue, it is very unlikely that the physiotherapy would improve the situation. However, someone reported that the situation improved naturally after some time. This at least gives me hope that the tendon contracture symptom is reversible :-)

In addition to the chest x-ray and the routine blood tests that include full blood count, renal and liver function test, doctor also ordered CTD (connecting tissue disease) test for me during the next follow-up. It is a blood test to rule out that the joint stiffness is caused by other diseases rather than the GVHD.

I supposed to gain weight during Chinese New Year, but yesterday scaling proved otherwise. My weighted dropped from 59.4kg to 57.1kg, losing 2.3kg in 5 weeks. I have to eat very hard to gain more weight; else the doctor will be very worried :-)

See you next post :-)