I am fine today.
Grace commented on my yesterday blog that The Star reported a 17 year old boy called Wong Kim Yau had successfully undergone an unrelated bone marrow transplant in UH. You can read the news here.
We know each other since early last year. He completed his chemotherapy treatment earlier but experienced a relapse. After this, he had to complete another chemotherapy treatment before this bone marrow transplant.
The same team of haematologist did the transplant for me. They are team leader Dr. Gan, Dr. Bee and Dr. Harris. In addition, the heamatology unit also engaged Dr. Alan Teh as visiting consultant.
A big thank you to all of you, doctors.
See you next post :-)
Showing posts with label Transplant. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Transplant. Show all posts
Friday, January 19, 2007
Thursday, August 03, 2006
Day +29
My Blood Count Today:
Red Blood Count (RBC) = 94(Normal 130-180)
Platelet = 63(Normal 150-50)
White Blood Count (WBC) = 19.2(Normal 4 - 11)
Potassium = 4.1(Normal 3.5 - 5.2)
Magnesium = 0.53(Normal 0.65 - 1.05)
I am well today, with magnesium deficiency. The red blood count drops a little bit, but there is a good increase in platelet. The white blood count shoots up like rocket, from 1.5 to 19.2. It should be due to the "growth factor" injection yesterday and it will drops again.
The doctors decided to discharge me today - a milestone:-). The total number of days I stayed in the ward for the transplant is 39(29+9+1). I sincerely appreciate the doctors and nurses who take great care of me throughout my stay in the ward. After this, I still have to go through intensive follwup initially, twice a week on Monday and Thursday.
The immune system will take about 6 months to 1 year to mature. So I will isolate myself again in a small room at home, with air conditioner and air filter(HEPA filter + Carbon filter + Ionizer). I am not allowed to touch my baby because he is vaccinated with the live-virus oral polio vaccine. The virus in his body can infect me easily through his body secretions like sweat and stool.
The guideline for visitor is "Avoid close physical contact with anyone who has cough, cold or other infections. You can have visitors, but limit them to small groups(2 to 4 at a time) of healthy people". So if you intended to visit me, I hope you can hold on the visit until my immune system becomes more mature. However, if you are healthy and from far away such as Sarawak, US, Hong Kong, then I will accept the visit, limited to 2 to 4 person at a time.
Glory and praise to our God!
See you next post.
Red Blood Count (RBC) = 94(Normal 130-180)
Platelet = 63(Normal 150-50)
White Blood Count (WBC) = 19.2(Normal 4 - 11)
Potassium = 4.1(Normal 3.5 - 5.2)
Magnesium = 0.53(Normal 0.65 - 1.05)
I am well today, with magnesium deficiency. The red blood count drops a little bit, but there is a good increase in platelet. The white blood count shoots up like rocket, from 1.5 to 19.2. It should be due to the "growth factor" injection yesterday and it will drops again.
The doctors decided to discharge me today - a milestone:-). The total number of days I stayed in the ward for the transplant is 39(29+9+1). I sincerely appreciate the doctors and nurses who take great care of me throughout my stay in the ward. After this, I still have to go through intensive follwup initially, twice a week on Monday and Thursday.
The immune system will take about 6 months to 1 year to mature. So I will isolate myself again in a small room at home, with air conditioner and air filter(HEPA filter + Carbon filter + Ionizer). I am not allowed to touch my baby because he is vaccinated with the live-virus oral polio vaccine. The virus in his body can infect me easily through his body secretions like sweat and stool.
The guideline for visitor is "Avoid close physical contact with anyone who has cough, cold or other infections. You can have visitors, but limit them to small groups(2 to 4 at a time) of healthy people". So if you intended to visit me, I hope you can hold on the visit until my immune system becomes more mature. However, if you are healthy and from far away such as Sarawak, US, Hong Kong, then I will accept the visit, limited to 2 to 4 person at a time.
Glory and praise to our God!
See you next post.
Wednesday, August 02, 2006
Day +28
My Blood Count Today:
Red Blood Count (RBC) = 98(Normal 130-180)
Platelet = 54(Normal 150-50)
White Blood Count (WBC) = 1.5(Normal 4 - 11)
Potassium = 4.1Normal 3.5 - 5.2)
Magnesium = 0.49(Normal 0.65 - 1.05)
I am fine today. All the blood counts drop a little bit. The drop of white blood count is beyond my expection. However, doctors say it is not considered to be a problem as the BMA result showed very good engraftment.
In order to raise the white blood count, doctors decided to give me "growth factor" again through injection, three times a week.
As I said in the previous post, I am very busy in this isolated ward. So you don't have to worry I would be upset due to the delay in discharge.
The list of thing that I do or could do in the ward:
1. Sleeping - never feel guilty of sleep too much because it is my job to sleep now.
2. Eating - meals, pills, supplements... to make sure that I get enough nutritient.
3. Take bath - I put it here because it takes me half an hour to take a bath now. Before I was sick, it only takes about of 5 minutes - a piece of soap apply to the whole body without applying any hair shampoo or lotion. Now I have to apply lotion to every part of the body including my shinning bald head after taking bath. If I look at the mirror, I can see my head reflecting light:-)
4. Exercise - This include cycling, playing the sport cars and walk in the room.
5. Reading - newspaper, bible-sometime memorize verses, plenty of electronic books(Jinyong novels, years of Scientic American magazine, over 100 music books, christian material, internet resources...), many hard copy books at home as well.
6. Listen to sermon - there are plenty of them online.
7. Writing blog - may be can venture into other writing:-)
8. Music appreciation - over 500 hundred audio CD, VCD and DVD. Mainly classical guitar musics, but also significant collection of classical piano, orchestra and other music. It takes about 160GB hard disk to store the collection.
9. Playing classical guitar - over 15000 pages of classical music scores both in electronic and hard copy form, if 20% of them are within my capability to play, then I will have 3000 pages of music to play and memorize. I also collect a significant amount of piano scores collection because my wife can play piano very well. Even though I cannot play piano, I feel very satisfied just by looking at the piano scores - kind of addicted to music scores due to some reasons that I would share with you later.
10. Create a software catalog of my music and score collection, so that it is easier for me to share the collection with others.
11. Playing games including my favorite Sudoku - plenty of other games in my PDA
12. Learning computer programming - always my interest
Plus many other thing to do under a physically isolated environment.
See you next post:-)
Red Blood Count (RBC) = 98(Normal 130-180)
Platelet = 54(Normal 150-50)
White Blood Count (WBC) = 1.5(Normal 4 - 11)
Potassium = 4.1Normal 3.5 - 5.2)
Magnesium = 0.49(Normal 0.65 - 1.05)
I am fine today. All the blood counts drop a little bit. The drop of white blood count is beyond my expection. However, doctors say it is not considered to be a problem as the BMA result showed very good engraftment.
In order to raise the white blood count, doctors decided to give me "growth factor" again through injection, three times a week.
As I said in the previous post, I am very busy in this isolated ward. So you don't have to worry I would be upset due to the delay in discharge.
The list of thing that I do or could do in the ward:
1. Sleeping - never feel guilty of sleep too much because it is my job to sleep now.
2. Eating - meals, pills, supplements... to make sure that I get enough nutritient.
3. Take bath - I put it here because it takes me half an hour to take a bath now. Before I was sick, it only takes about of 5 minutes - a piece of soap apply to the whole body without applying any hair shampoo or lotion. Now I have to apply lotion to every part of the body including my shinning bald head after taking bath. If I look at the mirror, I can see my head reflecting light:-)
4. Exercise - This include cycling, playing the sport cars and walk in the room.
5. Reading - newspaper, bible-sometime memorize verses, plenty of electronic books(Jinyong novels, years of Scientic American magazine, over 100 music books, christian material, internet resources...), many hard copy books at home as well.
6. Listen to sermon - there are plenty of them online.
7. Writing blog - may be can venture into other writing:-)
8. Music appreciation - over 500 hundred audio CD, VCD and DVD. Mainly classical guitar musics, but also significant collection of classical piano, orchestra and other music. It takes about 160GB hard disk to store the collection.
9. Playing classical guitar - over 15000 pages of classical music scores both in electronic and hard copy form, if 20% of them are within my capability to play, then I will have 3000 pages of music to play and memorize. I also collect a significant amount of piano scores collection because my wife can play piano very well. Even though I cannot play piano, I feel very satisfied just by looking at the piano scores - kind of addicted to music scores due to some reasons that I would share with you later.
10. Create a software catalog of my music and score collection, so that it is easier for me to share the collection with others.
11. Playing games including my favorite Sudoku - plenty of other games in my PDA
12. Learning computer programming - always my interest
Plus many other thing to do under a physically isolated environment.
See you next post:-)
Tuesday, August 01, 2006
Day +27
My Blood Count Today:
Red Blood Count (RBC) = 99(Normal 130-180)
Platelet = 57(Normal 150-50)
White Blood Count (WBC) = 1.8(Normal 4 - 11)
Potassium = 3.8(Normal 3.5 - 5.2)
Magnesium = 0.52(Normal 0.65 - 1.05)
I am well today, but again with magnesium deficiency. Both the red blood and platelet count increase quite significantly. The white blood count is no longer dropping and I believe it will start to pick up tomorrow.
I am actually dischargeable today but because my wife and daughter are having flu, I have to stay in the wad and wait. So "the space shuttle has to remain in orbit due to bad wheather".
I have been staying in this isolated VIP room for 37 (27+9+1) days. Today is day 27 after the infusion of my sister stem cell and I was admitted 9 days before the infusion, thefore we get this formula (27+9+1 = 37), where +1 represents day 0.
You might thought that staying in a isolated wad for such a long time is very boring, but frankly speaking life here is not too boring because I have a lot of thing to do everyday. One of the things that makes me so busy is "swallowing pills". I have to swallow so many pills everyday. The pills are in tablet and capsule form, with different sizes, shapes, colours and smells.
Most of the pills are round or oval in shape which are without corner. So they are easy to be swallowed - no sharp corner that will hurts the throat. Some small pills do have shape with corner such as octagon(8 sided), but because they are small, they can be swallowed too. We should never get large pills which are not round or oval in shape.
Apart from the shape, it is interesting to observe that the pills are of variety of colours- green, pink, chocolate, blue, white... Putting all the pills with different shapes and colours together will definately increase the appetite of the patient. You just imagine you are served with a dish of delicious and colourful mixed vegetable. So the patient will swallows the pills in no time:-)
Next is the smell. The multivitamin and mineral supplement called Supradyn is chocolate in colour and it smells exactly like chocolate. Since I have not eaten chocolate for a very long time, I wish I could just chew it like chocolate before swallowing it. Unfortunately I am instructed to swallow the pill in whole. So there is no way for me to enjoy eating it like chocolate:-( I think the reason of swallowing in whole is to allow the supplement to be released gradually in the stomarch to make it more effective. If we chew it into pieces then the supplement will be released all at once which is not so effective. We also refer this gradual release mechanism as "buffered". One example is "buffered vitamin C".
The Cyclosporin pill which is taken to prevent GVHD has a very interesting smell. It smells like "Petai"(Stink Bean) and coincidently it is also coloured like "Petai" which is green. We normally cook the "Petai" with "Sambal Udang"(Prawn chili paste) to make a dish called "Sambal Udang Petai"( Stink Bean with Prawn Chili Paste). It is a very delicious Malaysian food.
Everytime when I just about to eat the Cyclosporin pill, how I wish someone could bring some "Sambal Udang" to me so that I can add the Cyclosporin into it to make a dish called "Sambal Udang Cyclosporin"(Cyclosporin with Prawn Chili Paste) for me to enjoy in the wad:-) If you have no idea of how the dish would look like, see the picture below.
Red Blood Count (RBC) = 99(Normal 130-180)
Platelet = 57(Normal 150-50)
White Blood Count (WBC) = 1.8(Normal 4 - 11)
Potassium = 3.8(Normal 3.5 - 5.2)
Magnesium = 0.52(Normal 0.65 - 1.05)
I am well today, but again with magnesium deficiency. Both the red blood and platelet count increase quite significantly. The white blood count is no longer dropping and I believe it will start to pick up tomorrow.
I am actually dischargeable today but because my wife and daughter are having flu, I have to stay in the wad and wait. So "the space shuttle has to remain in orbit due to bad wheather".
I have been staying in this isolated VIP room for 37 (27+9+1) days. Today is day 27 after the infusion of my sister stem cell and I was admitted 9 days before the infusion, thefore we get this formula (27+9+1 = 37), where +1 represents day 0.
You might thought that staying in a isolated wad for such a long time is very boring, but frankly speaking life here is not too boring because I have a lot of thing to do everyday. One of the things that makes me so busy is "swallowing pills". I have to swallow so many pills everyday. The pills are in tablet and capsule form, with different sizes, shapes, colours and smells.
Most of the pills are round or oval in shape which are without corner. So they are easy to be swallowed - no sharp corner that will hurts the throat. Some small pills do have shape with corner such as octagon(8 sided), but because they are small, they can be swallowed too. We should never get large pills which are not round or oval in shape.
Apart from the shape, it is interesting to observe that the pills are of variety of colours- green, pink, chocolate, blue, white... Putting all the pills with different shapes and colours together will definately increase the appetite of the patient. You just imagine you are served with a dish of delicious and colourful mixed vegetable. So the patient will swallows the pills in no time:-)
Next is the smell. The multivitamin and mineral supplement called Supradyn is chocolate in colour and it smells exactly like chocolate. Since I have not eaten chocolate for a very long time, I wish I could just chew it like chocolate before swallowing it. Unfortunately I am instructed to swallow the pill in whole. So there is no way for me to enjoy eating it like chocolate:-( I think the reason of swallowing in whole is to allow the supplement to be released gradually in the stomarch to make it more effective. If we chew it into pieces then the supplement will be released all at once which is not so effective. We also refer this gradual release mechanism as "buffered". One example is "buffered vitamin C".
The Cyclosporin pill which is taken to prevent GVHD has a very interesting smell. It smells like "Petai"(Stink Bean) and coincidently it is also coloured like "Petai" which is green. We normally cook the "Petai" with "Sambal Udang"(Prawn chili paste) to make a dish called "Sambal Udang Petai"( Stink Bean with Prawn Chili Paste). It is a very delicious Malaysian food.
Everytime when I just about to eat the Cyclosporin pill, how I wish someone could bring some "Sambal Udang" to me so that I can add the Cyclosporin into it to make a dish called "Sambal Udang Cyclosporin"(Cyclosporin with Prawn Chili Paste) for me to enjoy in the wad:-) If you have no idea of how the dish would look like, see the picture below.
Monday, July 31, 2006
Day +26
My Blood Count Today:
Red Blood Count (RBC) = 95(Normal 130-180)
Platelet = 46(Normal 150-50)
White Blood Count (WBC) = 1.8(Normal 4 - 11)
Potassium = 3.6(Normal 3.5 - 5.2)
Magnesium = 0.47(Normal 0.65 - 1.05)
I am well today, with magnesium deficiency. The red blood and white blood count drops further but there is some improvement in platelet count. The potassium level is also improved but the magnesium level is still low.
The doctors decided not to discharge me today.
My friend who visited me yesterday teached me a lot of "secret recipes" pertaining to health. One of the "secret recipes" to prevent cancer is to drink a cup of water immediately after we wake up each morning. No matter how rush we are, we have to drink the water slowly with great patience, dividing it into one hundred sips(swallowing very small quantity each time). The reason behind this one hundred sips is to allow more saliva from the mouth to be swallowed together with the water to the stomarch. After finishing this cup of water slowly and patiently, we have to stay there motionless for the burp(to bring out gas from the stomarch) to come, else our great effort in sipping the water will be wasted.
So next time, please don't get too worried if you see me sitting there motionless for hours. I am most probably waiting for the burp to come:-)
See you next post.
Red Blood Count (RBC) = 95(Normal 130-180)
Platelet = 46(Normal 150-50)
White Blood Count (WBC) = 1.8(Normal 4 - 11)
Potassium = 3.6(Normal 3.5 - 5.2)
Magnesium = 0.47(Normal 0.65 - 1.05)
I am well today, with magnesium deficiency. The red blood and white blood count drops further but there is some improvement in platelet count. The potassium level is also improved but the magnesium level is still low.
The doctors decided not to discharge me today.
My friend who visited me yesterday teached me a lot of "secret recipes" pertaining to health. One of the "secret recipes" to prevent cancer is to drink a cup of water immediately after we wake up each morning. No matter how rush we are, we have to drink the water slowly with great patience, dividing it into one hundred sips(swallowing very small quantity each time). The reason behind this one hundred sips is to allow more saliva from the mouth to be swallowed together with the water to the stomarch. After finishing this cup of water slowly and patiently, we have to stay there motionless for the burp(to bring out gas from the stomarch) to come, else our great effort in sipping the water will be wasted.
So next time, please don't get too worried if you see me sitting there motionless for hours. I am most probably waiting for the burp to come:-)
See you next post.
Sunday, July 30, 2006
Day +25
My Blood Count Today:
Red Blood Count (RBC) 103(Normal 130-180)
Platelet 41(Normal 150-50)
White Blood Count (WBC) = 1.9(Normal 4 - 11)
I am fine today, with potassium and magnesium deficiency. The count for all blood components drops a little bit but I believe they will start to pick up again very soon.
One of my friends came to visit me this afternoon. He is my house mate when we studied in UPM long time ago and he is also a nice and interesting guy. He said that he tried very hard to access my blog at http://david-healed.blogspot.com but still unable to gain access to it. In order to convince me that he keyed in the correct blog adress, he showed me the blog address recorded on his handphone memo and I found that the address was precisely recorded. After some discussion with him, he finally said: "I have tried both google and msn, but still could not access your blog." With this, I only realize that he actually mistakenly type the blog address in the google and msn search field to try to gain access to my blog.
So if you try to access my blog using the same approach as him, please stop doing so. Just type in my blog address in the address field of the browser and I am sure that you will be able to reach here:-)
See you next post.
Red Blood Count (RBC) 103(Normal 130-180)
Platelet 41(Normal 150-50)
White Blood Count (WBC) = 1.9(Normal 4 - 11)
I am fine today, with potassium and magnesium deficiency. The count for all blood components drops a little bit but I believe they will start to pick up again very soon.
One of my friends came to visit me this afternoon. He is my house mate when we studied in UPM long time ago and he is also a nice and interesting guy. He said that he tried very hard to access my blog at http://david-healed.blogspot.com but still unable to gain access to it. In order to convince me that he keyed in the correct blog adress, he showed me the blog address recorded on his handphone memo and I found that the address was precisely recorded. After some discussion with him, he finally said: "I have tried both google and msn, but still could not access your blog." With this, I only realize that he actually mistakenly type the blog address in the google and msn search field to try to gain access to my blog.
So if you try to access my blog using the same approach as him, please stop doing so. Just type in my blog address in the address field of the browser and I am sure that you will be able to reach here:-)
See you next post.
Saturday, July 29, 2006
Day +24
My Blood Count Today:
Red Blood Count (RBC) 107(Normal 130-180)
Platelet 47(Normal 150-50)
White Blood Count (WBC) = 2.2 (Normal 4 - 11)
I am well today. The white blood count drops sharply from 5.2 to 2.2, but don't worry, it will pick up very soon. There is a good increment in red blood count, from 96 to 107. The platelet count remains almost the same.
I experience potassium and magnesium deficiency everyday even with oral supplement. So these two minerals have to be further supplemented through infusion, that is the only time when my hand get "wired" to the stand again. Hopefully, my body can overcomes these deficiency very soon.
I appreciate many of you out there who support me through prayer and encouragement. One day, I received a short SMS "Jesus is Love" . Since the message is not signed and the sender number is not on my phone book, so I had totally no idea of who the sender was. In order to find out who the sender was, I replied "Your number is not on my phone book, may I know who are you?"
I got the reply, "Matthew x-x-x", where x is some number. I really couldn't figure out who is this Matthew. I asked my wife if she know anyone called Matthew but she also don't remember who this Matthew is.
No long later, I received another SMS, "John x-x-x", then "Luke x-x-x", then "James x-x-x". How come this person keep on changing his name? From Matthew, to John, to Luke and James... Finally, I called the number and based on the voice, I realize that he is one of our church members. He was actually sending Bible verses to me.
Everyday, I received at least three very short SMS from him. Example of the messages:
"Jesus is King"
"Holy Spirit let us understand"
"Timothy x-x-x"
Why don't he put all the messages in a single SMS to reduce the telephone charges? I don't know, but I do know he is remembering and supporting me everyday!
See you next post :-)
Red Blood Count (RBC) 107(Normal 130-180)
Platelet 47(Normal 150-50)
White Blood Count (WBC) = 2.2 (Normal 4 - 11)
I am well today. The white blood count drops sharply from 5.2 to 2.2, but don't worry, it will pick up very soon. There is a good increment in red blood count, from 96 to 107. The platelet count remains almost the same.
I experience potassium and magnesium deficiency everyday even with oral supplement. So these two minerals have to be further supplemented through infusion, that is the only time when my hand get "wired" to the stand again. Hopefully, my body can overcomes these deficiency very soon.
I appreciate many of you out there who support me through prayer and encouragement. One day, I received a short SMS "Jesus is Love" . Since the message is not signed and the sender number is not on my phone book, so I had totally no idea of who the sender was. In order to find out who the sender was, I replied "Your number is not on my phone book, may I know who are you?"
I got the reply, "Matthew x-x-x", where x is some number. I really couldn't figure out who is this Matthew. I asked my wife if she know anyone called Matthew but she also don't remember who this Matthew is.
No long later, I received another SMS, "John x-x-x", then "Luke x-x-x", then "James x-x-x". How come this person keep on changing his name? From Matthew, to John, to Luke and James... Finally, I called the number and based on the voice, I realize that he is one of our church members. He was actually sending Bible verses to me.
Everyday, I received at least three very short SMS from him. Example of the messages:
"Jesus is King"
"Holy Spirit let us understand"
"Timothy x-x-x"
Why don't he put all the messages in a single SMS to reduce the telephone charges? I don't know, but I do know he is remembering and supporting me everyday!
See you next post :-)
Friday, July 28, 2006
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.
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.
Thursday, July 27, 2006
Day +22
My Blood Count Today:
Red Blood Count (RBC) 100(Normal 130-180)
Platelet 19(Normal 150-50)
White Blood Count (WBC) = 5.0 (Normal 4 - 11)
I am well today. The white blood count reaches 5.0, a very good increase. The doctor stops to give "growth factor " injection to me. The red blood and platelet count also increase a little bit.
I am given another transfusion of single donor platelet today due to the BMA.
BMA was done this morning smoothly. But the wound bleeds a lot just now, the nurse asked me to lie down. So I cannot continue my writing.
See you next post:-)
Red Blood Count (RBC) 100(Normal 130-180)
Platelet 19(Normal 150-50)
White Blood Count (WBC) = 5.0 (Normal 4 - 11)
I am well today. The white blood count reaches 5.0, a very good increase. The doctor stops to give "growth factor " injection to me. The red blood and platelet count also increase a little bit.
I am given another transfusion of single donor platelet today due to the BMA.
BMA was done this morning smoothly. But the wound bleeds a lot just now, the nurse asked me to lie down. So I cannot continue my writing.
See you next post:-)
Wednesday, July 26, 2006
Day +21
My Blood Count Today:
Red Blood Count (RBC) 96(Normal 130-180)
Platelet 16(Normal 150-50)
White Blood Count (WBC) = 3.0 (Normal 4 - 11)
I am well today. The white blood count reaches 3.0, a very good increase. The red blood and platelet count drop a bit but I believe they will pick up very soon.
The bone marrow aspiration is postponed to tomorrow due to unforeseen circumstances.
I have also completed the current course of intravenous antibiotic. The doctor also stops to administer normal saline(Sodium Chloride solution) to me since I can drink and eat without problem. With this, I can move freely in the room as my hand is no longer "wired" to anything now.
I would like to thank Dawn for sharing the followng bible verse with me through the comment for my post yesterday.
"It's useless to rise early and go to bed late, and work your worried fingers to the bone. Don't you know he enjoys giving rest to those he loves?" Psalms 127:2
"你们清晨早起，夜晚安歇，吃劳碌得来的饭，本是枉然；惟有耶和华所亲爱的，必叫他安然睡觉。" 诗篇 127:2
The phrase "giving rest" in chinese translation simply means "sleep peacefully or sleep well".
The ability to sleep well is a gift from God and I thank God for blessing me with this precious gift. I have to wake up many times at night in the hospital to go to toilet due to heavy water intake. After waking up, I would be able to continue sleep without problem. Before I was diagnosed with Leukaemia, I always wake up together with my wife at 5:30am as she needs to go to teach in school at about 6:30am. While my wife preparing herself to go to school, I went for jogging for about 25 minutes, completing a distance of about 3.7km. After sending off my wife to school, I would continue to enjoy my sleep for another hour.
Since I can sleep very well and my wife always has difficulty to continue her sleep after waking up, I always volunteered myself to bottle-feed the babies at night if they cried for milk. However, it would be impossible for me to help her if the babies are still under breast-feeding because there is no way for me to produce milk for the baby.
Apart from able to continue sleep after some interruptions, I am also able to sleep with the light turn on, people moving around, noisy environment, without mattress and pillow:-)
But one of my brother-in-laws can sleeps better than me. He always turns on the light, the television and radio together, and then sit down on the sofa to enjoy himself. I was greatly puzzled by this funny behaviour - how can he watches television and listen to the radio at the same time? His loud and noisy snoring will soon tells you that he is actually enjoying sleeping there with everything turned on. However, if you think that he is wasting electricity and try to help him to turn off either the television or radio, he will wake up immediately and question: "Who turn it off?" It looks like he is able to enjoy both the television and radio program at the same time while sleeping. With him possessing this extraordinary ability, I have to admit that he can sleep a lot better than me:-)
See you next post and happy sleeping:-)
Red Blood Count (RBC) 96(Normal 130-180)
Platelet 16(Normal 150-50)
White Blood Count (WBC) = 3.0 (Normal 4 - 11)
I am well today. The white blood count reaches 3.0, a very good increase. The red blood and platelet count drop a bit but I believe they will pick up very soon.
The bone marrow aspiration is postponed to tomorrow due to unforeseen circumstances.
I have also completed the current course of intravenous antibiotic. The doctor also stops to administer normal saline(Sodium Chloride solution) to me since I can drink and eat without problem. With this, I can move freely in the room as my hand is no longer "wired" to anything now.
I would like to thank Dawn for sharing the followng bible verse with me through the comment for my post yesterday.
"It's useless to rise early and go to bed late, and work your worried fingers to the bone. Don't you know he enjoys giving rest to those he loves?" Psalms 127:2
"你们清晨早起，夜晚安歇，吃劳碌得来的饭，本是枉然；惟有耶和华所亲爱的，必叫他安然睡觉。" 诗篇 127:2
The phrase "giving rest" in chinese translation simply means "sleep peacefully or sleep well".
The ability to sleep well is a gift from God and I thank God for blessing me with this precious gift. I have to wake up many times at night in the hospital to go to toilet due to heavy water intake. After waking up, I would be able to continue sleep without problem. Before I was diagnosed with Leukaemia, I always wake up together with my wife at 5:30am as she needs to go to teach in school at about 6:30am. While my wife preparing herself to go to school, I went for jogging for about 25 minutes, completing a distance of about 3.7km. After sending off my wife to school, I would continue to enjoy my sleep for another hour.
Since I can sleep very well and my wife always has difficulty to continue her sleep after waking up, I always volunteered myself to bottle-feed the babies at night if they cried for milk. However, it would be impossible for me to help her if the babies are still under breast-feeding because there is no way for me to produce milk for the baby.
Apart from able to continue sleep after some interruptions, I am also able to sleep with the light turn on, people moving around, noisy environment, without mattress and pillow:-)
But one of my brother-in-laws can sleeps better than me. He always turns on the light, the television and radio together, and then sit down on the sofa to enjoy himself. I was greatly puzzled by this funny behaviour - how can he watches television and listen to the radio at the same time? His loud and noisy snoring will soon tells you that he is actually enjoying sleeping there with everything turned on. However, if you think that he is wasting electricity and try to help him to turn off either the television or radio, he will wake up immediately and question: "Who turn it off?" It looks like he is able to enjoy both the television and radio program at the same time while sleeping. With him possessing this extraordinary ability, I have to admit that he can sleep a lot better than me:-)
See you next post and happy sleeping:-)
Tuesday, July 25, 2006
Day +20
My Blood Count Today:
Red Blood Count (RBC) 99(Normal 130-180)
Platelet 18(Normal 150-50)
White Blood Count (WBC) =1.8 (Normal 4 - 11)
I am fine today. The white blood count increase by 0.5 to 1.8. This is the best increase so far. Hopefully, it will be more than 2.0 by tomorrow. The platelet also increase from 15 to 18, an increase without platelet transfusion first time ever. Meanwhile, the red blood count also increased from 95 to 99.
The doctor will do a Bone Marrow Aspiration(BMA) for me tomorrow. This is my 7th BMA. A needle will be inserted into the back of one of my hipbones to draw a liquid sample of the bone marrow for analysis. I always requested the doctor to put me to sleep before the procedure or else it will be very painful.
I sleep most of the day because I am too sleepy. I am afraid I started to be like my sister who donated the stem cells to me. She is very hardworking but also always very sleepy. We used to do homework and revision on the same table while we were schooling long time ago. I always like to sit at her opposite side, facing her. She would start to become very busy after sitting down - not busy doing the revision but busy "mengantuk"(continuous bowed down her head due to sleepiness) with a book wide open in front of her. Since bowing is a sign of respect, so I enjoyed her continuous respect while I was studying or doing my homework. We advised her to go sleep but because she was so hardworking, she always refused to go to sleep. She would like to continue to study and at the end she ended up with her continuous act of respecting me for hours. So you can see how respectable am I :-)
But now I am as sleepy as her. If we sit opposite to each other, you will be amazed how much this pair of brother and sister respecting each other by bowing their head to each other continuously :-)
See you next post:-)
Red Blood Count (RBC) 99(Normal 130-180)
Platelet 18(Normal 150-50)
White Blood Count (WBC) =1.8 (Normal 4 - 11)
I am fine today. The white blood count increase by 0.5 to 1.8. This is the best increase so far. Hopefully, it will be more than 2.0 by tomorrow. The platelet also increase from 15 to 18, an increase without platelet transfusion first time ever. Meanwhile, the red blood count also increased from 95 to 99.
The doctor will do a Bone Marrow Aspiration(BMA) for me tomorrow. This is my 7th BMA. A needle will be inserted into the back of one of my hipbones to draw a liquid sample of the bone marrow for analysis. I always requested the doctor to put me to sleep before the procedure or else it will be very painful.
I sleep most of the day because I am too sleepy. I am afraid I started to be like my sister who donated the stem cells to me. She is very hardworking but also always very sleepy. We used to do homework and revision on the same table while we were schooling long time ago. I always like to sit at her opposite side, facing her. She would start to become very busy after sitting down - not busy doing the revision but busy "mengantuk"(continuous bowed down her head due to sleepiness) with a book wide open in front of her. Since bowing is a sign of respect, so I enjoyed her continuous respect while I was studying or doing my homework. We advised her to go sleep but because she was so hardworking, she always refused to go to sleep. She would like to continue to study and at the end she ended up with her continuous act of respecting me for hours. So you can see how respectable am I :-)
But now I am as sleepy as her. If we sit opposite to each other, you will be amazed how much this pair of brother and sister respecting each other by bowing their head to each other continuously :-)
See you next post:-)
Monday, July 24, 2006
Day +19
My Blood Count Today:
Red Blood Count (RBC) 95(Normal 130-180)
Platelet 15(Normal 150-50)
White Blood Count (WBC) =1.3 (Normal 4 - 11)
I am fine today. The white blood count continue to increase to 1.3. The doctor said that my white blood count is increasing quite slowly compared to other patient, but as long as it is increasing, it should not be an issue. There is slight increase in red blood count and the platelet. No platelet transfusion is done today.
With the constant increase of white blood count, we can conclude that the stem cells from the donor are able to engraft. The next thing that we need to pray hard is that no severe GVHD will occurs.
The nurse "uninstalls" the triple lumen catherter at my neck. The reason for the removal is that this type of catherter is prone to infection and it is normally used for two weeks only. I have been using it for almost one month, so "untunglah saya"(I gains) :-)
The doctor also change the intravenous anti-GVHD drug Cyclosporin to oral tablet form, taken twice a day. With this change, the flow control machine is no longer needed which means I can move more freely now - without the need to bring the heavy flow control machine and multiple power extension cords with me. However, now the intravenous drug such as antibiotic, potassium, magnesium and normal saline have to be administered through the catherters on my right hand. This will affect the movement of my right hand. I don't know if I can still play the guitar with those plastic tubes connected from my right hand's "socket" to the mobile stand.
That's all for today, see you next post :-)
Red Blood Count (RBC) 95(Normal 130-180)
Platelet 15(Normal 150-50)
White Blood Count (WBC) =1.3 (Normal 4 - 11)
I am fine today. The white blood count continue to increase to 1.3. The doctor said that my white blood count is increasing quite slowly compared to other patient, but as long as it is increasing, it should not be an issue. There is slight increase in red blood count and the platelet. No platelet transfusion is done today.
With the constant increase of white blood count, we can conclude that the stem cells from the donor are able to engraft. The next thing that we need to pray hard is that no severe GVHD will occurs.
The nurse "uninstalls" the triple lumen catherter at my neck. The reason for the removal is that this type of catherter is prone to infection and it is normally used for two weeks only. I have been using it for almost one month, so "untunglah saya"(I gains) :-)
The doctor also change the intravenous anti-GVHD drug Cyclosporin to oral tablet form, taken twice a day. With this change, the flow control machine is no longer needed which means I can move more freely now - without the need to bring the heavy flow control machine and multiple power extension cords with me. However, now the intravenous drug such as antibiotic, potassium, magnesium and normal saline have to be administered through the catherters on my right hand. This will affect the movement of my right hand. I don't know if I can still play the guitar with those plastic tubes connected from my right hand's "socket" to the mobile stand.
That's all for today, see you next post :-)
Sunday, July 23, 2006
Day +18
My Blood Count Today:
Red Blood Count (RBC) 92(Normal 130-180)
Platelet 11(Normal 150-50)
White Blood Count (WBC) =1.1 (Normal 4 - 11)
I am fine today. The white blood count increased by 0.3 to 1.1, which is considered to be a good increase. However, the platelet is still dropping even with transfusion yesterday. The doctor said the Platelet recovery will normally lack behind 5 to 10 days compared to white blood cells.
Given this low Platelet count 11, I receive another transfusion of single donor platelet today.
The cough get a little bit more severe today. So I started to take cough syrup. It makes me feel sleepy. The mucositis condition improved a lot.
Back to the daily examination check lists I mentioned yesterday, after asking the question:"How are you today?", the next step is to examine the mouth and throat with the help of a torch light. As a "family doctor", instead of looking for mucositis, I should check whether their mouth is clean- make sure that they brush the teeth, no left-over sweets in the mouth and the teeth are sparkling white.
The next examination is to see if the the lung is clear. I will put the stethoscope on the chest and back (lung area of the body) and then ask the family member to breath in and out to see if the lung is clear or not. Frankly speaking, when doctor said:"Good, the lung is clear", I don't know what does the word "clear" means because I never has a chance to listen to my lung. The word "clear" can means the lung generates some sound which is very "clear" - something like 24-bit mastered Dolby Surround AC-3 Digital classical music. It can means the lung is "clear" of some sound - for example those noisy heavy metal music. It can also means the lung is "clear" of all sound - totally quiet. I need to do further research on this.
The next examination is to listen to the heart using the stethoscope to see whether "heart murmur" can be heard. But I also don't know what does this "heart murmur" actually sounds like. One afternoon during my 4th cycle of chemotherapy in April this year, four doctors suddendly appeared at my bed side and asked permission to examine me. One of the thing that they wanted to find out was whether I had this "heart murmur". So the four doctors take turn to examine me. This means that I had to go through the same examinations for four times. At the end I only realized that this examination formed part of their exam - they probably had to write report to conclude what they heard. Even doctors have to be tested on how to listen to this "heart murmur" correctly, I guess it is not easy for me to find one.
But nevertheless, I find the word "murmur" in Longman dictionary as "to compain to friends and people you work with, but not officially". With this, the "heart murmur" can be interpreted as "complain from within the heart". So with this examination I should be able to hear if their heart murmurs against me. If so, I think I would also be able to hear through the stethoscope the complains and dissastifactions in detail so that necessary actions can be taken :-) Anyway, this is just a joke, if you want to find out what "heart murmur" actually is, you can read something from here.
The next exmination is to press at various position of the abdominal area to see if there is any pain. If there is no pain, then everything should be fine. If there is pain? I also don't know what to do because I pass this examinations everytime doctor examine me. I think the best solution is to send them to see a medical doctor if they failed this exmination.
The next one is to exmine the eyes. This one is a little bit tricky for children. I have to ask them to look at left first, then right, then up and then down or east-west-north-south, while keeping their head stationary. If the children having difficulty to do this, then I have to ask my wife to hold their head so that I can examine their eyes with full concentration. If the eyes are red, I have to investigate why they are crying.
Lastly, I have to examine their skin. The children are so active that it is very easy for them to injure themselves. If I found any bruises on their body, just cover them with handiplast. A pretty easy task to do :-)
I believe with this exmination, the family members would be more healthy, both physcially and psychologically.
See you tomorrow:-)
Red Blood Count (RBC) 92(Normal 130-180)
Platelet 11(Normal 150-50)
White Blood Count (WBC) =1.1 (Normal 4 - 11)
I am fine today. The white blood count increased by 0.3 to 1.1, which is considered to be a good increase. However, the platelet is still dropping even with transfusion yesterday. The doctor said the Platelet recovery will normally lack behind 5 to 10 days compared to white blood cells.
Given this low Platelet count 11, I receive another transfusion of single donor platelet today.
The cough get a little bit more severe today. So I started to take cough syrup. It makes me feel sleepy. The mucositis condition improved a lot.
Back to the daily examination check lists I mentioned yesterday, after asking the question:"How are you today?", the next step is to examine the mouth and throat with the help of a torch light. As a "family doctor", instead of looking for mucositis, I should check whether their mouth is clean- make sure that they brush the teeth, no left-over sweets in the mouth and the teeth are sparkling white.
The next examination is to see if the the lung is clear. I will put the stethoscope on the chest and back (lung area of the body) and then ask the family member to breath in and out to see if the lung is clear or not. Frankly speaking, when doctor said:"Good, the lung is clear", I don't know what does the word "clear" means because I never has a chance to listen to my lung. The word "clear" can means the lung generates some sound which is very "clear" - something like 24-bit mastered Dolby Surround AC-3 Digital classical music. It can means the lung is "clear" of some sound - for example those noisy heavy metal music. It can also means the lung is "clear" of all sound - totally quiet. I need to do further research on this.
The next examination is to listen to the heart using the stethoscope to see whether "heart murmur" can be heard. But I also don't know what does this "heart murmur" actually sounds like. One afternoon during my 4th cycle of chemotherapy in April this year, four doctors suddendly appeared at my bed side and asked permission to examine me. One of the thing that they wanted to find out was whether I had this "heart murmur". So the four doctors take turn to examine me. This means that I had to go through the same examinations for four times. At the end I only realized that this examination formed part of their exam - they probably had to write report to conclude what they heard. Even doctors have to be tested on how to listen to this "heart murmur" correctly, I guess it is not easy for me to find one.
But nevertheless, I find the word "murmur" in Longman dictionary as "to compain to friends and people you work with, but not officially". With this, the "heart murmur" can be interpreted as "complain from within the heart". So with this examination I should be able to hear if their heart murmurs against me. If so, I think I would also be able to hear through the stethoscope the complains and dissastifactions in detail so that necessary actions can be taken :-) Anyway, this is just a joke, if you want to find out what "heart murmur" actually is, you can read something from here.
The next exmination is to press at various position of the abdominal area to see if there is any pain. If there is no pain, then everything should be fine. If there is pain? I also don't know what to do because I pass this examinations everytime doctor examine me. I think the best solution is to send them to see a medical doctor if they failed this exmination.
The next one is to exmine the eyes. This one is a little bit tricky for children. I have to ask them to look at left first, then right, then up and then down or east-west-north-south, while keeping their head stationary. If the children having difficulty to do this, then I have to ask my wife to hold their head so that I can examine their eyes with full concentration. If the eyes are red, I have to investigate why they are crying.
Lastly, I have to examine their skin. The children are so active that it is very easy for them to injure themselves. If I found any bruises on their body, just cover them with handiplast. A pretty easy task to do :-)
I believe with this exmination, the family members would be more healthy, both physcially and psychologically.
See you tomorrow:-)
Saturday, July 22, 2006
Day +17
My Blood Count Today:
Red Blood Count (RBC) 95(Normal 130-180)
Platelet 13(Normal 150-50)
White Blood Count (WBC) =0.8 (Normal 4 - 11)
I am well today. The white blood count increased by 0.1 only, less than what I have expected. However, this small increase of 0.1 is still considered to be very precious to me and I hope that the count would reach 1.0 or more by tomorrow. The Platelet count remains 13, even with the transfusion of a single donor platelet yesterday.
I am given transfusion of another single donor platelet this afternoon.
The body is losing magnesium and potassium almost everday. These two minerals are added into the normal saline to be administered to the body. Apart from this, my blood pressure is also high, it can reach 160/100. This is one of the side effect of taking anti-GVHD drug Cyclosporin. Today I start to take medicine to control the blood pressure and also taking oral potassium supplement.
The patient in this VIP Room 1 is very precious to the doctors. Sometimes, I will be examined 3 times by 3 different doctors at different times of the day. Whenever the doctor comes in to the room, she or he will do the following:
1. Ask the question "How are you today?".
2. Look at the mouth and throat to see the level of mucositis. The doctor will always shoot the torch light to my mouth and ask me to say "Ah!".
3. Listen to the breadth sounds using a stethoscope - chest region and back. The doctor will ask me to breath in and out while they are listening. Then most of the time they would say: "The lung is clear."
4. Listen to the heart sounds by placing the stethoscope on the left chest. The result is most likely "clear" also.
5. Press the abdominal area to see if there is pain caused by applying pressure to the area. I will be asked to breath in and out also.
6. Examine the eye.
7. Examine the skin on the body.
I believe the above examination is very useful and meaningful to be performed not only on patient in hospital but on my family members also . Since I have plenty of torch lights at home, the only equipment that I lack of now is the stethoscope.
So, instead of shaking, begging, advising and finally commanding the two elders boy to wake up at 9:00am in the morning, I should take a more professional approach - just imagine myself a "family doctor". I shall no longer raise my voice and issue the command: "Boys, listen carefully, this is a command, now I start to count down from 10, those who wake up, brush the teeth, wash the face, change the pyjamas and then be in the dining room to take breakfast before I count to 0 will get 2 points of reward! 10, 9, 8, ..." This command will almost immediately responded by complain: "Why you don't issue advice first before giving command?","Why you count so fast?" and "Why...?"
Now with the "family doctor" examination check lists. The first question I should ask is "How are you today?" One of the possible response from my eldest son Daniel would be as follow.
"Let me stretch my body first." then he will stretch his body on the bed for one minute before start to talk.
"Baba, can you buy me two large Domino Pizzas, ALOHA CHICKEN flavor for breakfast?" He likes to eat Pizzas so much that I have to sign up as a Domino Millennium Gold Card member, so that whenever I buy a large Pizza, I also get a second large Pizza free of charge. If you need to buy Pizza from Domino, I can lend the card to you - it is transferrable.
"Daniel, you just eat Pizza two days ago. You know Pizza is not a healthy food" I responded.
"Why all the delicious foods are not healthy and all the healthy foods are not delicious?" He will ask.
"..." This is a tough question. I am also finding answer to this question. Could it be because the delicious foods are too delicious that make people over-eaten them which then cause diet imbalance - unhealthy? If we give the Pizzas, KFCs, Big Mac Burgers to the hunger strike mulnutrition Africa's children, would the foods still be considered unhealthy?
Then it comes to talking to my second boy Joseph who is studying in primary one: "How are you today, Joseph?"
"Baba, what day is today?" He will ask
"Wednesday."
"Oo... I don't want to go to school, I don't want to go to school." He will start to cry.
"Joseph, tell me, why you don't want to go to school?"
"Oo... I don't want to go to school, I don't want to go to school." He just have the conclusion, but not the reason.
Then I should ask Adriel, my 2 years old girl. "How are you today, Adriel?"
"Go, go Baba go, go to garden!" She will force me to bring her to play in the garden.
Lastly, I should never forget to ask my cute beautiful wife Angela. "How are you today, Honey?"
"Tell me, why you look at the beautiful young lady yesterday?" She will start to question.
"Honey, it is completely necessary to look at her."
"You see, you admit it yourself, colour wolf..."
"Honey, if I didn't look at her crossing the road and adjusted our car speed accordingly, we would simply knocked her down." Of course she will not be satisfied with this simple answer and start to argue with me. In order to prevent this type of unnecessary misunderstanding and argument, I will definately has to put "auto-pilot" as one of the top most feature when purchasing our next car. With this feature, when I see a lady crossing the road, I can quickly put the car on "auto-pilot" then close my eye immediately and tell my wife "You see, I see nothing now." If the "auto-pilot" feature is too expensive, the "auto-brake" feature will also serve the purpose.
The youngest 3 months old boy Aaron should be easiest to handle. I just hold him in my arm and ask :"How are you today, Aaron?" Amost everytime he will respond with smiles to show that he is happy - no complain, no dissastifaction, no request.
I believe the life of a "family doctor" is more challenging than the medical doctor in the hospital. This is because it is impossible for the "family doctor" to limit the scope of the answer for the question "How are you today?", while in the hospital the patient would normally answer the question within the scope of their sickness only.
I think I should continue this tomorrow for other form of examination.
See you next post!
Friday, July 21, 2006
Day +16
My Blood Count Today:
Red Blood Count (RBC) 99(Normal 130-180)
Platelet 13(Normal 150-50)
White Blood Count (WBC) =0.7 (Normal 4 - 11)
I am well today. The throat pain problem is getting better. I have stopped taking Morphine Syrup and Panadol Soluble.
The white blood count increased from 0.4 to 0.7 and there is a also a slight increase of red blood cell, from 96 to 99. There is a small drop of platelet, which consider to be alright since I did not received platelet transfusion yesterday. The body will gain some immunity once the white cell count reach 1.0 and above. Hopefully, the white cell count will be more than 1.0 tomorrow.
Red Blood Count (RBC) 99(Normal 130-180)
Platelet 13(Normal 150-50)
White Blood Count (WBC) =0.7 (Normal 4 - 11)
I am well today. The throat pain problem is getting better. I have stopped taking Morphine Syrup and Panadol Soluble.
The white blood count increased from 0.4 to 0.7 and there is a also a slight increase of red blood cell, from 96 to 99. There is a small drop of platelet, which consider to be alright since I did not received platelet transfusion yesterday. The body will gain some immunity once the white cell count reach 1.0 and above. Hopefully, the white cell count will be more than 1.0 tomorrow.
Thursday, July 20, 2006
Day +15
My Blood Count Today:
Red Blood Count (RBC) 96(Normal 130-180)
Platelet 14(Normal 150-50)
White Blood Count (WBC) =0.4 (Normal 4 - 11)
I am well with reduced cough and flu, still with sore throat. There is a very significant increase of white blood count - from 0.2 to 0.4. If white blood count can increase steadily everyday until 2.0, then I can be discharged. The increase in white blood count also implies the recovery of other components such as platelet and red blood cell.
In fact, the nurses suggested many times to put me on Total Parenteral Nutritient (TPN) due to my mucositis problem. TPN is a method that transfer the necessary nutritient that a body needs through the vein. In my case, it can be done through one of the catherters that I have. With TPN, the patient can stop eating but still acquire the necessary nutritient. However, I am very reluctant to do this because I can still swallow, of course with some bearable pain.
Some nurses and doctors advised me "Don't try to be a superman!" - they thought that I force myself to swallow even though it is very painful. But I never try to be superman because the pain is tolerable to me especially with Morhpine Syrup and the Panadol Soluble. If I want to be superman, I shall be jumping here and there in the room to learn how to fly instead of trying to swallow food! With God grace, I am able to take soft food like oat meal, poridge, barley etc.. In the morning, I have two packs of "3 in 1 cereal oat drink" in about 400ml of hot water. It is very delicious and soothing to the painful throat.
Yesterday was a sleepy day, when I try to write something late at night, one of my cartherters experience back-flow problem. What is a back-flow? A back-flow happens when blood from the body flow out to the plastic tube that connect the catherter and the drug solution pack. Normally, the drug solution pack is hanged on the stand higher than the patient, therefore the drug always flow towards the body through the plastic tube. However, when the patient stand out and there is not much drug solution left in the drug pack, the blood pressure in the body can becomes higher than that of the tube which would then force the blood to flow into the tube. If this happens, one has to lie down quickly to allow the blood to flow back to the body.
Yesterday morning, I managed to solve one Sudoku puzzle, from Monday Sin Chiew's Newspaper (10 July 2006), in about an hour time. Without the Morphine Syrup, I should performance better :-)
Red Blood Count (RBC) 96(Normal 130-180)
Platelet 14(Normal 150-50)
White Blood Count (WBC) =0.4 (Normal 4 - 11)
I am well with reduced cough and flu, still with sore throat. There is a very significant increase of white blood count - from 0.2 to 0.4. If white blood count can increase steadily everyday until 2.0, then I can be discharged. The increase in white blood count also implies the recovery of other components such as platelet and red blood cell.
In fact, the nurses suggested many times to put me on Total Parenteral Nutritient (TPN) due to my mucositis problem. TPN is a method that transfer the necessary nutritient that a body needs through the vein. In my case, it can be done through one of the catherters that I have. With TPN, the patient can stop eating but still acquire the necessary nutritient. However, I am very reluctant to do this because I can still swallow, of course with some bearable pain.
Some nurses and doctors advised me "Don't try to be a superman!" - they thought that I force myself to swallow even though it is very painful. But I never try to be superman because the pain is tolerable to me especially with Morhpine Syrup and the Panadol Soluble. If I want to be superman, I shall be jumping here and there in the room to learn how to fly instead of trying to swallow food! With God grace, I am able to take soft food like oat meal, poridge, barley etc.. In the morning, I have two packs of "3 in 1 cereal oat drink" in about 400ml of hot water. It is very delicious and soothing to the painful throat.
Yesterday was a sleepy day, when I try to write something late at night, one of my cartherters experience back-flow problem. What is a back-flow? A back-flow happens when blood from the body flow out to the plastic tube that connect the catherter and the drug solution pack. Normally, the drug solution pack is hanged on the stand higher than the patient, therefore the drug always flow towards the body through the plastic tube. However, when the patient stand out and there is not much drug solution left in the drug pack, the blood pressure in the body can becomes higher than that of the tube which would then force the blood to flow into the tube. If this happens, one has to lie down quickly to allow the blood to flow back to the body.
Yesterday morning, I managed to solve one Sudoku puzzle, from Monday Sin Chiew's Newspaper (10 July 2006), in about an hour time. Without the Morphine Syrup, I should performance better :-)
Wednesday, July 19, 2006
Day +14
My Blood Count Today:
Red Blood Count (RBC) 102(Normal 130-180)
Platelet 24(Normal 150-50)
White Blood Count (WBC) =0.2 (Normal 4 - 11)
I am well, but with sore throat. The white blood count remains 0.2. The platelet count is 24, but after a single donor platelet transfusion this morning.
I need to stop now, because one of catherter experiences back-flow problem, the nurse asked me to lie down.
Red Blood Count (RBC) 102(Normal 130-180)
Platelet 24(Normal 150-50)
White Blood Count (WBC) =0.2 (Normal 4 - 11)
I am well, but with sore throat. The white blood count remains 0.2. The platelet count is 24, but after a single donor platelet transfusion this morning.
I need to stop now, because one of catherter experiences back-flow problem, the nurse asked me to lie down.
Tuesday, July 18, 2006
Day +13
My Blood Count Today:
Red Blood Count (RBC) 105 (Normal 130-180)
Platelet 14 (Normal 150-50)
White Blood Count (WBC) =0.2 (Normal 4 - 11)
I am well but with severe sore throat. The white blood count dropped by 0.1, quite a big drop.
I am given another transfusion of single donor platelet today.
The nurse started to give Morphine syrup to me, with 5ml each dose 6 hourly. It is a very good pain killer but it also make me very sleepy. This morning, I was playing my guitar while the nurse gave Morhine syrup for me to drink. I have to quickly pack my guitar after 10 minutes of drinking it, else I will definately fall asleep on top of my guitar.
Red Blood Count (RBC) 105 (Normal 130-180)
Platelet 14 (Normal 150-50)
White Blood Count (WBC) =0.2 (Normal 4 - 11)
I am well but with severe sore throat. The white blood count dropped by 0.1, quite a big drop.
I am given another transfusion of single donor platelet today.
The nurse started to give Morphine syrup to me, with 5ml each dose 6 hourly. It is a very good pain killer but it also make me very sleepy. This morning, I was playing my guitar while the nurse gave Morhine syrup for me to drink. I have to quickly pack my guitar after 10 minutes of drinking it, else I will definately fall asleep on top of my guitar.
Monday, July 17, 2006
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!
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!
Sunday, July 16, 2006
Day +11
My Blood Count Today:
Red Blood Count (RBC) 100 (Normal 130-180)
Platelet 26 (Normal 150-50)
White Blood Count (WBC) =0.1 (Normal 4 - 11)
I have developed sore throat since early morning today, otherwise I am well. Because of this, I have to take soft food. The white blood count remains to be 0.1 and the platelet increased from 18 to 26, the best increment after transfusion :-)
The doctor cancelled the last dose of Methotrexate that suppose to be given by today, due to the throat pain and mouth ulcers.
Every morning, the nurse will take my weight. I weighted 63.4kg this morning, a 3.4kg increment compared to when I was admitted. You would be suprised that my weight is not dropping but increasing. It is definately not due to the luxurious life in this VIP room where I have eaten too much delicious meals. It is because there are too much water left in the body - a situation which also called fluid retention. Apart from the weight comparison, the doctor will look at the fluid input-output (IO) balance. It is simply the total fluild input minus the total fluid output. If there is too much positive balance, then fluid rentention occurs. With this IO balance calculation, I have to record all the fuild intake and all the fuild that I pass out (urine volume). It might seems too tedious for you to do this, but it is perfectly alright for me to do this as I have a lot of spare time in this small room. The only problem is my "short-term memory loss" problem, where I forgot the volume of urine that I passed before I got a chance to record it down after coming out from the toilet. The third approach to judge if one has fluid rentention is to examine the body especially the face, stomarch and the limbs to see if they swell. If they swell then fluid rention occurs. Please be warned that numerous other problems might cause the above conditions, consult a medical doctor if you counter any of the symptoms above is my best advice.
I amost get all the symptoms everyday. In order to discharge the excess fuild in my body, the doctor always administers a drug called Lasix (Furosemide) through injection, luckily not through a needle poking into my body, but through one of the catherters. Then the next one hour or more, I will be busy going to toilet and doing recording.
If you went to a clinic and the doctor decided he needs to administer this drug to you, never insist that you need an injection instead of taking an oral form of the drug. While many peope are afraid of injection, one of my friends will always force doctor to give him injection. I believe he has not so much confident on oral medicine or he is a hot tempered guy who want instant result. If you get an Lasix injection and try to drive home immediately, you would most likely to have a "game-over" in your car as the injection works incredibly fast, normally within 10 to 15 minutes.
That's all for today and see you next post :-)
Red Blood Count (RBC) 100 (Normal 130-180)
Platelet 26 (Normal 150-50)
White Blood Count (WBC) =0.1 (Normal 4 - 11)
I have developed sore throat since early morning today, otherwise I am well. Because of this, I have to take soft food. The white blood count remains to be 0.1 and the platelet increased from 18 to 26, the best increment after transfusion :-)
The doctor cancelled the last dose of Methotrexate that suppose to be given by today, due to the throat pain and mouth ulcers.
Every morning, the nurse will take my weight. I weighted 63.4kg this morning, a 3.4kg increment compared to when I was admitted. You would be suprised that my weight is not dropping but increasing. It is definately not due to the luxurious life in this VIP room where I have eaten too much delicious meals. It is because there are too much water left in the body - a situation which also called fluid retention. Apart from the weight comparison, the doctor will look at the fluid input-output (IO) balance. It is simply the total fluild input minus the total fluid output. If there is too much positive balance, then fluid rentention occurs. With this IO balance calculation, I have to record all the fuild intake and all the fuild that I pass out (urine volume). It might seems too tedious for you to do this, but it is perfectly alright for me to do this as I have a lot of spare time in this small room. The only problem is my "short-term memory loss" problem, where I forgot the volume of urine that I passed before I got a chance to record it down after coming out from the toilet. The third approach to judge if one has fluid rentention is to examine the body especially the face, stomarch and the limbs to see if they swell. If they swell then fluid rention occurs. Please be warned that numerous other problems might cause the above conditions, consult a medical doctor if you counter any of the symptoms above is my best advice.
I amost get all the symptoms everyday. In order to discharge the excess fuild in my body, the doctor always administers a drug called Lasix (Furosemide) through injection, luckily not through a needle poking into my body, but through one of the catherters. Then the next one hour or more, I will be busy going to toilet and doing recording.
If you went to a clinic and the doctor decided he needs to administer this drug to you, never insist that you need an injection instead of taking an oral form of the drug. While many peope are afraid of injection, one of my friends will always force doctor to give him injection. I believe he has not so much confident on oral medicine or he is a hot tempered guy who want instant result. If you get an Lasix injection and try to drive home immediately, you would most likely to have a "game-over" in your car as the injection works incredibly fast, normally within 10 to 15 minutes.
That's all for today and see you next post :-)
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