I just spoke to Kristina, and her mom was visiting, which was nice. She (Kristina, that is) had just finished walking her 11 laps around the ward and felt pretty good. Her only complaints at this point are that she's a little jittery, her tastebuds are going, and her stomach is iffy, though she's not vomiting or having diarrhea. She told me she's not in pain, but "something's up, and my body knows it." Hopefully these symptoms stop when she stops taking the dilantin tomorrow.
Two notes on visiting: word is it's better to park across the street, and after you get to the 8th floor, turn left past the nurse's station.
Here are today's blood counts, again with the normal ranges and also with a few notes to explain what each one is:
WBC: 4.6 (4.3 - 10) These are white blood cells.
HCT: 36 (36 - 45). Hematocrit is cells that carry oxygen; the fact that this number went up since yesterday was a surprise to her.
ANC: 3.04 (1.8 - 7). Stands for Absolute Nutrofill Count, which is how susceptible she is to outside matter. When this gets to zero (and it will), she will have no immune system.
PLT: 77 (150-400) Platelets are responsible for clotting. Below 25 and you can't get surgery because you will, as she put it, "bleed out." Below 10 (where Kristina is headed) and you get transfusions.
One more note: she told me that yesterday she took 58 busufan pills (that's the chemo) plus 14 others, mostly prophylactic. She says she takes pills "all day long."
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