Day T+3

Eric had another good day. He received another transfusion of platlets today. It is common to need frequent blood transfusions when recovering from a transplant.

His white blood cell count (WBC) was 0.2. Normal is 4.5 to 10. Eric frequently measured above 40 prior to the chemo, because his immune system was so out of whack. This is the number we will be watching to know if the new marrow has engrafted and started growing new cells. The number is low now because the chemo killed off his immune system like it was supposed to. It should start to rise between 14 and 21 days post transplant.

The number is a count of how many thousands cells per microliter. There are about 50 microliters in one drop so a normal white blood cell count of 6 would mean you have 300,000 white blood cells in each drop of blood.

-dk (via cell phone)