Stats

For those of you who are interested in the status of her blood at the moment, I relay the latest lab tests of 07:22AM this morning, Friday.

Red blood cells stand at 2.96/MicroL, wheras the range is 4.00-6.00. Her hemoglobin  is at 27% (should be between 38 and 54%).

Her white blood cells (WBC) are  at 0.07/MicroL as a result of the chemotherapy, indicating she is in full aplasia. A normal healthy person would have WBC levels in between 4.00 and 10.00/MicroL. Neutrophils are flat-out at 0.00 and so are her monocytes (an important indicator).

Blood platelets stand at 36/MicroL (should be between 150 and 350).

Lara is now in Day 10 of the chemotherapy and normally her WBC should start to come back up on Day 21. It will take several days before major blood values reach minimum levels. So for the next two weeks Lara will be exposed to risk of infection. Last year she was in a similar danger zone three times, as part of as many chemotherapies. The first episode of aplasia was longer than 30 days on account of an extra chemical agent she received (Clofarabine) and because of dangerous complications. The second episode was on schedule, while the third was super fast.

Antibiotics are crucial to fight infections, but they need to cooperate with WBC to form a winning team. So there are none for the moment. Red blood cells and platelets can be administered (and in fact have been) from a blood bank. WBC, however, have to be produced by the patient's own bone marrow. Last year, as some may remember, a particular kind of WBC, called granulocytes, were extracted from a series of specially selected donors to help prop up Lara's immune defense. The result was mixed. No such procedures are foreseen at the present time. The production of granulocytes can be chemically stimulated by injections of Neupogen, but it is simply too early for that.