Hospital Appointment #3
After yesterdays 'rough time' I felt a bit better today. I still feel a bit anxious but the black cloud from yesterday is receding.
My nurse is on holiday this week so i saw a colleauge and explained about yesterday. I think i need to take something to stabilise my mood so we discussed anti-depressants and i'm now willing to give them ago. Despite the way i felt yesterday i am committed to seeing this through to the end. The benefits of having a normal life back far outweigh the problems of treatment.
I'll hopefully get a phone call before the end of the week to speak to my consultant about this, my nurse though says there should be no problems.
I got some numbers from my nurse concerning my blood counts, but they are results from the week i started treatment, 3 days after my 1st injection so i'm not sure how much they will tell. Admittedly i'm not too clued up on what these mean so any comments regarding these would be welcome:
Neutrophil - 2.7
Haemaglobin - 150
White Cell count - 6.7
My nurses opinion is that everythings fine so i'm not worried about these just curious as to what they mean.
As for the cycling.. that park ain't seen the last of me!!
Next time though i'll be more sensible, i'll follow Jonathans advice to get my excercise the day before my injection, and stop 'slacking' on my water intake.
My nurse is on holiday this week so i saw a colleauge and explained about yesterday. I think i need to take something to stabilise my mood so we discussed anti-depressants and i'm now willing to give them ago. Despite the way i felt yesterday i am committed to seeing this through to the end. The benefits of having a normal life back far outweigh the problems of treatment.
I'll hopefully get a phone call before the end of the week to speak to my consultant about this, my nurse though says there should be no problems.
I got some numbers from my nurse concerning my blood counts, but they are results from the week i started treatment, 3 days after my 1st injection so i'm not sure how much they will tell. Admittedly i'm not too clued up on what these mean so any comments regarding these would be welcome:
Neutrophil - 2.7
Haemaglobin - 150
White Cell count - 6.7
My nurses opinion is that everythings fine so i'm not worried about these just curious as to what they mean.
As for the cycling.. that park ain't seen the last of me!!
Next time though i'll be more sensible, i'll follow Jonathans advice to get my excercise the day before my injection, and stop 'slacking' on my water intake.
posted by Alan at 7:57 PM
4 Comments:
Hi Alan - quick review of labs:
White cell count refers to white blood cells. Chemo may decrease white blood cells = leukopenia. WBCs help our bodies fight infection.
Neutrophils are a type of WBC. Sometimes chemo can cause a decrease of neutrophils = neutropenia, making us more susceptible to bacterial and fungal infections.
Hemoglobin is a protein carried by our red blood cells, taking oxygen from our lungs to our other cells. Ribavirin can cause a hemolytic anemia, where red blood cells are destroyed faster than we can produce them - that doesn't mean we run out, but that we don't have as many as usual.
Your health care provider will have the normal range of values (reference range) for each of these and then you can see how they fit in. Please ask your doctor/nurse for the reference ranges used by your testing laboratory.
Great to hear your appt went so well today! Sue
Alan,
I think perhaps you have a decimal point missing on the heamaglobin, it is more likely that your starting level is 15 not 150.
Picking up on the water thing, there are different notions on water. I currenty drink between 8 and 12 pints a day, but then I dkn't really drink anything much else apart from expresso!
I wasnit certain whether you used to exercise before treatment or not, I did and haven't had to cut back at all.
If your problem is breathing then you might want to try switching to an anerobic exercise. Bizzarely I can still make gains weight training, I can swim a steady pace but cannot for example sprint. I suspect that I would find cycling hard going. My fall back position was going to be yoga.
Glad to hear you sounding better.
Jonathan
Hi Sue,
Thanks for the info on on labs, i should really remember this stuff from when my son was ill. I'll get a better picture next week when my regular nurse is back. The lower red cell count will have been why my cycle ride was so tough and left me breathless so quickly i presume.
stay well
Alan
Hey Jonathan
i'm glad you pointed out the missing decimal point!
I asked the nurse to write the numbers down for me so i just put what i read on the note. Its says 150 but i take it that was an error. As i mentioned to Sue my own nurse is back next week so i'll get a better picture then.
As for the excercise i hadn't done much before treatment. The route i set out to cycle though isn't long and i think i could have managed it in about 8 minutes (pre-hepc). When i started to get symptoms i felt too shattered to do anything, in fact i had to leave a good job because i couldn't keep up with the 12 hour night shifts. I think a touch of 'riba-rage' made me want to kick something so the pedals on my bike seemed like the best option. My next excercise session i think i'll take the same route with one exception... no bike!
A gentle walk the day before my injection seems more sensible and if the rash which appeared on my chest today fades, i'll brave the swimming pool.
Still trying to locate a somewhere for a massage but the ones i've found are either expensive or provide 'extras' if you catch my drift.
stay well
Alan
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