Pop quiz! One question! Ready?
1. Define neutrophil
A) A type of water rat native to the Pacific Northwest
B) Extract of quinoa; commonly used as an ingredient in protein bars
C) An impediment to a predictable schedule
D) A type of white blood cell
Did you guess answers C) and D)? Congratulations! Big smiley face on your paper! Want to keep going to the essay question?
Essay question: When will Val and Deborah leave town to go visit Miles, Betty and David on the ranch in Montana?
Answer: Well, it depends. What does it depend on, you ask? Quite a variety of things, it turns out. Plan A involved Val having chemo as scheduled last Wednesday, getting over the hump this past weekend, and us hitting the road before dawn the day after tomorrow. But then, as you’ll recall, Val’s platelets were excitingly low at her blood test last Tuesday. (The number was 70, which I think refers to thousands per something. It needed to be over 100 for chemo. My dad once got his platelet number down to 6, causing one doctor to wake another one up at 2:00 in the morning, but that’s another story.) Anyway, Plan B was proposed.
Plan B had Val waiting a week for her platelet production to rebound; getting retested today; infusing chemo tomorrow; and driving to Montana still on Wednesday, before chemo effects really kicked in.
Now we’re on to Plan C. Val got her blood tested this morning. About an hour ago, after leaving phone messages all morning, she connected with a human (I think they’re busy over there today) who was able to read her charts and tell her: Hurray! Her platelet count is up to 170!
But!
Now her neutrophils are low. I forget the number – we’ve been calling and texting back and forth strategically all day (I’ve been taking my work breaks in tiny increments). TerriSue thinks they could conceivably rebound tomorrow. So tomorrow Val will set off again bright and early to the Oncology Clinic across town, and if her neutrophils are up to par they’ll chemo her up after all.
And if her neutrophils, platelets or any other component bits are still on holiday, well, then it’s Plan D: we’ll head to Montana anyway. We’ll just keep it to a week, and then come back for chemo after.
You can have an A on the quiz. Keep up the good work.
D
I love the pop quiz + link. Shortly after getting text from Val I googled neutrophil on the web. Of course, your librarian skills of condensed researched surpassed my timid approach. Thanks for the update. See you before you depart! Much much love, lizcallow