{"id":458,"date":"2022-02-18T14:12:36","date_gmt":"2022-02-18T22:12:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/seedsproutblossom.com\/?p=458"},"modified":"2022-02-18T14:12:36","modified_gmt":"2022-02-18T22:12:36","slug":"neutropenia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/seedsproutblossom.com\/?p=458","title":{"rendered":"Neutropenia"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Sunset\"
\nSo here we are. This is the phase of the process where all of the things have been done to our bodies to wipe out the troublesome immune system that was and put in the seeds for the immune system to be.<\/p>\n

We restarted our filgastrim injections again two days ago to continue to stimulate stem cell production. We also get blood draws every two days him him to assess the level of current level of annihilation.<\/p>\n

After each blood draw we meet with a hematologist to get our status report. Healthy neutrophil levels are 4000-12,000. First blood draw line rough 1500 pain, after the second blood draw they had dropped to 600. This is expected and there is an anticipated further drop in two days before the numbers begin to climb again. After the first blood draw my hemoglobin levels were 7.9 where 12 is considered the lowest end. My platelets were also low. All by design. At the second blood draw my hemoglobin and platelets had begun to recover, which is great. These red blood cells are not the target of the treatment and having them so low leads to pretty significant exhaustion and anemia.<\/p>\n

After Sunday, the climb backing out of the neutropenia hole begins. When our neutrophils reach at 4000 level, we will get an infusion of rituximab and be ready to head home.<\/p>\n

\"View
My view from the bed<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Now is the time for wallowing. What this means right now is that I am in the nadir of suck. Anemia causes headache, not for everyone, but definitely for me. It also causes extremely low energy. So, wallowing. And boredom.<\/p>\n

\"View
My view from the deck<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In addition, we are incredibly susceptible to even the smallest type of infection so for the most part we are restricted to our rooms. I get to escape jail for 20 minutes a day to go to the rooftop. All of us stretch it past that 20 minutes because well, sanity.<\/p>\n

Lots of movies. Eating in the room. It is a pretty sorry state when getting out to get an injection feels like fun. We all linger, see how everybody’s doing, compare numbers, and just enjoy each other’s company for these brief moments when we can be together.<\/p>\n

\"Mom
My mom\u2019s favorite activity, drawing<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

All in all, this is this surreal stretch of time. I am literally aching to be home. I am dreaming of the mountains and the ocean and rivers and streams and sunshine. At the same time I am so weak that sorting puzzle pieces requires a nap.<\/p>\n

\"Reminders
Reminders from home<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I am living in dreams of the future where things are possible, where I can move and begin to build strength hopefully on top of a system that isn’t fighting back. These dreams inspire me and they make me cry as they feel both so close and so far away.<\/p>\n

I am in love with the people I’m going through this with. There is a lot of laughter and empathy. I will miss them and hope to connect in far-off lands down the line.<\/p>\n

For now I lay low to protect myself, wash my hands more times a day than I can count, and rest while my body rebuilds.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

So here we are. This is the phase of the process where all of the things have been done to our bodies to wipe out the troublesome immune system that was and put in the seeds for the immune system to be. We restarted our filgastrim injections again two days ago to continue to stimulate … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Neutropenia”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[25,9,8,10,20,29],"class_list":["post-458","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-disease-modifying-therapies","category-hsct","tag-chemotherapy","tag-clinica-ruiz","tag-hsct","tag-mexico","tag-multiple-sclerosis","tag-neutropenia"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/seedsproutblossom.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/458","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/seedsproutblossom.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/seedsproutblossom.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seedsproutblossom.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seedsproutblossom.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=458"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/seedsproutblossom.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/458\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":469,"href":"https:\/\/seedsproutblossom.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/458\/revisions\/469"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/seedsproutblossom.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=458"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seedsproutblossom.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=458"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seedsproutblossom.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=458"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}