Clark’s weekly lab results over the last few months have consistently been all good news. We have seen his platelets go from 0 to 275,000 and hold. His hemoglobin (in his RBC) was at 7 and dropping before his BMT, are now at a normal range of 11.9 and is increasing. And finally, his white blood cells (WBC) are also slowly increasing (this includes the T cells and B cells, which we we are closely watching to see when he can leave isolation).
So the question is: if Clark is doing so well, why are we checking his blood every week? Well, as it turns out, they are doing a lot more than checking his Complete Blood Count (CBC). They are also checking to make sure there is no organ failure (side effects of certain medications, GvHD, or the Transplant). They are also checking for specific virus’ such as EBV and CMV because they can cause some major complications for someone with a low functioning immune system. So far, all of these test are also showing great results!
Mid November, the doctors decided it would be safe to cut back Clark’s blood draws to every second week! Yay! And then, during our last visit, we were told that Clark only needs to have a blood draw once a month! This way, all of Clark’s blood draws will be done during doctors appointments. No more blood draws at home! Yippee! This is huge, and really shows the confidence the doctors have in Clark’s recovery.