Four words we love to hear

And they are...

"Your labs are great!"

Which is what Melissa wrote me in an e-mail today after I got a mid-appointment blood test locally Wednesday.

The test was primarily to check on whether my liver is doing better on the slightly higher dose of prednisone (7.5 mg. daily, up from alternating 7.5 and 5). Melissa wrote that yes my enzymes are down, but since they are still not normal, I should stay on the current prednisone dose for now.

You always want to hear that you can decrease the prednisone, but I wasn't expecting much on that front, so although I'm not thrilled at staying on the same dose, at least the enzyme number is heading in the right direction.

I know I am OK, but even when I feel good, I'm always a little on edge while waiting for test results.

I assume I am not alone in this.

We hang on the words, "Your counts are ... (fill in the blank)."

In any case, I was very happy to hear that my platelets are 106, an all-time high since my transplant. At my last appointment a few weeks ago, they were in their 70s.

Only 42 to go to reach the lower end of normal! Normal is 150 to 450, and of course we are talking thousands, as in 150,000 to 450,000.

So to me, 106,000 sounds great.

Sure beats 3,000, which is what I had in the hospital at one point.