Sunday, December 15, 2013

Platelets no longer pokey

I got some excellent news at my Dana-Farber visit on Thursday: My platelets are normal for the first time in five years! Like most writers, I dislike exclamation points, but I think this case merits an exception.

Well, they are almost normal. My platelet count is 148 out of a normal range of 155 to 410. However, unlike in horseshoes and pregnancy, almost is good enough in platelet counts, so normal it is.

I flashed back to the bad old days of platelet counts as low as two and talked to Diane about the horrible night when I was at death's door and needed platelets before I could get an emergency procedure, but she couldn't donate for me because she had taken Advil, which acts as a blood thinner. It was touch and go until the blood bank reached a man whose platelets were a good match and who went in to donate just for me.

My other counts were normal as well, except for my sodium, which was a little low, which means I will have to eat more salty snacks. Too bad I prefer sugar.

I told Dr. Alyea that I was low on endorphins from having had only yoga and walking for exercise, and he said to go out and play some tennis to the extent that my legs don't hurt. Problem is, my quads still are sore. I had an MRI of my legs in which I was strapped down like a patient in a straightjacket. The results showed some inflammation but nothing serious. Since that was so much fun, I have now earned the chance to have an MRI of my spine. I am not totally sure what this is about, except that Dr. Alyea wants to check on the condition of my discs. That procedure is scheduled for Friday. I wrote Melissa to say that I was probably getting ahead of myself but that I wondered what they would do if they found something. She wrote back that yes, I was getting ahead of myself but that she would call me to discuss.

4 comments:

PJ said...

Great news on the platelets and being normal. Maybe they're looking at your spine to see if there's some pinching going on. Might explain the leg pain.

Denise said...

Congratulations on the good counts! I hope your liver numbers were normal or almost normal, too. And hopefully, the leg pains will turn out to be nothing serious and will go away already.
















Joanna said...

I am so glad that the platelets are approaching normalcy and that tennis may be in your future. Have you ever considered doing Pilates Reformer? I am wondering if by doing this, you could stretch your hamstrings and your quads. I suspect that all your athletic years have created tightness. My PT keeps telling me to stretch before and after tennis and I think I have a mental block because I don't do it.

Trevor Cruz said...

Here goes some foods that can actually increase low platelet count. :)