Stuck

When I was admitted a week ago with a neutropenic fever, the expectation was that my blood counts would recover over the course of the week and I would go home.

The most important number is the absolute neutrophil count (ANC). The low end of normal is 1600, 1000 is pretty good, and even 500 is often enough for doctors to release you to a safe environment. But below 500, you have to be in the hospital, because infections can get out of control very quickly. That's why I'm in a room with an airlock and positive air pressure (to keep airborne microbes out) and specially filtered water.

Here are my numbers:
9/3:   20   OK, this is what chemo does
9/4:     0   nowhere to go but up!
9/5:   20   here we go... once they start climbing, they usually climb exponentially
9/6:   10   um...
9/7:     0   huh...
9/8:   10   yeah, yeah... we'll see what happens tomorrow
9/9:   30   this looks promising
9/10: 20   oh, come on!
9/11: 10   good grief

According to the doctor making the rounds this weekend, about 20% of patients take longer than a week to start recovering. It looks like I'm one of those.

I seem to be creating new red blood cells, so my stem cells are doing something. They may be creating neutrophils, too, but something else might be destroying them.

I feel fine. My appetite and energy are normal. I'm just stuck here in the hospital until my neutrophils come back.