August 30, 2011 (Tuesday)

I asked Josh if he had any updates on David today. Here is the information he sent

WBC: 0.06
HGB: 10
Platelets: 12
No diarrhea, little nauseous but nothing too bad, was really glad no more chemo.

Last night David’s brother Josh and his sister Angel stayed at the hospital. Angel said that “David was doing good.”

David, Angel & Josh had fun watching funny videos on Youtube.

The bone marrow transplant should be tomorrow. The actual transplant is only one IV bag (like blood transfusion) that only takes a couple of hours. Please pray that the bone marrow (which will arrive by a personal carrier) arrives on time and that David doesn't have any negative reactions to it (graft vs. host disease) and that it regenerates quickly without any complications.

David loves to sleep to the sound of his fish tank or a waterfall. Angel  and Josh downloaded sounds of waterfalls and then converted them to mp3 files that could be played on Windows Media Player on repeat so that David could sleep all night with the sound of running water on his laptop.

Angel sent a picture and when I asked what was going on…she said “It was funny cause he was chillin like that :) “.

I looked up information regarding blood counts to compare a "normal" person's counts to David's...As you can see David has no resources for fighting any infection because of his low White Blood Cell count and he could easily start to have bleeding due to his low platelet level.

A complete blood count measures amounts of 3 types of cells in your blood

• White Blood Cells (WBCs)
  
  WBCs help your body fight infection by protecting against foreign invaders such as bacteria and viruses. WBCs form a key part of your natural defenses, which are provided by your immune system. Neutrophils (NEW-truh-fils), a specific type of WBC, help protect against and fight infection. If your absolute neutrophil count (ANC) falls below normal, you have neutropenia. ANC is the typical measure of your body's ability to fight infection.

• Red Blood Cells (RBCs)
  RBCs carry oxygen throughout your body, giving you energy and keeping your organs and tissues healthy.Hemoglobin (HEE-moh-glow-bin), also known as Hb, is the protein that makes blood red. It contains iron and carries oxygen in your body. If your Hb or Hct level is too low, you may have anemia , in which case you may feel tired and fatigued.
• Platelets (Plts)
  
  Platelets help your body stop bleeding by working with other blood factors to form a clot. A low platelet count, called thrombocytopenia (throm-boh-sy-toh-PEE-nee-ah), may lead to excessive bleeding or bruising.

					Normal Ranges - Male		David
	White Blood Cells (WBC) Hemoglobin (Hb) Platelets (Plt)				5,000-10,000/mm3 14-18 g/dL 150,000-400,000/mm3		60/mm3 10 g/dL 12,000/mm3

Later, after David went to sleep, Angel and Josh went for a walk around UCLA. They had a good time at the candy shop.