Baby Giraffes and Week One Recovery

I saw this video on animal planet once about the first few days of a baby giraffe’s life.  He was all wobbly and tired all the time.  It was adorable.  His mom would nudge him to get him to try his legs out and he would hobble along for a bit until he got tired, and then plop down, exhausted, and wait for his mom to bring food or make him try again. 

That pretty much sums up the week so far.  With me playing the part of baby giraffe.  I’ve spent most of the week in bed except when my mom is coaxing me out of it with the promise of food or just to move around.  I haven’t felt nauseous or feverish (yay!), but holy smokes, I am tired. 

I thought I should take the time to explain a little bit about what the next month or so are expected to be like.  Aplastic anemia is such a rare disease, that there’s not necessarily a set script on how the ATG will work, which makes it a bit tricky, you see.  In order for this treatment to be successful, the doctors are looking for any sign that my body is producing blood on its own (hence the count checks 3 times a week).  The last time that I had the treatment, it took about 3 months before it started to work.  Of course that doesn’t mean that it will be the same this time.  It could very well work sooner.  It could very well be later.  (And it could just not work, but I like to keep that door firmly closed in my mind).  So every week the doctors will look at my counts focusing on 3 things: Hemoglobin, Platelets, and White Blood Cells.  I’ll try to post every week what my counts are for those keeping track also. 

This week:

my hemoglobin is about 8.5 as of Friday (Normal is 12-15)

Platelets dropped to 13,000 (Normal is 150,000-300,000)

White blood cell count is 3.9

As you can see there’s a long way to go here, but as far as I’m concerned, the best part about being near rock bottom, is that there’s really only way to go.  And that, my friends, is onward and upward.  Who’s with me?! :)

Okay that is all for now.  Hope the world outside of these four walls is going well.  I miss it dearly already. 

Kelsey