September 30, 2003

This was my first blood count post-chemo. My normal white counts before chemo were 7 (actually 7000, but they use smaller numbers X 1000 on my report) The white counts dropped to 3.6, the GR# went down to 2.5. GR stands for Granulocytes. This is the portion of the white blood count (WBC) that fights infection. It must be at least 1.5 in order to receive chemo. My red counts were fine, as were my platelets. I was ok, but they wanted to watch me carefully. I felt kinda funny today, like I was real jittery and I'd had too much coffee. But at the same time, I was also extremely tired. I wondered if it was the effect of the cold….or maybe the cold medicine? I felt funny all day at work. By the time I got to chorus, I was feeling very strange. I was exhausted….but I also had a lot of nervous energy. It was a strange feeling and it was a very interesting rehearsal! My favorite phrase ( or excuse for my behavior of late) is “chemo brain!” It’s amazing what this let me get away with!!!

We stopped chorus rehearsal early to go over some business (Standing Rules: yuck!). I realized as I was sitting there, that I didn’t need to stay and listen to the discussion. So I went home. I was able to drive home without any problem. I fell into bed exhausted.