Back to the clinic today for the blood draw, CBC is looking good to me.
WBC - 3.4 (Up)
Grans - 2.9 (Up)
RBC - 3.81 (Up)
Hemoglobin - 13.5 (Up)
Platelets - 269 (Up)
All numbers are going up, at a much more rapid rate than Cycle one, I believe this to be good news. I will get the rest of the test results and my doctors thoughts next Monday. All in all today was a good day.
They also tested my INR today, which is used to determine how thin my blood is, 1.7 was the result. The doctor wants this number between 2.0 and 3.0, so it time again to change the dosage of my Warifin.
Okay I realize that many people reading the blog might not know what these numbers mean, and if I read these numbers a year ago they would not mean much to me. So I will do my best to explain them the best I know.
Definitions
WBC is white blood cell count, white blood cells defend the body against infection. There are many types of white blood cells including neutrophils (grans), lymphocytes, monocytes.
Grans / Neutrophils are a type of WBC, grans are responsible for fighting infection. When this number is below 1, then special precautions are taken, such as no fresh fruit or vegetables, all meat must be well done...stay away from crowds and sick people.
RBC are red blood cells, red blood cells pick up oxygen and carry it the body's tissues.
Hemoglobin this is the part of the red blood cell responsible for carrying the oxygen to the tissues / organs. If this number is too low, it causes fatigue and loss of energy and other complications.
Platelets are a type of blood cell that helps the blood to clot. If this number is too low bleeding and bruising could happen easily. If it is really low (below 10) bleeding can happen for no apparent reason.
Reference Ranges
Keep in mind that different labs can have slightly different reference ranges and reference ranges are different between males and females. The ranges I listed below are the ranges on the paperwork I receive from my Hematolgist. These ranges give a good indication of how treatments are going. The more diseased cells destroyed the more room in the bone marrow for normal cells to grow. Keep in mind the ranges and numbers I post represent thousands so 4.1 is really 4,100 white blood cells in a sample.
WBC - 4.1 - 10.9
Grans - 2.0 - 7.8
RBC - 4.2 - 6.3
Hemoglobin - 12.0 - 18.0
Platelet - 140 - 440
I hope you enjoyed todays lesson on blood.
Hey, you're learning a lot of medicine! Your explanations are correct and easy to understand. I just had a couple of things to add if you don't mind.
ReplyDeleteGranulocytes (abbr. Grans) are actually a subset of WBCs (and differentiated from another subset called lymphocytes). The 3 types of granulocytes (so-called because they appear to have granules in them under a microscope) are neutrophils, basophils, and eosinophils. Neutrophils are usually by far the most predominant granulocyte, which is why you often see them used interchangeably.
You are correct when you said your values respresent thousands, but they are also given per milliliter (mL). So in your example, there are 4,100 WBCs in 1 mL of blood (and also 270,000 platelets). That's pretty amazing when you think about how little liquid that is. A standard teaspoon contains 5 mL of fluid.
Thanks for the additions / clarification Jonathan, I always wondered why some labs referenced Grans and others Neutrophils.
ReplyDelete