Blessings by numbers

I feel like a broken record.  We are so blessed!

This morning I phoned the oncologist to find out if Woutertjie should go for full blood counts today already.  The idea is that, if his levels aren’t on par, a blood transfusion can be arranged before his chemo starts.

For various reasons (most of it involving me being very lazy today and some involving Woutertjie being in isolation) I only got round to taking him at 16:00.  The whole way to the hospital I had to prepare him to go home again.  He was adamant:  he wanted to visit the “tannies” at the hospital and he wanted to sleep there tonight.  Trust my son to turn the typical response to hospitals upside down!

Dr De Villiers (paed) sent Boeta’s results to us:  Hb 9.0 (was 7.8 ) ie OK, platelets 834 (was 71) ie very good, white cell count total 4.1 (was 0.8 ) of which 1.07 (was 0.02) are neutrophyls, ie wonderful!  We are so grateful.  This means that chemo can start again tomorrow.  Thank you God!

I spent many many hours fighting my way through immunology at university.  Let’s say it wasn’t my strongest subject and leave it at that…  It must be one of the most challenging fields of study because everything you think you know can change at any time as research progresses.  As previously dwelled on, I’m not good with change in the fundamentals.  Minor things I don’t care about.  But don’t change my morning routine, my bank account number, my cell phone number or the taste of Coke.  You will be messing with the wrong woman.  My female ancestors went barefoot over the Drakensberg, after all!  And immunology is all about change. 

So imagine my surprise when I realised this weekend that I am grateful for the bits of immunology info that actually stuck around.  For one thing, I know the bare basics about white cells, where they come from and what they do.  At least according to the knowledge available at the time of study.  God has a strange way of arming one for what lies ahead.  In this time of constant change I feel anchored in my basic knowledge of immunology.  Who would’ve thought?

Tomorrow morning at 07:30 Boeta and I will report to the paediatrics ward for his 5th round of chemo.  The previous time that he received this particular drugs it caused mouth ulcers, nausea and eventual dehydration.   If he doesn’t have side-effects we could be out of hospital by Wednesday but we are fully prepared to stay longer until he is ready to go home.  Please pray with us for our son.