Blood culture

• Hemoglobin 6.8 (WHO normal 14.0-17.3)
• Absolute neutrophil count 0.73 (normal 1.4-7.5)
• White blood cell count 0.91 (normal 4-10)
• Red blood cell count 2.06 (normal 4.5-5.9)
• Platelet count 123 (normal 150-450)

NIH, day 6. By the time I got to the day hospital at 8:45 on Saturday morning, my hemoglobin was at 6.8, the lowest it's ever been (normal: 14.0). I felt bad, but not worse than before, so I was a bit surprised.

The nurse hooked me up to my cladribine drip and went off to see about a blood transfusion. Bronchoscopy results won't be final for a month, but most of the preliminary results were in — all negative. I asked the nurse to get in touch with Infectious Diseases, who had promised to call my cellphone but never did.

Long story short — I got a transfusion, 2 units. It took all afternoon to get the blood and drip it in.

Meanwhile, Infectious Diseases never called back. I think the nurse paged them at least 4 times.

Finally, at the very end of the day, she discovered a doctor's note in the files, written about 1 PM. So. Early in the week they took blood cultures, 2 little bottles with a nutrient gel. The idea is that if something grows in both bottles, that critter is probably living in your bloodstream. If something grows in one bottle, but not the other one, there's a possibility it's a false positive, a contaminant such as staph bacteria from the nurse's hands. (We're covered in them all the time, no matter how much we wash, so that wouldn't be a surprise.)

That's what happened to me. 68 hours after the cultures, something grew in 1 out of 2 bottles. The ID person consulted with Dr. Kreitman and they decided to do more blood cultures, said I didn't need to start antibiotics. Wait and see.

Left the hospital at 6:45, went to dinner with Eli, an old family friend now 19 and a college sophomore. Had to bow out of dinner early from fatigue. Took Luka back to the hotel. While I took a bath, he sat on the toilet seat and we discussed what superpowers we'd most like to have. He wants to be invisible. Me, I'd settle for unbreakable. (But it sure would be nice to be able to fly.)