Thanksgiving

• Hemoglobin 8.5 (WHO normal 14.0-17.3)
• Absolute neutrophil count 0.5 (normal 1.4-7.5)
• White blood cell count 0.6 (normal 4-10)
• Red blood cell count 2.65 (normal 4.5-5.9)
• Platelet count 105 (normal 150-450)

Last night far better than the first one. Antibiotic drip over at 10:30 PM, vitals at midnight, nothing else until the next antibiotic drip at 6:30 AM.

Today's picture looks more hopeful. Uptick in the neutrophils to 0.5 puts me on the border between "severe" and "moderate" neutropenia. If there's another uptick tomorrow, they might release me.

Meanwhile, the infectious disease doc has ordered another raft of tests. She's taking the possibility of fungal pneumonia seriously, though not saying it's likely yet. That would be a bear. Means a lung biopsy to confirm, another CT scan, then months of antifungal drugs. Another possibility is that it's a bacterial pneumonia that's already resolved but hasn't fully cleared (which can take 6 weeks). Comparison of my chest X-ray here with the NIH CAT scan should at least show whether the affected area is smaller, larger, or about the same as when that scan was taken on Nov. 8.

Good thing I might be getting out of here soon. Today, NY Times —

Study Finds No Progress in Safety at Hospitals: The study, conducted from 2002 to 2007 in 10 North Carolina hospitals, found that harm to patients was common and that the number of incidents did not decrease over time. The most common problems were complications from procedures or drugs and hospital-acquired infections. [The study] focused on North Carolina because its hospitals, compared with those in most states, have been more involved in programs to improve patient safety.

But instead of improvements, the researchers found a high rate of problems. About 18 percent of patients were harmed by medical care, some more than once, and 63.1 percent of the injuries were judged to be preventable. Most of the problems were temporary and treatable, but some were serious, and a few — 2.4 percent — caused or contributed to a patient’s death, the study found.