Thursday +283 (Evening)

A quick note to update the blog. The past week has been horrible in Oklahoma. For those that might not be aware, we had a major ice storm. Pryor experienced more than 2 inches of ice accumulation. While ice storms are somewhat common, we've never seen one this bad. Every house in town experienced downed tree limbs. Most homes have been without power for one week. We are lucky in that our house is the first house to be fed by the city's power system. We only lost power for about 24 hours. We still have tens-of-thousands of people without power. Even people with generators were without luck due to the fact that the gas stations had no power and gasoline could not be pumped. Surprising as it might seem, the roads improved rather quickly. I've been to Tulsa nearly everyday since the storm. The forecast for this weekend is calling for 2-10 inches of snow. Oh joy!

Today Jackie had her weekly CBC blood test. The results continue to improve. Given her improving counts she should feel better but she really doesn't. She continues to have severe bone pain at various times of the day. A pain pill gets her through the rough spots but they seem to occur everyday at slightly different times. She also has a general lack of energy. The medications may cause some or all of these symptoms.

Many of her blood counts are now within normal ranges. For those counts outside normal ranges the variation is not great. Her WBC count is 7.6. This is dead middle of "normal". Her neutrophils have improved to 2.4 which is 31.4% of the total WBC count. This is slightly below the low level of a normal 40%. Her lymphocyte percentage is 60.5% which is above the high end of a normal 48% (total lymphocytes are 4.6). This improved from a too-high 70.5% last week. Jackie's RBC count is 3.96 which is a bit low of a normal 4.2-5.4. Her hemoglobin (Hgl/Hgb) is now a normal 12.2. This is her "energy meter" and normal ranges for her age and sex are (12-16). Her platelets continue to decline. They are still within near normal ranges, however. Current platelet count is 129. Normal range is 130-400. Platelets have been as high as 240+ within the last 4-6 weeks.

Jackie continues to run a minor fever. Over the last few days it has spiked up a little. It was at 100 degrees yesterday. Since fever is a good indication of infections or problems we hope this isn't something new. Her temperature hasn't been normal since her last bout with C-Diff. Her normal temperature is about 1 degree below normal; or about 97.6. This isn't new. She has always indicated a lower-than-normal body temperature.

Well that is all the news that is fit to report for now. The days are getting longer and Spring cannot be far away. Well....at least that is what we tell ourselves.

Until Later....

Bruce and Jackie
From Pryor