Day +113. A drop in hemoglobin to 10.2 g/dL which is the lowest it’s been since Thanksgiving, and a dip in neutrophils to 0.96 x10^9/L (mild neutropenia). Platelets have been stable and holding strong!

My lower counts are a bit confusing this week since we’ve been slowly tapering down the cyclosporine (immunosuppressant) drug for the past month now. Remember: less immunosuppressant = more active marrow = more cells, in theory. What is encouraging, however, is we see a marked increase in reticulocytes (premature RBCs) indicating that my body senses the drop in RBCs and is working hard to make new ones. We’ll see what happens over the coming weeks. As far as the lower neutrophil count, like I said last week, some donors (especially of Asian descent) exist in a lower range so that may be my reality.

This past weekend was Valentine’s Day (VD), or as I like to refer to it Single’s Awareness Day (SAD). Though I wasn’t celebrating the single-ness of the day, I’d much rather be SAD than have a VD! *ba dun ch*… I digress.

Ricky and I spent the day being domesticated and braving the insane crowds at IKEA to enjoy Swedish meatballs (obv) and purchase a strainer and park blanket bag. We saw Deadpool and had In N Out for dinner. Quite the exciting day — and super exhausting. I was a stumbling zombie by the end. (Maybe the overexertion/stress caused my cell counts to dip? Who knows!?) Either way, I would highly recommend going to see Deadpool if you’re over 17 and enjoy witty, gritty, gruesome, rather violent, fourth-wall breaking movies. Otherwise, Zootopia’s a good runner up.

These definitely brighten anyone’s VD. Courtesy of Ricky. 🙂