What the blood results mean?

Blood is made up of lots of things. Firstly the red blood cells, which are also called erythrocytes, contain heamoglobin, which carries oxygen around the body. The oxygen is released in the tissues in exchange for carbon dioxide, which is transported to the lungs to be breathed out. Then there are the white cells, which are also called leukocytes. Their purpose is to fight infection and protect the body against foreign organisms, including bacteria, viruses, parasites and fungi. Types of white blood cells include neutrophils, lymphocytes and monocytes. Neutrophils are the white cells which gobble up bacteria. Then there are platelets. Platelets make your blood clot.

Every morning at 6.00 am, the nurses take samples of my blood to be tested for all these things. They do it early so the results are back in time for the doctors to discuss when they start their rounds, which is anytime from about 7.30am on wards.

So what should they all be? Well, for Heamoglobin, it's measured in grams per litre. For someone my age, this should be between about 113 and 165. This morning my haemaglobin was 92, but remember, I'm still having a blood trasnsfusion every couple of days. Now to the white cell count. These are measured in 10 to the power 9 per litre. That's a way of saying a really big number without having to write down all the zeros. It's something like a billion though. For me, they are supposed to be about 3.5 to 12.2. This morning mine were 0.8. These are what my new bone marrow is making, and this is what is really exciting. My neutophils are still zero, and they are also measured in the big billion type of numbers. I need these to be between 1.5 and 7.5. These will not start to come up until my white cell count is higher. Platelets are also measured in the millions, and mine this morning were only 30. they need to be somewhere between 150 and 450. My marrow hasn't started making these yet, and that's why I need them transfused every day.