Ten

Following up on yesterday’s spotty confession, I had a blood test today and had a platelet count of 10.* This means that I am officially on rest orders.

It also means that I am officially sad. I mean, I’m used to my counts being low, but 10 is lower than low. Ten is a dangerously low number that reminds me of the constant risk I face since I don’t always know what my counts are from one day to the next. Ten is a number that reminds me that no matter how well I feel, my body is constantly fighting a war with itself.

In the old days, Paul and I would have commiserated together. Just as we would have celebrated a count of 80+. (A normal count is 150-400.) It’s not that I want to throw myself a pity party or anything, but sometimes it feels good to rant and cry and complain about it to someone who kind of understands.

Oh well. I guess I’ll just think about the good things about having a dangerously low platelet count:

  • It’s a great excuse to make my guests do all the work when I have a house full of people over for Burns’ Supper in a week’s time
  • It’s a great excuse for not beating my 11-year-old nephews in the Freeze Your Fanny 5K (because you know I’d kick their fannies otherwise!)
  • It’s a great excuse to sit on the couch eating junk food for the up-coming three-day weekend (that’s following rest orders, right?)

And, of course, because there were so few platelets I was able to draw a picture of them for you. I stopped short of naming them, but please feel free to offer name suggestions if you feel so inclined.

* Counts are actually in the 1,000s so a count of 10 = 10,000, meaning the normal range is 150,000 – 400,000.

6 Replies to “Ten”

  1. Absolutely…everyone will pitch in for the big weekend. In fact, don’t make up any beds, the girls can help as they arrive and your dad and I will set the kids to work as they arrive.
    You can sit back and supervise. Or, if you’d like, I will loan you my wand and you can use it to “order”.
    I hope your numbers are up when you get retested. I’m sure with plenty of rest this weekend that they will head in the right direction.
    Love you!

  2. I think the one in the middle is called Wilbur.
    Make sure you do rest up, allow everyone else to run around after you. It will be good practice for them to know how to run their very own Burns Supper.
    Take care and thinking of you
    xx

  3. I hope you feel better, you are welcome to a defined amount of my platlets 😎 Im sure i have way too many! Get well soon Frances.

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