White Blood Cell Count: 0.1 K/UL (low: range – 4.4 -10.8)

Platelets: 12 K/UL (v low, range 150 – 400).

Severely neutropenic and the low platelet count explain that shortness of breath. Back for a scheduled appointment at DF in the infusion ward. Out-patient only. At my nadir after IVAC (begin + 10 days) and need to stabilize before start the next round – round 3. Began to feel very weak and short of breath yesterday. Appetite mediocre. Reduced to drinking milk-shakes only. Have just received liquids to get me re-hydrated – it’s simply not possible to drink enough liquids orally. Blood pressure this morning was 95/70.

Dr. Sloan came by to get my consent on the form that allows them to give me platelets. It’s interesting the insistence that have on getting patient consent. Dr. S/ contrasted the procedure with his experiences in Africa where decisions are made under different circumstances, including survivability and availability (triage). This whole patient consent thing strikes me as a bit bogus. I know that there are various sects that have religious strictures about receiving blood, but leaving those aside, if a doctor recommends a procedure, I am likely to follow it, rather than pick and choose. So the decision has already been made when I elected for the treatment.

Where I may choose to exercise discretion is in making sure that the folks administering the procedures understand them, know what they are doing and are executing them correctly.

Doctors can make big errors, such as misdiagnosis, but there’s not a lot a patient can do at this point except to ask for a second opinion – and frequently the opportunity for that has already passed. In my case for example, any delay in administering the treatment would have been very serious indeed.