Days 7 to 14

Our white blood cells are called neutrophils. We need these to fight infection. Chemo causes our neutrophil count to drop, which leaves us susceptible to infection and illness. Seven  to fourteen days after the chemo treatment (week 2) is when the count is lowest, and therefore this is when Charl has to be most careful about not getting sick.

Appearances can be deceptive because in many ways he still seems outwardly fine. But what we don't actually see is his decreased ability to fight infection. Because I can't physically see his body's defenses waning, I think of him as having a critical illness, but consider him "fine" (under the circumstances) nonetheless. I define "fine" loosely; although he has lymphoma, he sleeps relatively well, gets dressed, eats healthy meals, talks, goes for walks, laughs, even goes out for the odd errand. Pretty normal stuff.  Even being fatigued in my mind still falls under the category of "fine". It's getting an infection that would definitely not be fine. And it's this week, this 7-10 days after chemo, that he is in the DMZ - in a place where his body's cells just aren't able to do the work of fighting infection the way a normal, healthy body would.

If Charl gets an infection, it's serious business. Should his body temp reach 37.5C we have to call the hospital and the hematologist on call will let us know what to do. If his temp reaches 38C, I have to take him to Emergency right away. As he can't fight infection on his own, it's critical to get him into the hospital so they can immediately give him antibiotics so they can fight whatever infection it is for him.

Once we are out of week 2, during the third week after chemo, his body starts to build up the neutrophil count again on its own. Before each chemo treatment, they do a blood count to determine if his count is high enough to undergo the rigours of chemo again. If not, they can artificially boost his white blood cell count for him, in order for him to be able to do the next round. Such are the niceties... We just thank God for his continued positivity and "fine"ness ..