D+49: Sodium, Potassim, and Albumin ... Oh my!

WBC : 4.1
ANC : 3198

Our nurse this evening made a big mistake. She printed out the results of Ryan's lab tests for the day (comprehensive metabolic panel, CBC, etc.) for me to review. It was a truly nice gesture, since she knows how much we worry about Ryan's lab results every day. She obviously underestimated the depths of my mental dysfunction. Giving a report full of 30+ lab results to someone as neurotic and anxious as yours truly is roughly equivalent to handing a book of matches and a 40-gallon drum of gasoline to a pyromaniac. Oh, the glorious amount of data points and nearly unlimited potential for micromanaging the medical staff!

• Bilirubin is up .1 today? What are we doing about that?!
• What do you make of glucose at 119? The report indicates that is slightly abnormal.
• Alk Phosphatase hasn't been reported yet. Is something wrong? When can we expect that to come in? (Never mind that this lab has always been normal and I have no idea what it means -- at least until I Googled it. hehe)

Speaking of lab results, our focus has changed away from Ryan's WBC and ANC. If you care to remember, these levels indicate the state of Ryan's immune system. They seem to be climbing nicely, so it's time to find something else to worry about. We need look no further than Ryan's kidney function. BUN and creatinine are the standard tests to see how your kidneys are performing. Since healthy kidney function is absolutely essential to proper treatment, we are keeping a really close eye on it.

Steering things back toward Ryan (and away from his crazy parents) .... Ryan kept his eyes open for 20+ minutes tonight. He wasn't exactly in a conversational mood, but it really makes me feel good to see him like that. I guess it just offers a hint of the Ryan that entered this process. We know that he's still in there, but all these damn drugs and viruses have him in turtle-in-shell mode. Ryan is one tough kid.