479; 137!

As I mentioned in my previous post, I had second CD4 count yesterday (Friday) after my 1st one last April. It was also time to have my CBC because I had been having low hemoglobin count since last June.

I got home at 6.30 a.m. yesterday from work, took a quick nap and went off at 7.45 a.m. to my treatment hub - Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) in Alabang. I was nervous during the bus ride because I wasn't sure of what my new CD4 count and CBC results would be. The slow traffic at Edsa near the Magallanes interchange and at the Sucat intersection on Osmena highway added to my anxiety. I had to be at RITM before 9 a.m. because CD4 counts there are only done up to 10 a.m. I reached the Alabang area past 8.30 a.m. and arrived at RITM a few minutes before 9 a.m. I dropped by the clinic for pozzies to get my prescription notes for my CD4 and CBC, rushed to the laboratory and had them before 9.45 a.m. since there were also some other pozzies ahead of me who were scheduled to have their CD4 count too.

As a backgrounder, a CD4 count is done for HIV-positive individuals and it determines the remaining CD4 or t-helper cells in the body. When one has HIV, the virus depletes the body of CD4 or t-helper cells, whose primary function is to fight viruses and bacteria in the body. When something is not done to slow down the virus from depleting the body of CD4 or t-helper cells, it makes the person prone to all sorts of ailments.

After I had my tests, I went to the lounge for pozzies to relax and wait for the results, bonded with the lounge staff and other pozzies who were there, had lunch at the RITM cafeteria and was called to the clinic at past 2 p.m. My CBC results were in and my hemoglobin count went up from 135 last month to 137! Yey! I hope it is a precursor of my CD4 count results, which were not in yet and would be know later yet. My hemoglobin count was being monitored because from 153 in April, it went down to the 120s range starting last June, a side effect of one of the antiretrovirals (ARVs) I was taking. So, I was prescribed ferrous sulfate and told to eat green, leafy veggies and cooked animal liver (eww).

I got home past 4 p.m., so sleepy but anxious to know my CD4 count so I called up Ate Ana of the RITM clinic and she relayed to me the good news. My CD4 count has gone up! It's now 479! My first CD4 count last April was 315. I was ecstatic and said a prayer of thanks.

I wasn't really optimistic of getting a high CD4 count because even if I was already taking ARVs and living a healthy lifestyle (eating well, getting enough sleep, taking vitamins daily, etc.), I had been depressed and under quite heavy stress from work and after learning of my status last April. Depression and stress can wreak havoc on one's immune system so for an immuno-compromised person, he or she has to manage it well. So it was really a big relief when I learned that my CD4 had gone up and my hemoglobin count was on its way to recovery.

I slept with a smile and fitfully at that last night. Thanks to the good news I got. :)