Item 9: MARILYN’S STAUS REPORT – 3/18/09

In general, the key indicator of health is a measure of how many red and white blood cells have been lost. (Chemo ingredients tend to deplete the cell count). Marilyn's blood tests show that her red, white, and platelet cells are a little low but within acceptable range. (Note that chemo tends to kill blood cells). In fact her levels have acatually improved since 5 days ago. Why would they grow in this chemo environment? Because at first the spleen holds platelets hostage. Then the chemo attacts the the spleen and starts to free those cells—thus the increase in cells and plateleets. Next, as more chemo is in introduced in the body, the cell count starts decreasing. This decrease reaches it’s low about 7 days after chemo was introduced. Overall, her status today looks good. Marilyn is reading the Lance Armstrong book, It’s Not About The Bike, which covers two themes from Marilyn’s life: her love of cycling and herbattle with cancer.