How low can you go?

Well this morning I had my weekly blood check. The nurse came back with the results and said, "Your levels are all fine, you can go!". I said, "Even my platelets? They were low last week." She responded with, "Well, they're a little low, but not horrible. I'll print you out the report." So I take the report with me when I leave and I'm looking over it as I walk to the car. Everything is low! My white blood cell count, my platelets, and lymphocytes were all below normal levels and my red blood cell was right on the fringe. How is that fine?! I guess there are different standards for people with chemo. I'm just wondering how low my counts have to get before they tell me to stop going to work or public places. I'm also worried about catching a cold. That would be a really horrible thing with my immune system so knocked down. I just have to remind myself to keep washing my hands.

I had treatment 10 of 33 today. I'm finally in the double digits. Woohoo. Things are still pretty good. It was clinic day, so I saw my RO. I told him how I couldn't open my mouth very far and he gave me a handful of tongue depressors. He said something about scar tissue building up and I should start doing exercises where I stretch my mouth open with stacks of tongue depressors as I sit and watch tv. This should be interesting....