Joy has been reading online that having protein-rich diet can help increase WBC production. While at home, she made a bunch of soft, easy to swallow, meals and brought them when she came back on Saturday. It was quite a list: vegetable broth, potato soup, and chicken salad. She basically took a rotisserie chicken and blended until it was fine pieces and made sort of a dip. All easy to swallow, and all way more delicious than hospital food.
Up to this point, my WBC count has been sluggishly increasing by 0.1 daily. My diet has been pretty low protein due to all the mucusitis and mouth sores. Protein is typically harder to chew and swallow. The milky protein shakes made my saliva thicken and difficult to swallow. The clear protein shakes they offer are pretty low return on the amount of protein involved and super high carbohydrate. One was 8 grams of protein, 52 carbohydrates, and 20 grams of sugar. Pretty much, just too sweet and I didn’t like any of them.
So I loaded up on eating the chicken salad last night. The WBC has been going up by 0.1 daily for the last 4 days. The labs this morning went up by 0.3, from 0.5 to 0.8. A big step when a “trending upwards WBC count” is one thing keeping you in the hospital. Never underestimate the power of a chicken in the hands of a determined woman.
