13, the loneliest number!

In the summer of '69, the "Three Dog Night" sang their way to success with "One is the loneliest number you will ever do." I kind of disagree with them.

According to me "13" is the loneliest number. Most roads, floors and rooms are avoided being numbered thirteen. Today let's put an end to this era of loneliness for Miss Thirteen and put it to some use in the study of ANEMIA.  13 g/dl or lesser amount of hemoglobin (Hb) is termed anemia.

Anemic if Hb is
Men
<13 g/dl
Women
<12 g/dl
Pregnant women
<11g/dl
Children (6m-10y)
<11g/dl

On the other hand Hb value of more than 18 g/dl in men and 16 g/dl in women is indicative of  polycythemia. To remember the higher end of normal values of Hb, one may use this quote:

"18 today and
Legally able to 
Do everything
You have been 
Doing since
You were 16"

The other numbers attributing to the RBCs that one finds in the "Complete blood count" report include the values for:

  1. Hematocrit (Hct)
  2. No. of RBCs
  3. MCV
  4. MCH
  5. MCHC
  6. RDW
Hematocrit/Packed cell volume/Erythrocyte volume fraction: As the name suggests, this value gives us an idea about the volume of RBCs in the blood. Contrary to its name, it is indicated in percentage rather than volume. Normal values are 45% in men and 40% in women (almost half the cells in the blood).

 Number of RBCs: Meet Eloise, one of the world's most expensive dolls. Five million dollars is what it takes to buy her.
Five million red blood cells is what an individual like you and me has in one micro liter of blood.

Mean Corpuscular Volume (MCV): This is simply the volume of one red blood cell and is derived by dividing Hct by No. of RBCs.

Mean Corpuscular Hemoglobin (MCH): I was trying to find something to correlate number 31 to MCH and I found the movie "31" that releases today (23.01.2016). Creepy! No better way for me to remember the normal MCH (hemoglobin amount in one RBC) level.


Mean Corpuscular Hemoglobin Concentration (MCHC): It is the ratio of Hemoglobin to Hematocrit.

Red blood cell distribution width (RDW): RDW is the amount of RBCs that vary in structure i.e 15% of RBCs may normally have varied shapes/sizes as compared to the other fellow RBCs.


Other values in the CBC report are as follows:
  • Total WBC count
  • Neutrophils, 
  • Eosinphils, 
  • Basophils, 
  • Lymphocytes, 
  • Monocytes
  • Platelets
Total WBC count: Normal range is between 4k and 11k cells in one microliter of blood.

4
11


















Platelets: The normal platelet count is 150,000 - 400,000 cells in one microlitre of blood.

I am not found of dealing with numbers. So, I am just trying to figure out ways to remember them in a fun and easy way. I shall test myself in a week or two whether I remember these values or not :)....

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