WBC & Platelets now normal?
 

Hello all,

We are perplexed with this weeks labs and now sure what to make of it. His WBC is 4.3 almost in normal range and Platelets are now 150. Those two numbers have not been normal or almost normal since the diagnosis of MDS 3 months ago. The WBC hung around in the 3's up until this week. Platelets have slowly climbed until normal range this past week. However his HGB dropped to 7.7. The other thing is, his temp one night was 100.2 and stayed just that until it broke in the middle of the night. It was normal that morning and has been. He took his temp because he felt that his WBC increased and for some reason he thought they were fighting something. But nothing ever came of it or no other symptoms thankfully.

I'm concerned because that is how it all started for him. He ran a one day temp which was 101.6 I believe. Same scenario. Disappeared. About 3 months later he was admitted to the hospital with a high fever, critical blood counts, transfusions ect.

Any feedback is appreciated. Maybe I'm just overreacting?

Thank you,
Rarity

Hello! I can't remember your whole situation, but this could be one of several things (from my experience only). First - could be good? More than likely, he did have some sort of small infection and his body reacted the way it should - white cells climbed a bit and fought/is fighting it off. The only thing I always caution - watch for the whites to keep climbing. If so, could be something else entirely....Not sure on the platelets, though, and I'll be interested to see if you find out anything. How is he doing with low Hgb?

Hi, I recently had an infection. My temp was only high for one day. My WCC rose in response to the infection and my platelets (always low normal or just below normal) also rose but that was because I was dehydrated (haemoconcentration) from the fever. As soon as I had some extra oral fluids and some IV fluids the platelets dropped to MY normal.

My Hb dropped significantly and I required 2 units of PBCs. My Doctor said it was because the fever and the infection caused some destruction of my red cells.

The really good news is that my neutrophils could and did respond to the infection. I was very happy with my bone marrow response.

Hope this helps.

Carol

Rarity,

Red counts and platelets frequently take a beating when MDS patients - and normal healthy patients for that matter - get sick. Your husband my just be recovering from being ill. Viral infections tend to knock down WBC, RBC, and platelets, while bacterial infections tend to increase WBC initially.

Hopefully your husband's counts stay relatively strong. Even though his reds are low, it is nice to see the others be acceptable.

Firstly, my sincere condolences for your loss. I didn't find this forum until shortly after. I have read a lot of his posts and find them very informative as I'm sure other do. It's nice you continue on the forum.

We're thinking the same that may be why the WBC increased and hopefully doing their job of fighting off infection. Hopefully that's all it is and not the something else. Not going to worry to much yet, but is in our minds. We will see with the next labs.

He functions well in the 8's. When they start to go in the 7's, that is when he is affected with the fatigue and grumpiness sleeps a little more (that is not him before the MDS) The trend has been transfusion in the low 7's.

Thank you for your time in responding.
Rarity

Hi Carol,

I'm glad you're feeling better! That's great that your neuts responded to the infection.

We are hoping that's all it was and the WBC did it's job.

Thanks for replying.

Stay well,
Rarity

Hi DanL,

Maybe it was just a bacterial infection. MDS it's more of a concern we're finding it sometimes is hard to tell what's what.

Going to have to question the dr. about flu season that's coming up.

Yes, happy about the platelets and wbc counts moving on up. It's those darn reds not behaving. Thanks for your response. Makes sense.

Thank you,
Rarity

Hi Rarity - Apparently sometimes our bodies can be fighting infections that we're not even aware of and the fact that the immune system is fighting back by raising blood counts is good. I know when I have an infection my WBC/Neut count and often platelets too increase significantly, and I'm encouraged to know that there's still some functionality there.

Hi Cheryl,

I'm thinking that this may be the case and there is some functionality. His counts are still holding. Just not liking that HB because it is the same as last week at 7.7. I'm worried about going on like this with too many transfusions for the long haul if this is his trend. I do know he needs them but not liking what I've read with the possibility of consequences.

Thank you,
Rarity