Thursday, April 14, 2011

Hematologist

Reese had her 1st appointment with the hematologist today. We were referred to him for further testing due to Reese's "Recurring Febrile Syndrome" and associated skin issues. We were VERY pleased with the Dr. He said "we will find an answer", which is reassuring. After telling him Reese's history of high fevers, hives, excessive bruising, "tummy pain", etc he ordered as many lab tests as he could do by drawing the maximum amount of blood allowed from Reese at her weight. That is 50ml of blood or 5 syringes!!! Reese was SO brave!! She only cried for the initial needle stick and then sat there patiently while each syringe filled with blood. It will be about 3-4 weeks before we know the results since her blood is being shipped to Virgina for testing. They are testing her for food allergies (he said even cow's milk protein can cause fevers), celiac diseasecrohn's disease, thyroid dysfunction (due to my history), IgG, IgE, and much much more! I couldn't even keep track of all the tests he listed off. He couldn't even do all the tests he wanted to order b/c he was limited with the amount of blood he could draw from Reese. 

He did go ahead and run the CBC results right then and there. Her WBCs and platelets were normal (which is great)!! He explained to us that her RBCs and H/H were low but that she wasn't anemic since the iron levels were fine. So what is causing these low levels and bruising...? 




We are just hoping for an answer for a easily treatable diagnosis!!


2 comments:

Kelly Grant said...

What a trooper! I hope they find an answer soon...I will keep watching for updates. Remember Krista Brod from High School (maybe not)..she has celiacs disease, but she JUST found out this year she had it. She has been sick off and on since she was about 15, ew!

Tonya said...

I know the name...can't place a face though. I starting to think Reese has a "tummy" issue...we will see how the labs come back. It's not going to be fun changing all our food to gluten free!