My daughter

[Spagg]

Audrey is home! The docs say time will be the key for a proper diagnosis (that is the hard part...having to wait). Until then we will see the hematologist every 2 weeks or so to get a red blood cell count. They will transfuse if need be, but luckily it is outpatient.

Thanks again everyone. We really appreciate everyone here. This truly is a great community.

Scott

[Topkick]

Best news of my day. I am glad for you Scott. Now go and spoil Audrey and her Momma 

[Alpha]

Great News! Hope everything continues to go well.......

[warzoneD]

Glad to hear it!  Great news!!!

D

[Wedge]

Scott, there are many, many hemoglobinopathies that reduce H&H results (Hemoglobin/Hematocrit).  As a lab tech I have run into numerous oddities in my near 18 ears of experience.  While I am not a doctor and not have seen the results of your child's CBC it would be extremely presumptive to guess at what could be going on... that is why the physician caring for your child is being cautious in throwing out a diagnosis.  Have they run any Cold Agglutinin or Allo/Auto Antibody profiles yet?  And, is your daughter old enough to mensus?  Not trying to be nosing, just trying to get a better picture of what is going on.  Trust the professionals, they are doing everything they can.  We lab techs take our job very seriously especially when we hear that there is a sick child at the other end of the tests we are running.

Keep faith that our prayers are working and that all will be okay in the end no matter the diagnosis.

[Spagg]

Scott, there are many, many hemoglobinopathies that reduce H&H results (Hemoglobin/Hematocrit).  As a lab tech I have run into numerous oddities in my near 18 ears of experience.  While I am not a doctor and not have seen the results of your child's CBC it would be extremely presumptive to guess at what could be going on... that is why the physician caring for your child is being cautious in throwing out a diagnosis.  Have they run any Cold Agglutinin or Allo/Auto Antibody profiles yet?  And, is your daughter old enough to mensus?  Not trying to be nosing, just trying to get a better picture of what is going on.  Trust the professionals, they are doing everything they can.  We lab techs take our job very seriously especially when we hear that there is a sick child at the other end of the tests we are running.

Keep faith that our prayers are working and that all will be okay in the end no matter the diagnosis.

I am kinda embarrassed Wedge because I am not sure of which tests they have run (they ran quite a few). We see the doctor in 2 weeks and he is going to check her hemoglobin count to try to determine if her body is destroying the cells. They are trying to rule out destruction of the cells. I believe they ran some kind of reticle test that showed she is not producing like she should. One of the problems is that she has been transfused a couple of times now so there are a couple tests they can't run because it wouldn't be her blood. I will post again once we see the doctor and try to give you a better picture of what is happening.

Thanks for your help my friend and I'll keep you updated.

Scott

[Manic _Miner]

 Hoping every thing goes well for your little one.Take care of them all and your self.

[Wedge]

A retic count (or Reticulocyte count) shows what percent of RBC's in the peripheral blood are new.  When RBC's are new they have a nucleus but lose it as they mature.  Reticulocytes are sort of in the inbetween stages (more toward mature though).  They are very common in the blood stream in certain percentages.  A special stain shows remnants of the nucleus and the count can be quantified as a percentage.  A high retic count (say => 6%) would indicate that your daughters body is trying to produce cells faster to make up for an overall lack of RBC's in her blood stream.  There are MANY things that can elevate a retic count.  It is not a definitive test for anything, simply and indicator that the body is trying to produce more cells.

The auto/allo antibody tests, that I was refering to in my previous post, are the tests that determine if there is any red cell destruction going on.  If it isn't an antigen/antibody kind of reaction then they'll look further into conditions that could cause a lack of RBC production--there are MANY of those as well.  Again, I know I am not telling much more than what you probably already got from the doctors but if you feel like bouncing any lab questions off me, I'd be happy to help.

How old is your daughter?

[luckyone]

Great news!

[Spagg]

A retic count (or Reticulocyte count) shows what percent of RBC's in the peripheral blood are new.  When RBC's are new they have a nucleus but lose it as they mature.  Reticulocytes are sort of in the inbetween stages (more toward mature though).  They are very common in the blood stream in certain percentages.  A special stain shows remnants of the nucleus and the count can be quantified as a percentage.  A high retic count (say => 6%) would indicate that your daughters body is trying to produce cells faster to make up for an overall lack of RBC's in her blood stream.  There are MANY things that can elevate a retic count.  It is not a definitive test for anything, simply and indicator that the body is trying to produce more cells.

The auto/allo antibody tests, that I was refering to in my previous post, are the tests that determine if there is any red cell destruction going on.  If it isn't an antigen/antibody kind of reaction then they'll look further into conditions that could cause a lack of RBC production--there are MANY of those as well.  Again, I know I am not telling much more than what you probably already got from the doctors but if you feel like bouncing any lab questions off me, I'd be happy to help.

How old is your daughter?

She was born on 10/20/08, however she was 4 weeks and a day premature.

[Wedge]

I am not certain (or sold on the idea) of her being premature would predispose her to some sort of anemic condition.  Premies often have complications due to inactive/poor immune systems but not necessarily hemaglobinopathies.  There are also tons of anemias that could be the cause.  A more common anemia called Thalessemia has the kind of effects that your daughter is going through and there are various Thalessemias as well.

One test she should have is a hemoglobin electrophoresis.  It would rule out a lot of the more common possible anemias.  Ask your doc on your next visit if they ran that test and have him/her explain it to you (I would bet they have).  I love pediatricians... I think they are some of the best docs in the business because they really seem to care about everything your kid is going through.  They're a rare and special breed.