WiseMindedLiving

Of course things are not always easy with our dear Ryleigh…she will not follow a protocol, likes to keep the doctors thinking…..

Ryleigh started getting a temperature that was 38 degrees or higher on Saturday afternoon. As instructed I called the oncologist on call. She wanted Ryleigh to come in for some blood work but did not seem to concerned.  We came in and Ryleigh had an IV placed in her right hand (a pet peeve for her as she is right handed but it was the only vein they could get).  They did not think she was going to have to use it but she did need blood work so they put it in.  The resident and fellow did not seem to concerned as physically Ryleigh looked okay and she was in good spirits.  They figured she just picked up a little virus of some kind and she would be fine.  Until…

The blood work came back and her ANC count was zero….yes 0.  Absolute neutrophil count (ANC) is a measure of the number of neutrophils present in her blood.  Neutrophils are a type of white blood cell  that fights against infection . Normal counts are about 1.5 or 1500.  They are perplexed as with her G-CSF that she has had this week her blood counts should be higher than usual because they were prepping her bone marrow for producing stem cells for harvest on Monday.

So, Ryleigh has been admitted a few days ahead of schedule.  This might put a bit of a delay on the “harvest”.  They have her on IV antibiotics and a few more days of the G-CSF to stimulate her bone marrow.  I am looking forward to touching base with her lead doctor – Dr. Davis. We have not seen him since the middle of December.  It will be good to hear his view on things and figure out what Ryleigh’s next steps are in getting her better.

Until next time….