32K

Definitly not the numbers we were hoping for!!!

We took Devyn to get his CBC on Mon down where we live instead of going to McMaster (his hemo suggested we do this between visits, we are booked to go see her every 2 months now but i didn't want to go 2 months without knowing his counts) Well....what a hassle that was. We waited for an hour and of course they only do it through the vein, which is fine because Devyn is a real trooper and handles it very well (not to mention he knows he will get a treat after) when we do it in the community it usually takes at least a few hours to get the results. I didn't think it was going to take almost 2 days for them to fax the results to the specialist, after the first day came and went i called his Dr to find out what was going on. Of course there was really no real explaination to why other then that through the MDS Labs it can take much longer.

I don't think i would have been so upset if his counts were higher but at 32,000 it would have been nice to know that they were that low that day, not 2 days later. We go and see his hemo on Wed for another CBC so i'm hopeing to see if it is possible to get his CBC's between visits with her done at the local hospital. The last time i tried to go to the local hospital they refused because he was an out patient. I understood that but i aslo feel that with such a delicate disorder like ITP we should be able to go somewhere that is going to be able to give us the results faster. I don't think that is too much to ask

For all of you who have been dealing with this longer, do you usually get the cbc done in a hospital??

thanks for listening
Deanna

Sorry you had such a hassle and I hope Devyn's counts are higher on Wednesday.

Yes - we go to a hospital outpatient lab for Brady's CBCs. The hospital is only 5 minutes from our house, which makes it really convenient. We have a standing order there, so it's usually a really quick process and the same guy has been doing finger sticks for Brady for about 6 years, so it's comfortable. We don't get the results right away, like some people here are able to do. But I can either go back to the hospital main lab to get results or call the hemo - the hospital usually faxes the results to the hemo within a couple of hours.

You're right - you should be able to get results more quickly than 2 days later. Maybe it's just a matter of the doctor writing the order a different way, so they know the results need to be given to you as quickly as possible.

Good luck with everything.

Beth - mom to Brady (age 13, diagnosed 1/18/02)