Transfusion Update and CBC: 11/29/2006

Max went in to MGH today because he needed red cells and they expected him to need platelets. His platelet count was actually 29, and there is a shortage of platelets right now because people tend not to donate blood during the holidays, so we are going to go back on Friday for the platelets. The transfusion went well, if long. Max enjoyed playing with one of the volunteers, though, so I got a bit of a break. He got hives halfway through, but Benadryl cleared them up.

Dr. Ebb said that they are going to start looking for signs that things are starting to improve. They hope to start seeing less need for platelets in a few weeks. They checked to see how many baby red cells existed in his sample today, and the number was a little higher than last time, but still pretty low (1.3). They are going to be checking that regularly now, though.

The best news today was that his neutrophil count was up significantly. It was still only 319, but that is a lot better than <100.

WBC: 2.9
HCT: 20.3
HGB: 7.7
Platelets: 29
ANC: 319