Hematology

A quick update on today’s biggest activity. It was our semi-annual trip to the hematologist. She has us coming in to review and draw counts about every four months. Fortunately for Elias, he did not have to have any blood drawn this time around. She actually used the last CBC from his hospitalization in February which were all in the normal ranges! We will test again in July or August. Just to refresh everyone on the reason for this testing. It is a monitoring process along with bone marrow biopsies and aspirations that give us predictive clues on when it might be time for interventions and when we are close to needing the bone marrow transplant itself. As the counts fluctuate dependant on what the body is going through ( fighting illness, infections, etc.) when the numbers get outside a certain range they begin to monitor more frequently. Elias is young enough right now that we more than likely have many years before that phase will be a major concern, but this disease is unpredictable and the need to be cautious necessary. Regardless, it is always nice to hear good news, even if you expect it. We also discussed the first bone marrow biopsy which will occur during his next surgery, along with the ABR for hearing. It will be one busy O.R. setting that day. We also received a tentative date of May 20 for all this to occur. So a little less than a month away to get some long awaited answers.