Office visit 6/13

06/13 11:07
ANC 1111

The blood return came lickety-split today. It was nice to have no problems for a change. We confirmed with Doc P that Alan's infection is the less serious skin bacteria, rather than MRSA. While Doc P wrote the prescription for Alan's antibiotic to be taken for 14 days, it doesn't look like it will last that long. It will be fine as long as we give him the entire bottle. Today is Day 10 of the treatment, so Alan is well covered.

While Alan's ANC is good, it did go down. Moreover, the mix of numbers that make up the ANC is the less favourable one. The ANC is calculated by factoring the number of mature white blood cells (or neutrophils) with the percentage of immature neutrophils. You can get the same ANC with a low white cell count and high percentage (good) or a high white cell count and low percentage (not as good). A high percentage of immature neutrophils are a "bank" of future white blood cells. Alan has a pretty low percentage today (27% when it's usually in the 50s or 60s) - this isn't necessarily bad, but it does mean we'll wait and see if the white count bounces back up. Doc P considered more Neupogen but decided to see what the counts say on Wednesday. Hopefully the counts will improve and Alan might be allowed to join Kevin at the Summer Fun program for a few days.