Wendy
October 23rd 03, 09:31 PM
I've got a small four year old. He weighs 28 pounds. Two years ago he
weighed 26.5 pounds. My doctor is very worried about this. He asked for
a CBC count. It came back with lowish iron: 11.3, normal white blood: 6.5
and high platelet count, 514 where 150-400 is normal.
I'm trying to put this in context and figure out what next to do with
him. I'd appreciate any perspective or insight. This has us all puzzled.
The child acts well, eats normally (sometimes he has an appetite,
sometimes he doesn't) and has normal energy levels. He doesn't get sick
easily (and hasn't had a cold yet this fall.) He has no trouble keeping
up with his active preschool class. He doesn't need naps.
But he's got two bizarre health problems: a year ago he nearly died from a
perforated intestine and the resulting peritonitis and we have never
figured out what caused the perforations (there were several small ones in
his upper intestine.) At that time he had an ileus for about two weeks
and lost quite a lot of weight - he has regained it all and doesn't appear
to be skeletal, he's just SMALL.
The other bizarre health problem is his teeth are shot. Just before he
turned four he suddenly presented with five cavities and an abscessed
tooth. We were never lax about his everyday dental care but in the past
four months (since this problem suddenly developed) we've been totally
anal about brushing and flossing and fluoride. And yet new cavities are
still showing up and now he's up to SEVEN cavities with two abscesses.
(Well, one abscessed tooth was pulled, but now there's a new one.)
No one in the family has anything like it in terms of bad teeth. As best
we can tell the two week period where he had the ileus (and consequently
lots of stomach acid in his mouth) must have damaged the enamel in his
teeth. He occasionally has tooth pain from this but in those cases we
feed him liquid food (protein shakes, yogurt, stuff like that). We are
continuing to address his dental issues aggressively.
Meanwhile, he's still small, but this is actually a common occurance in
our family. His siblings and most cousins were at the low end or below
the weight charts. My older kids always wore their age in clothing
sizes. In the context of his illness/weight loss, steady recovery and
sibling history his size doesn't concern me... but it obviously concerns
the doctor.
So... in this context, what do you suppose a high platelet count means?
His doctor said to finish the teeth thing (that'll take two or three more
months) and then we'll retest the platelet count. The doctor didn't
discuss with me the implication of a high platelet count but I
understand it might mean CML. (I asked him specifically about the
meaning of a high platelet count but he was actively trying NOT
to scare me and didn't want to get into scary cancer talk about one test.)
If it were CML wouldn't my son appear unwell? And doesn't the white blood
count get affected by that? Would it have anything to do with his size or
his bad teeth or peritonitis? (I just can't see it!)
What do you think?
Wendy
weighed 26.5 pounds. My doctor is very worried about this. He asked for
a CBC count. It came back with lowish iron: 11.3, normal white blood: 6.5
and high platelet count, 514 where 150-400 is normal.
I'm trying to put this in context and figure out what next to do with
him. I'd appreciate any perspective or insight. This has us all puzzled.
The child acts well, eats normally (sometimes he has an appetite,
sometimes he doesn't) and has normal energy levels. He doesn't get sick
easily (and hasn't had a cold yet this fall.) He has no trouble keeping
up with his active preschool class. He doesn't need naps.
But he's got two bizarre health problems: a year ago he nearly died from a
perforated intestine and the resulting peritonitis and we have never
figured out what caused the perforations (there were several small ones in
his upper intestine.) At that time he had an ileus for about two weeks
and lost quite a lot of weight - he has regained it all and doesn't appear
to be skeletal, he's just SMALL.
The other bizarre health problem is his teeth are shot. Just before he
turned four he suddenly presented with five cavities and an abscessed
tooth. We were never lax about his everyday dental care but in the past
four months (since this problem suddenly developed) we've been totally
anal about brushing and flossing and fluoride. And yet new cavities are
still showing up and now he's up to SEVEN cavities with two abscesses.
(Well, one abscessed tooth was pulled, but now there's a new one.)
No one in the family has anything like it in terms of bad teeth. As best
we can tell the two week period where he had the ileus (and consequently
lots of stomach acid in his mouth) must have damaged the enamel in his
teeth. He occasionally has tooth pain from this but in those cases we
feed him liquid food (protein shakes, yogurt, stuff like that). We are
continuing to address his dental issues aggressively.
Meanwhile, he's still small, but this is actually a common occurance in
our family. His siblings and most cousins were at the low end or below
the weight charts. My older kids always wore their age in clothing
sizes. In the context of his illness/weight loss, steady recovery and
sibling history his size doesn't concern me... but it obviously concerns
the doctor.
So... in this context, what do you suppose a high platelet count means?
His doctor said to finish the teeth thing (that'll take two or three more
months) and then we'll retest the platelet count. The doctor didn't
discuss with me the implication of a high platelet count but I
understand it might mean CML. (I asked him specifically about the
meaning of a high platelet count but he was actively trying NOT
to scare me and didn't want to get into scary cancer talk about one test.)
If it were CML wouldn't my son appear unwell? And doesn't the white blood
count get affected by that? Would it have anything to do with his size or
his bad teeth or peritonitis? (I just can't see it!)
What do you think?
Wendy