# Blood work



## Bostonmomm (Jun 15, 2015)

Hi, I just joined but I've been sitting on a question/concern and wanted some advice. My son is 20 months now but had blood work done at 15 months. It came back "normal" according to the pediatrician but it didn't really sit right with me. I should preface this with the fact that he was not sick before, during or after the blood was drawn. He had a "slightly" elevated hematocrit and elevated basophils. Everything else was borderline high but still in range. We saw a pediatric hematologist who thought this was nothing to worry over but didn't explain why he had elevated basophils. Everything online says that basophils usually mean a certain type of leukemia. His other borderline high results also support a possible leukemia diagnosis. 
Should I pursue this more? Or is it okay to be above the upper range? If it was just high basophils, I probably wouldn't worry but almost everything else is borderline high (i.e., white blood cells, hemoglobin, platelets, etc.) 
High levels seem to mean a disease called CML which is rare but I also had some unusual prgnancy problems.
Thanks. Worried but not wanting to be!!!


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## littlebear3 (Jul 1, 2014)

I'm no expert, but a family member was diagnosed with AML but it was very obvious in the cbc. His wbc were very elevated but his rbc were so low he was anaemic. apparently that's one tell tale sign of leukemia.

His blood test also showed high numbers of malformed cells and immature cells which led to the AML diagnosis. If your sons cells all look mature and the counts are just high normal, that may be why the hematologist wasn't concerned.

As far as basophils are concerned, they're normal to have. Can be high from asthma, allergies, fighting off infections, any histamine based responce. I wouldn't be surprised if a slightly elevated basophil count is his immune response to recent vaccination. All of which the hematologogist can answer if you ask.

If you're really concerned, you can always request another cbc. You do have his first cbc to compare to. I've heard of people who request the sample to be sent to two different labs because the results can differ. If they both come back concerning, you've at least eliminated one step of getting a second blood draw to rule out error.


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## Bostonmomm (Jun 15, 2015)

Thank you for answering! Google has the ability to draw a cancer conclusion for just about anything. It's disturbing. My son does not appear to have allergies and was not sick when his blood was drawn. He did have eczema from around 3 months old to 6 or 7 months old but nothing since. I don't know if maybe the reactivity is still there without the rash? He only had his first Hep A vaccine a little over a month before the blood draw. Not sure if that's considered recent. I thank you for taking the time to respond. I'm on the fence because I want to listen to what a hematologist already said. Yet my gut keeps worrying about being overlooked. It's so easy to overlook a toddler! Many pediatricians don't even do routine blood work!


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## littlebear3 (Jul 1, 2014)

yes google can be quite good at that. Youre very welcome, happy to help if possible.☺

From my experience, the presence of malformed/immature cells is an important factor in diagnosis. I'm not sure if your sons test also looked at that but if did and no immature/malformed cells were noticed then that might aleviate your concerns right there. 

It never hurts to call the hematologist back to have him review the results again and voice your concerns. He/she might be able to advise you as to whether or not retesting or further testing is nessesary. Id trust the haematologists opionion over the pediatricians since thats their specialty. 

Well, at least thats what i would do since they do work for you and should be happy to honor your requests. 
☺


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