QuestionMY SON IS 12 YEARS OLD. HE HAS HAD 3 LOW WHITE BLOOD CELL COUNTS IN THE PAST TWO YEARS. 8/30/02 WAS 4.2. ONE MONTH AGO IT WAS 4.4. JUST HAD IT TESTED AGAIN AND BACK DOWN TO 3.8. HE SEEMS TO BE HEALTHY OTHERWISE. EATS WELL, ETC. THE ONLY THING WAS IN THE PAST YEAR, WITHOUT WARNING, HE HAS BAD STOMACHE CRAMPING AND THEN WILL HAVE DIARRHEA. WE THOUGHT IT WAS NERVES, BUT IT SEEMS TO BE HAPPENING MORE REGURLARLY. WITHOUT WARNING HE COULD BE DOUBLED OVER, THEN IT WILL GO AWAY. (USUALLY AFTER HE GOES TO THE BATHROOM.) I'M A VERY NERVOUS MOM AND ALL THE RESEARCH I'M SEEING IS LEUKEMIA OR SOME TYPE OF CANCER. HELP.....OUR REGULAR PEDIATRICIAN JUST CALLED AND REFERRED US TO A PEDIATRIC HEMATOLOGIST BECAUSE HE IS "BAFFLED". COULD YOU SHED SOME LIGHT ON THIS, AT LEAST SO I CAN BE PREPARED ON WHAT THIS COULD BE?
THANK YOU FOR YOUR ASSISTANCE
AnswerTo be ongoing for 2 years without seeing signs of cancer or leukemia make me less concerned. In addition, even though there are a low number of white blood cells in the test results, they are obviously doing a pretty good job, since your son has not had any infections to speak of. The bowel complaint may or may not be related. There are many causes of leukopenia (low white blood cells), and not all are from leukemia or cancer. The hematologist is the appropriate expert to see, and no doubt will run and rerun a variety of more specialized tests. He/She may also want to do a bone marrow biopsy, which is sometimes uncomfortable, but necessary to rule out more serious issues.
Though I am not a pediatric hematologist, I would draw some comfort in the fact that it has gone on a for 2 years. In this particular case, time is definitely your ally.
