I am so upset, 1st year blood work

The doc calls me today, we were having a bbq with 30 friends and their kids to tell me DD's blood work came back with an elevated white blood cell count. he asked if she was sick when they took the blood, I said she wasn't..he said it could be lab error, but wanted us to repeat as soon as possible

Did this happen to anyone. He was so vague, when he never is, he is usually NOT an alarmist, but seemed concerned in his phone call. Not to mention how annoying that it is a holiday weekend and I can't do anything until Tue, and I go back to work Tue, it is the first day of school and I am crazy busy with scheduling.

I want to cry, please someone tell me it is going to be ok

Re: I am so upset, 1st year blood work

im sorry i dont have experience with a little one with this issue but i know myself i tend to have an elevated WBC and its normal. and most of the time its just a lab error! i hope it comes back normal on tuesday! good luck

Re: I am so upset, 1st year blood work

hope everything works out ok!

Re: I am so upset, 1st year blood work

I hope everything works out!!!! Sorry you have to deal with this on a holiday weekend... thats frustrating

Re: I am so upset, 1st year blood work

I am curious how elevated is elevated.... i actually work in the lab and not to upset you but our machines are 99.9% accurate so iif it is elevated it is most likely NOT a lab error...(sorry but doctors tend to blame the lab)


that said, there are SO many reasons that it could be elevated... even if there isnt a sign of infection, it could be teething which, as we know, can give a fever... some people just have a slightly elevated count justy as some have slightly decreased counts.... it could also have been how they collected the blood... was it a finger stick or a vein draw.... they actually have different values for each.... if the patient is dehydrated it can have an effect.... if the patient has an allergy it will be elevated... even a bug bite that is itchy... any form of immune response....


seriously we will have patients whose blood is drawn every 4 hours and their white counts can go up and down....


before getting very worked up i would just have it rechecked...

Re: I am so upset, 1st year blood work

Re: I am so upset, 1st year blood work

2100 is really not THAT high... usually that is more of a sign of infection then anything else... you really want to start getting upset when it is more like 5000+

Re: I am so upset, 1st year blood work

Re: I am so upset, 1st year blood work

I am someone that always comes back with eleveated WBC, most of the times than not, it's usually nothing!!!! Sorry you're going through this!!!

Re: I am so upset, 1st year blood work

Posted by karanthony

Posted by Alex110879

2100 is really not THAT high... usually that is more of a sign of infection then anything else... you really want to start getting upset when it is more like 5000+

Thank you Could she have a high WBCC w/o showing symptoms of being sick??

Re: I am so upset, 1st year blood work

Posted by Alex110879

Posted by karanthony

Posted by Alex110879

2100 is really not THAT high... usually that is more of a sign of infection then anything else... you really want to start getting upset when it is more like 5000+

Thank you Could she have a high WBCC w/o showing symptoms of being sick??

absolutely... it could just be that she was exposed to something and her body is fighting it off instead of her getting sick... sort of like if you got a vaccine your white count would be slightly elevated because your body is responding to it and your white blood cells aid in the process

Re: I am so upset, 1st year blood work

Posted by karanthony

Posted by Alex110879

Posted by karanthony

Posted by Alex110879

2100 is really not THAT high... usually that is more of a sign of infection then anything else... you really want to start getting upset when it is more like 5000+

Thank you Could she have a high WBCC w/o showing symptoms of being sick??

absolutely... it could just be that she was exposed to something and her body is fighting it off instead of her getting sick... sort of like if you got a vaccine your white count would be slightly elevated because your body is responding to it and your white blood cells aid in the process

I am so upset still, I just never thought I would get a call...I thought they were testing for lead They took it from her arm, they screwed up the first time and couldn't get enough so had to move onto the other arm..needless to say 20 min. later she was hysterical and I have to do this again next week

Re: I am so upset, 1st year blood work

Re: I am so upset, 1st year blood work

hey Karen, sorry to hear this.

Where did you take Julia? We just had both boys blood drawn two weeks ago at Quest Diagnostics in Smithtown, the one in building #222 Middle Country Rd, Suite 107. They were great, friendly and fast, and are equipped to handlle little ones. No crying from either boys and over before it started!

Hopefully you didn't use this one and that you could bring Julia to them and hopefully have a better experience.

Re: I am so upset, 1st year blood work

We don't part. with quest...we have to go to lab corp and one other I think

thanks for thinking of us though

Re: I am so upset, 1st year blood work

Posted by karanthony

Posted by Alex110879



Thank you Could she have a high WBCC w/o showing symptoms of being sick??

absolutely... it could just be that she was exposed to something and her body is fighting it off instead of her getting sick...

Message edited 9/5/2009 9:38:18 PM.

Re: I am so upset, 1st year blood work

Re: I am so upset, 1st year blood work

To me, I would think she might have just been fighting off a little something. If she wasn't acting ill and they were elevated, then I would assume that the WBC were doing their job! 2100 is not high at all!

Just to let you know, I ALWAYS had elevated WBC, even to this day they are always elevated.

Message edited 9/5/2009 10:45:49 PM.

Re: I am so upset, 1st year blood work

same thing happened with Erik, but they're having me wait a few months for the re-test. Dr said its nothing to worry about - could have been from teething or a previous virus (he wasn't sick when he was tested either).

Re: I am so upset, 1st year blood work

I wouldn't stress just yet. Jacens bloodwork came back slightly elevated. I have no idea what the count was. My ped wasn't worried. She said that sometimes happens and ds's count wasn't anything to be alarmed about. She never mentioned having another blood test done.

Maybe her ped is just being cautious.

Re: I am so upset, 1st year blood work

Posted by aliwnec10

I wouldn't stress just yet. Jacens bloodwork came back slightly elevated. I have no idea what the count was. My ped wasn't worried. She said that sometimes happens and ds's count wasn't anything to be alarmed about. She never mentioned having another blood test done.

Maybe her ped is just being cautious.