A Bad Test

This afternoon, after getting home from the ultrasound, we checked the mail and saw that a copy of the blood test results taken on the 23rd had been mailed to us. We thought this a little strange as I opened them to see what they said.

The sheet has 4 columns, the first column lists the count type, the second column lists "good" numbers in green, the third lists "bad" numbers in red, and the fourth lists what the "normal" range is.

The paper had a lot of red on it.

For the medically inclined here are the "Out of Range" numbers (the numbers in parenthesis are the "normal range"):

WBC: 46 (3.8 - 10.8)
RDW: 16.7 (11.0 - 15.0)
Neutrophils: 34 (40 - 75)
Bands: 13 (0 - 5)
Lymphocytes: 13 (20 - 45)
Metamyelocytes: 1 (0)
Myelocytes: 32 (0)
Absolute Neutrophil: 15640 (1500 - 7800)
Absolute Bands: 5980 (0 - 750)
Absolute Lymphocyte: 5980 (850 - 3900)
Absolute Monocytes: 1380 (200 - 950)
Absolute Basophil: 460 (0 - 200)

The pathology review at the bottom of the sheet read:

"The findings may be seen in reactive changes (e.g. infection) chronic myeloproliferative disorder (cml)."

Wendy starts to freak out. She's an occupational therapist and knows a little about medical issues. I had no idea what "chronic myeloproliferative disorder" meant or could be. She won't say it at first, but Wendy thinks I have leukemia. With more disdain than necessary I tell her that's a ridiculous idea.

I go to trusty old google and look up "high white cell count". A few of the hits mention that it could be caused by parasites, high stress or infection. I latch onto infection and high stress. I assure Wendy that when my doctor calls to discuss the results I'll go in for another test and the numbers will be down since I had a couple nights of good sleep on the rozarem.

She doesn't look convinced.