Robert’s Road to Recovery Journal

Presented by the International Society for Mannosidosis & Related Diseases.

Kathleen’s Diary: April 13, 2002

BMT + 11

Mark had some cautiously optimistic data this morning when he received a copy of Robert’s counts and discussed them with Dr. Horn. Robert’s White Blood Count was up from less than .1 to .2 and his neutrophils went from 0 to .23 or 230 (Robert has to be over 500 for three days before he can go home). Normally any counts right now would not be a good sign (last time he did not see any increase in counts until day 18) and could be a sign of rejection. If the positive counts that they were seeing were lymphocytes, there would be a sign of rejection. Lymphocytes are more differentiated cells and cells that you see when there is an infection. Lymphocytes visible right now would likely be Robert’s not the donor’s. But neutrophils are the cells that create white blood cell. They are the most immature cells and usually are there to protect against infection. If the neutrophils were Robert’s they wouldn’t expect to see them for 5-6 weeks.

Tomorrow’s counts should be very interesting. If WBC and Neutrophils continue to rise than that is a good sign. If they do not go up that is not necessarily a bad sign; it could mean the last reading was incorrect or that it will just take patience (a tough word in my vocabulary).