Hematology Update

I took Annie to her hematology appointment today. She had her sonogram done yesterday of the blood clot in her arm. It hasn't changed much, but is maybe a tiny bit smaller than last month, but not by much. Her left axillary vein is still occluded and her basilic vein is still nearly occluded.

The twice daily lovenox shots we give her are to help prevent more blood clots from forming because the blood becomes turbulent as it passes over this clot and it can cause additional clotting. They don't anticipate her blood clot to dissolve or go away. We are simply waiting for one of two things to happen with it... 1- wait for the veins to scar over from the clot (other veins would then compensate for the loss of those veins) or 2- wait for the blood clot to get more stably attached to the vein wall. As more time passes, the chance of the clot dislodging or moving decreases. There would still be a narrowing of her vein at that point, but the risks associated with the clot would be lower.

We did lab work yesterday and got those results today as well. Annie's white blood count is back up to just over 15k. And her platelets are over 900. Not good. She is not having symptoms of any kind of illness, so they tested her urine and so far the initial results look great--negative for a UTI--but they will send it for culture as well. The hematologist is concerned that her platelets are so high because that puts her at an even more increased risk of developing clots. He also noticed some vascular patchiness on her left hand that he said is concerning, but told us just to watch it and contact him if it gets worse.

Due to these changes, he wants us to repeat the blood work in a week to get another CBC and check her lovenox level. He may have to make some changes to her treatment, but we'll wait to see what the results are next week. Otherwise, we'll return in 6 weeks for another sonogram and consultation.