Looking for some clarity or Peace of Mind

I will preface this by saying that I have high anxiety in regards to being sick or my children being sick, so I understand a lot of this may be me escalating things in my mind...grrr.

My DS - 8 yrs old went in for his yearly physical Saturday. Dr. walks in and asks if he wasn't feeling good or if he was sick recently, I answered no to both. He said hmm, his white blood count is high (19.2, normal is 8-10).

He proceeded to check his lymph nodes, take his temperature, feel his belly for any thing unusual etc. Urine came back clear and the rest of the blood work was all within the normal ranges. He said okay I want to repeat the test Tuesday morning, maybe we are just catching something super early.

Yesterday I bring him in to repeat the test, he came down with a runny nose Monday night. Dr comes back in and says its the same. No change. Now we are both a bit on edge, well mostly me but he saw where I was going with my thoughts and said lets not go there. The fact that it did not go up is a good thing. He did a rapid strep and that came back negative. He said he would run an overnight since that is 100% accurate. He said strep would cause the WBC to be high like this or another bacterial infection like pneumonia or sinus infection. DS has no other symptoms to conclude either of those. I asked if it wasn't any of those what else could it be and his response was 'nothing good'. I wanted to drop to the floor in that moment.

In the meantime, he asked his colleague to come in and just quickly look at the blood work and ask if she was concerned with anything - I was holding onto the seat of the chair so hard, but she said 'no, nothing like that but I would just have the test done by a lab this time. So they gave me a script and I took DS to a lab.

Dr called this morning - it was his colleague since he was at hospital doing rounds. She must have heard my concern and said 'whats wrong why are you so nervous? She said please don't google anything lol (I was and I did). She said the lab showed that his blood count went down slightly. She did not tell me the exact number but I assume its because I am on edge and it was probably not a significant amount and I would panic even more. She said thats a good thing!! The other thing she said was that the labs look for cancer in these tests and that there were no indicators of that at the moment. I don't like how that was worded but again - Paranoia over here.

She said that to her it sounds viral and that we should just retest in a few weeks, although she said my dr would want it retested next week, so she is sending me a script. She said that I need to relax and take everything into consideration - that he is eating fine, running around, looks good etc. So its just something his body is fighting. She said we don't want to not look at it but it should be okay.
I guess the question I forgot to ask her and has been weighing on my mind is was it too early to have the blood test redone from Saturday and that is why the number stayed the same Tuesday morning? I assume the lab is more sensitive so maybe there was a slight decrease by their measure.

I need to be talked off the ledge here. She didn't seem concerned so why am I still so unsure about it?

Looking for some clarity or Peace of Mind

I also wanted to add that I give DS Elderberry that has echinacea in it. I mentioned it to the doctor but she said she knows nothing about it so she won't take that into consideration. I found a few things online that said it could cause wbc to be higher but no mention of how much higher or how long you would have to be taking it to produce a higher number. DS had it for 5 days starting last Thursday.

Looking for some clarity or Peace of Mind

Someone very close to me had a similar issue. He actually had to go to a hematologist who put him on a course of antibiotics and his numbers came down after it. He was monitored just in case for a few years. He ended up having a tonsillectomy and his white count hasn’t been high since. Keep doing what you’re doing...following up. Sending hugs to you!

Re: Looking for some clarity or Peace of Mind

3 years ago my DD had a very similar thing happen. Her WBC was high and she had an enlarged lymph node. I went insane googling everything I could. For about a month I was a wreck. We eventually wound up with a sono of the node, repeated blood work and eventually it all went away. She was never sick during that time period - negative strep, flu, etc. The conclusion was that her body was fighting some type of infection, but it wasn't anything that could really be treated. It resolved itself and she is a happy, healthy kid 3 years later.

I understand how you feel, and there is no way to NOT feel what you are feeling, but try really hard not to panic until they tell you there is something to panic about. Hang in there, it's an awful thing to think about

Looking for some clarity or Peace of Mind

I would chalk it up to the echinacea, why were you giving it? As a preventative? I know there are some medicines out there that skyrocket the WBC. I wouldn't give it anymore until you do another blood test. I'm sure he's fine!

Looking for some clarity or Peace of Mind

I had a friend of mine in college have sudden bruising and bleeding with blood tests all out of whack. They actually admitted her to the hospital, were ruling out cancer. Turned out to just be some crazy virus, she recovered and was fine. So viruses can definitely do crazy things! Try not to stress, won't help anything.

Looking for some clarity or Peace of Mind

I hear you. I'm a cancer researcher. My colleagues and I text each other pictures of puffy eyed toddlers at 6am asking "is this neuroblastoma? it looks like neuroblastoma." When it's your kid, you panic. So I 100% get it.

But, I've done lots of research in how cancer presents itself initially and a wbc of 19.2 with no other symptoms and all other labs within normal limits means absolutely nothing. He has a runny nose. He's fighting something off. I'm actually angry at your doctor for scaring you like this. Google if it makes you feel better (you will anyway) but kids are petri dishes. They're ALWAYS fighting something off.

Looking for some clarity or Peace of Mind

I can't talk you off a ledge but I'm sorry you are going through this. I hope it's just nothing. (((hugs)))

Re: Looking for some clarity or Peace of Mind

First, try not to worry. I know that's hard, but until you have a reason to worry, you need to stay calm.

Second, I'd take him off of any herbs because they can alter what's happening in his body. You need to know what's going on there naturally.

And finally, just make sure you get his blood tested at the same lab each time. If it does not drop, I'd see a hematologist.

Hang in there, mama!

Re: Looking for some clarity or Peace of Mind

Thank you all for your responses

I am trying to stay positive that this is just some crazy virus he is fighting off and the runny nose is part of it and when he gets his next blood test next week we will have much better numbers - fingers crossed and praying!!!

No one said being a parent was easy

Re: Looking for some clarity or Peace of Mind

He has a cold in peak cold season and a high white blood cell count that was noticed JUST before the cold.

I’d wait two weeks and repeat the WBC count. Stop taking all herbal medication and garlic to make the picture super clear.

I don’t think you have anything to be worried about at all. I’m surprised your Dr made anything out of it.