The white count mystery

Jared's white count was down again today. So much from the anti-biotic theory! After seeing the hematologist I am feeling a little better about things though. He was a very nice man and spent a long time answering all of my questions and tried to explain things as best as he could. He thinks that it is the leflunomide, one of his anti-rejection meds, that is causing he white counts to stay so low. Unfortunately Jared can't come off of that one because it is keeping the BK virus under control, but luckily, Jared's body seems to be handling things ok because he hasn't had any severe infections during this time(I knew Jared was tuff, now we have even more proof!) The nasty bacterial infections like Pneumonia, and bad gut infections and skin infections are the ones that we most worry about and so far Jared hasn't had any of those yet. So, the plan is to not change anything right now. As long as Jared stays healthy we are good. If he starts getting recurrent infections than we will have to come up with a new plan. So, I have to stay extra vigillant in looking for signs of infection, primarily fever, and if he does get a fever we have to get him in for labs as quickly as possible. Hopefully his little body will continue to be able to fight off those pesky bacteria and we can keep him healthy. It's amazing how complicated this stuff is! If we leave him on the meds. than he could catch a life threatening infection, however if we take him off of them then he could lose his kidney or get cancer from the increased EBV levels. As for now, I am just grateful that it is the meds that are causing the problem and not something else!