[Jer610]

Animal bites & myeloma-related lab results

by Jer610 on Thu Oct 10, 2019 7:15 pm

I suffered a dog bite on the arm last Friday and ended up in the emergency room (ER). I was bitten by a Rottweiler, so the bite created a deep gash with multiple puncture sites about it. I was numbed, irrigated, dried, sutured, dressed, and given a prescription of "dogmentin" as they cleverly put it, I've had to return to the ER once because one of the puncture sites abscessed.

Now, six days out, things are starting to settle down, though I'm still red and swollen from the inflammation and healing.. My question concerns whether this trauma and the week-long antibiotics can affect the labs for my semiannual visit with my hematologist. I plan to have my blood drawn in two and a half weeks, Can these things skew the results after that length of time?

Thanks!

[Multibilly]

Re: Animal bites & myeloma-related lab results

by Multibilly on Fri Oct 11, 2019 10:01 am

Hi Jerry,

I'm not a doctor, but I think that if your body is still dealing with the infection when you get tested, it could potentially throw off your polyclonal IgG (i.e. your total IgG reading) and free light chain numbers, as well as some of the various white blood cell counts on the CBC panel. However, I don't think it would impact your M-spike reading or any of the CRAB-related numbers. I would just let your oncologist know what's going on so that they can factor that into their interpretation of your lab numbers.

[Jer610]

Re: Animal bites & myeloma-related lab results

by Jer610 on Fri Oct 11, 2019 5:37 pm

Thanks for the reply Multibilly. You confirmed what I was thinking about the labs, especially the serum free light chain levels. I will give my oncologist a heads up about 10 days before the appointment so they are in the loop.

Have a great weekend,
Jerry,