Blood Test Follow Up - Decreased White Blood Cell Count

In preparation for my endo follow up appointment next week, I got a blood work up on Wednesday 8/6 to see how my thyroid levels were doing and whether or not my Synthroid needed to be adjusted. I was caught a little off guard when my endo called me this morning to tell me that she got my results back. I knew that something must have been "off" if she was calling me on my cell phone in the middle of the day. At this point I figured, what is wrong? She told me that my white blood cell count was low and that she wanted me to get checked out by a hematologist right away. She was apologetic that it seemed that I was getting many of the less common side effects from my treatment (although not here fault). She said that most likely the drop in my count was due to the radioactive iodine treatment. When I asked her if this is a common occurrence, she told me that it is relatively rare for a guy my age, but it is not something to get too alarmed about just yet. She consulted my surgeon, nuclear medicine and the hematologist and they all let her know that the radiation can do this to a patient. It does happen. However, they just want to make sure that I am tracked and to see that my white blood cell count goes up over time.

I visited the hematologist right away and they took blood. By the time he saw me, the test results were in. He concurred that my white blood cell was low but it was not critical yet and said that it is likely due to the radiation since my levels were normal when my endo took blood before the RAI. He told me to come in for weekly blood tests to make sure that my body is replenishing its white blood cells. In the meantime, I have to be careful to stay away from any possible infections since it might take me longer to recover.

The hematologist mentioned neutropenia - a condition of an abnormally low number of a type of a particular type of white blood cell called a neutrophil http://www.medicinenet.com/neutropenia/article.htm

Synthroid - my endo told me that my TSH level was a little higher than she would have liked and she decided to raise my dose to 150 mcg and in addition, she wanted me to start taking calcium (500 mg) and vitamin D (400 mg) daily. Make sure to take the Synthroid and vitamins at least 4 hours apart.