Medical Clearance dilemma - Surgery in about 2 weeks

[trinity2008 0]

Hi Everyone!

Things have happened fast and my head is spinning. My surgery date is April 30th and am trying to get everything required for surgery including MEDICAL CLEARANCE. My Primary Care did all of my lab work and my White Blood Cell count is elevated at 12.5 and max range is 10. He will not issue my clearance until this has been resolved. Of course every time I have had surgery in the past- total of 6 - all of my White Blood Cell counts have been elevated. I am being retested this coming Monday and am on Antibiotics because at the time the blood work was taken I was just overcoming a cold; however, being that my past has always been elevated, I am scared to death to retest and it still turns out its elevated. I have spoken to my Bariatric pre-op nurse and she states the almost everyone that she sees has the same problem. I am very certain that my white cell count being elevated is due to stress - which I am under greatly!! and Probably allergies since I am a severe sufferer (take zyrtec for 4 years per ENT doc. Also, I am running into a problem where my EKG is abnormal and Primary care and referred me to Cardiologist. EKG show a slight abnormality and I am due for Echo on the 18th. So, yes, stress level is high because of all these tests having to be done within a 4 week timeframe from Insurance approval and surgery date. The lap-band has been STRONGLY recommended my 2 endocrinologist and I have finally come to accept that this needs to be done as I am probably due to a heart attack. This is just frustrating now because I do not understand why an elevated white blood cell count would hold up the medical clearance. Has anyone encountered this?? Elevated white cell counts have never affected all of my prior surgeries, so what is the big deal?!?!? Anyone else out there experiencing the same problem?:thumbup:

[Long2BFree 12]

I don't have a surgery date but I just found out today that my white blood cells are elevated. My PCP kept asking me if I felt well and if I'd been sick. I told him 'no' but he's going to retest me. I know it's going to still be high because it was the last time my other doctor checked it. He said it could be due to stress to which I told him I have a huge amount of stress in my life.

I've read several posts on the boards were others are dealing with the same thing, so it sounds very common.