Brief Answer:
Why is the doctor looking for cancer?

Detailed Answer:
Good morning. I can certainly understand and understand your concerns for your son being so uncomfortable. However, I'm not sure you've provided all the information that would help me understand why the doctor was worried about CANCER in a 19 year old quadriplegic man with an elevated WBC...perhaps, there's a little less information presented in your introductory blurb but no matter.

The most common reason for an elevated WBC in a quadriplegic patient who is not feeling well bloated feeling or not would be a urinary tract infection. This can be in the context of a fever, no fever, and bloatedness. Of course, if he underweight and the bloated belly is clearly visible and it's not just his FEELING bloated then, one must think of free air in the peritoneum which a CT would've picked up. If that's clean then, I think things such as a perforated ulcer in the duodenum or the stomach are able to be ruled out.

Again, I'm curious to know what and why the doctor was worried about cancer. Is your son at risk for hepatic cancer? Does he have a hepatitis viral infection or pancreatitis? Does he have a significant history of drinking alcohol? Is the bloated belly ascetic fluid accumulating due to hypertension in the portal system of the liver? I may guessing at some things that are not relevant only because of there being a lack of some information to help understand why the doctor was worried about cancer.

I would probably want to be sure there was no focus of infection and so I would definitely be closely monitoring his urine along with the white count. I might also recommend getting some sinus films and depending on what his lungs sounded like a plain CXR. Again, quadriplegic patients are at risk for these types of infectious entities due to their immobility.

If nothing above pans out and the CT of the gut were clear I would consider a GI consult for the purpose of an endoscopy to get a visualization of the GI tract. Perhaps, there's a hiatal hernia which could be associated with some of these symptoms except for the elevated WBC.

I'd also be checking stool for both infectious processes as well as blood to be certain of the integrity of that part of the GI tract.

If I've adequately answered your questions could you do me a huge favor by CLOSING THE QUERY and being sure to include some fine words of feedback along with a 5 STAR rating if you feel my suggestions have helped? Again, many thanks for posing your questions and please let me know how things turn out.

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This query has utilized a total of 16 minutes of professional time in research, review, and synthesis for the purpose of formulating a return statement.

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