Hello, I was diagnosed in August 2004, tcells 119, vl, 36,000, went on meds right away( KALETRA & TRUVADA). Took labs in October, they were 166tcells, 520 vl, and a percent of 16> did it again in december, they were 298 tcels, undectable, and 18 %. Now in march, they are, 259 tcells, undectable & 20%. Is this going in the right direction? I am concerned. I don't know what this percent stands for, the doctor was happy with it going up, but the tcells went down a bit. Also the tcells jumped from 166 to 298 before, now they went down, what could cause this, I thought that in March they would jump at least 50 more, but they fell.Again, please advise on how I can understand the numbers, I am a worry wart by nature & this is getting me anxious. PLease shed some light on this for me & thank you.

I agree with your doctor. Your trends are great. The increase in CD4 percent is exactly what we want to see. The absolute CD4 count bounces around more. You may not see a consistent increase of 50 CD4 cells per month. How migh your CD4 count and percentage goes, depends in part on where you started. The lower the starting CD4 count, the longer it takes and the less likely one is to get back to what is considered a normal level.