I am almost 1 year post Tx and still have a low white cell count (WBC) It was 7.0 pre treatment and tanked at 2.3. It has remained low during the post Tx. Everything else is great. TSH is on the numbers, etc. Anyone else see a change in their WBC and any clues to the significance (if any)?

Just moving it up - no takers?

Hi Gary,
I'm Jack's friend Eric. I saw my doctors today and they tell me my WBC is only 2.2 I'm 61/2 months post Tx but they think it should have rebounded by now. They are going to have me do a hemo screen to see what they can find. I don't know exactly what they are looking for but they want to at least see if my marrow is still producing white blood cells. I'll let you know if they figure it out.
Eric

Hi Gary,
I'm Jack's friend Eric. I saw my doctors today and they tell me my WBC is only 2.2 I'm 61/2 months post Tx but they think it should have rebounded by now. They are going to have me do a hemo screen to see what they can find. I don't know exactly what they are looking for but they want to at least see if my marrow is still producing white blood cells. I'll let you know if they figure it out.
Eric

Hello Eric!

Gary, I do not have an answer for you on this subject because I have not had a WBC test (as far as I know)

Eric I am happy to hear from you! how are you feeling? (go ahead and start a new post)

Gary, before chemo treatment, the doctor will monitor a patient's WBC count to see if it is at an acceptable level to receive the treatment. The chemical affects our blood count and I know many patients have their treatment deferred because of this. In my case, my WBC count has dropped to a very low level when I finished all the 4 rounds of cisplatin and remained lower than the normal for quite a while and started to rise gradually. I guess it took me about a year post treatment to climb back to the normal level. Every time I had my medical appointment, I had my blood tested and in the following appointment, I would ask my oncologist if it was normal. The effect of low WBC on me was feeling weak, tired even after a night's sleep and feeling cold all day.The whole immune system seems to be weakened. From the Chinese medical point of view, we can improve this by taking more nutritious food. I didn't ask my oncologist about the figure but last year I had a thorough body check up and it stated in the medical report that my WBC was within a normal range. I can check when I go home tonight to see if the figure is given.

Karen stage 4 tonsil cancer diagnosed in 9/01.

Gary I seem to remember both my WBC and Red Blood Count being low last time they checked, about 6 months ago, or 6 months post treatment for second time. Doc's response was, yea, so, no big deal, just remember the SARS mask when running around HK. Forget what the exact level was, and it figures that just last night I pulled the reports out of my briefcase and filed them away.

Since the doc's didn't attach much significance to it all I'm just watching diet. Because of where I live and because my wife's Chinese and believes in this sort of thing I'm also subscribing to the Chinese view that diet can help restore the blood to pre-treatment levels. Also contributes to peace and harmony around the houshold.

So, if your doc's aren't worrying, I wouldn't get too worried. Just take more precautions than normal against colds, flu, infections etc. All the stuff you would normally do to prevent that sort of thing, do more of.

Considering my old habits, I'm leading such a healthy lifestyle I'm just bloomin' amazed at myself. :p

Bob S.

Hi Eric,
I'm glad you came to visit! How are you doing? My lowest WBC was 2.1 and it was about 6 months post Tx.

Hi Karen,
I am a 2 days short of 1 year post Tx and it's only 3.1. I only had 2 Cisplatin treatments. I would have figured it to be higher by now. They don't seem overly concerned with it. I spoke with my oncologist since I put up the post. He said it can take a long time before the bone marrow is back up to speed.

Gary, I checked my medical report which shows 4.5 for WBC (4 to 10 being the normal range) and my RBC was 3.76 (4 to 5.6 being normal). So in fact my RBC count was still low. This was the report I got during summer last year and I remember showing this to my oncologist who was not the least concerned about it. So as Bob said, we shouldn't be bothered by these figures unless our doctors showed great concern. Still advisable to have a regular blood check.

Karen stage 4 tonsil cancer diagnosed in 9/01.

Gary,
I got my results back from my hemotologist. They did a flow cytometry test as well as HIV and Hep C. All negative as I expected. They just think the WBC is low as a result of radiation and will rebound in due time. They are not overly concerned, other than advising me to be cautious about infections and exposure to illness. They may try a marrow test in the future if deemed necessary.