Bloody question

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JimsBrother
JimsBrother Member Posts: 94
edited March 2014 in Esophageal Cancer #1
Undetermined cause of bruise, doctors response is slight concern.

Jim went in for his Chemo and radiation yesterday and the radiation oncologist noticed a bruise on Jim's chest and was concerned enough to have another doctor look at the bruise. Because Jim didn't remember bumping into anything or had a cause for this bruise, they ordered bloodwork be done. They asked if he had been taking any blood thinners or aspirin. Which Jim has not taken.

Today is his last day of Chemo for a few weeks. I found that some chemo drugs can cause low platelets and that is what makes your blood clot when you are cut. Is low platelets a common side effect of chemotherapy? If so, how long after stopping chemo does it take for your platelets to return to normal levels?

Could this be due to cancer going to the spleen, or bones, since the platelets are made in the bone marrow?

I hope everyone is doing well, and thank you all for taking the time to replay to my never ending questions.


Rob

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  • MOE58
    MOE58 Member Posts: 589 Member
    #2
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    I know when Jeff was doing chemo that he had to have his blood drawn every time before chemo, cause if he counts or platelets were down they would not do chemo on him at that time, We went to a class before chemo and learned so much and we went by that book if we had any concerns we looked it up it was awesome. I don't know about the cancer going to the spleen or bones if this happens since Jeff's were pertained to one place.

    I know I would be finding out some answers cause brusing like that is very concerned his doctor knew enough he had another doctor look at it. That is good.

    Maybe Sherri might know (jims wife) she is very knowledgeable with all kind of things.

    Chin up and hang on another roller coaster ride is slowing moving up

    Lori
  • unclaw2002
    unclaw2002 Member Posts: 599
    #3
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    Rob,
    One side effect of
    Rob,

    One side effect of chemo is to kill good cells including blood platelets. As Moe said my dad also had his blood tested each time before they did chemo to get his blood counts. Platelets are constantly reproducing and after a few days/prehaps a week it is my understanding that they regrow. Sometimes they have to reduce the chemo agents or adjust the treatments if the counts won't come up. If your counts are low it is easy to bruise yourself without even realizing you hit something. Hang in there :) Cindy


    Here is a link to the chemocare site that discusses the various effects of chemo on blood counts. http://www.chemocare.com/managing/low_blood_counts.asp

    another site http://www.chemotherapy.com/side_effects/platelet/managing_platelet_count.html

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