Chemo postponed to next week due to low platelets

Christine B.

Unfortunately, my platelets were too low to have my 5th out of 6 chemos today. I am very familiar with the platelet issue as my son has a rare genetic syndrome that includes thrombocytopenia/low blood platelets. I belong to an online support group for individuals and family of persons with Thrombocytopenia Absent Radius Syndrome. Some in the group swear by drinking Gatorade to help get platelets up. My good friend's son (32) drinks a lot of it and she says his platelets are not only normal, but high :-) Now, I know if you asked a doctor about it, it would probably be pooh-poohed. But, it can't hurt, I'm going for the Gatorade! Funny, I'd been drinking Gartorade before the last chemos and for some reason didn't get out for some this last round.
I also know that a sign of low platelets is lethargy, I'm wondering if my feeling so low emotionally this last couple of weeks had anything to do with it. Or maybe the the chemo getting to me.
Christine

Lisa13Q

Hello
My mother's platelets were low too and they postponed her chemo for 2 weeks. My sister has idiopathic thrmbocytopenia ITP) so we also are very well acquainted with low platelets...once they start coming up they fly up... My mother was also lethargic and the doctors said the platelets shouldn't do that, but Wendy said that was BS, low platelets affected her energy a lot!!! Hang in there, they will come back up...enjoy the week or two off from the chemo..Your body needs it...

lindaprocopio

Lisa13Q said:

Hello
My mother's platelets were low too and they postponed her chemo for 2 weeks. My sister has idiopathic thrmbocytopenia ITP) so we also are very well acquainted with low platelets...once they start coming up they fly up... My mother was also lethargic and the doctors said the platelets shouldn't do that, but Wendy said that was BS, low platelets affected her energy a lot!!! Hang in there, they will come back up...enjoy the week or two off from the chemo..Your body needs it...

My platelets were at 10,000 last week, dangerously low,...
I had no hint at all that my platelets had tanked so dangerously low when I had my pre-chemo blood labs last week. Instead of chemo I had to get a platelet transfusion. I didn't feel unusually tired or lethargic at all and platelets of 10,000 are super-duper LOW. But if your other blood counts are ALSO low, (especially your RED blood count) you can usually tell because you get lightheaded and easily winded and get hear your heart beat in your ears when you bend over. At least that's how I feel with low RBC. But low platelets: I felt normal, although I did have some unexplained bruising.

I'll get some Gatorade to try. Can't hurt! I try again to get chemo on Thursday and hope the transfusion did the trick.

lindaprocopio

lindaprocopio said:

My platelets were at 10,000 last week, dangerously low,...
I had no hint at all that my platelets had tanked so dangerously low when I had my pre-chemo blood labs last week. Instead of chemo I had to get a platelet transfusion. I didn't feel unusually tired or lethargic at all and platelets of 10,000 are super-duper LOW. But if your other blood counts are ALSO low, (especially your RED blood count) you can usually tell because you get lightheaded and easily winded and get hear your heart beat in your ears when you bend over. At least that's how I feel with low RBC. But low platelets: I felt normal, although I did have some unexplained bruising.

I'll get some Gatorade to try. Can't hurt! I try again to get chemo on Thursday and hope the transfusion did the trick.

ARGH! Platelets too low AGAIN to get chemo this morning!!!
Last week when I went to get my 2nd infusion of carboplatin (really my 8th counting the 6 carbo/taxol I had in 2008/2009), my labs showed my platelets at a VERY dangerous 10,000 and I had to get a platelet transfusion instead of my chemo. So we re-scheduled chemo for today, and planned on me getting the carboplatin at 1/3 strength and every week instead of every 3 weeks at full strength.

So, this morning I went in for my pre-chemo labs and my platelets are still only 45,000, less than half the 100,000 they need to be to get chemo. So I'm back home again with no chemo in me, and an appointment next week to get new labs and a consultation to come up with a new strategy if my platelets don't rebound in a huge way. (I think they may try Gemzar next). I'll phone tomorrow to get my CA125 from this morning, just out of curiosity to see if carbo is worth fighting for if it gives me a further number drop.)

I'm SOOOOO frustrated that my bone marrow is no longer strong enough to tolerate the 1st drug that really seems to be working and actually dropped my CA125!! There is a lot to be said for taking a 'watch and wait' attitude to chemo apparently, as it does you no good to take constant chemo to keep your cancer under control if you ruin your bone marrow doing that, and then can't get powerful chemo drugs when you need them.

So that's how I am looking at this. I am being forced to take a little break from chemo; my body is trying to tell me something. So I get another week off. And instead of feeling post-carbo yukky this afternoon, I feel physically great! & I'm going to try and live in the moment and enjoy this extra week of feeling good and not worry about something I can't control. (easier said than done)

nancy591

lindaprocopio said:

ARGH! Platelets too low AGAIN to get chemo this morning!!!
Last week when I went to get my 2nd infusion of carboplatin (really my 8th counting the 6 carbo/taxol I had in 2008/2009), my labs showed my platelets at a VERY dangerous 10,000 and I had to get a platelet transfusion instead of my chemo. So we re-scheduled chemo for today, and planned on me getting the carboplatin at 1/3 strength and every week instead of every 3 weeks at full strength.

So, this morning I went in for my pre-chemo labs and my platelets are still only 45,000, less than half the 100,000 they need to be to get chemo. So I'm back home again with no chemo in me, and an appointment next week to get new labs and a consultation to come up with a new strategy if my platelets don't rebound in a huge way. (I think they may try Gemzar next). I'll phone tomorrow to get my CA125 from this morning, just out of curiosity to see if carbo is worth fighting for if it gives me a further number drop.)

I'm SOOOOO frustrated that my bone marrow is no longer strong enough to tolerate the 1st drug that really seems to be working and actually dropped my CA125!! There is a lot to be said for taking a 'watch and wait' attitude to chemo apparently, as it does you no good to take constant chemo to keep your cancer under control if you ruin your bone marrow doing that, and then can't get powerful chemo drugs when you need them.

So that's how I am looking at this. I am being forced to take a little break from chemo; my body is trying to tell me something. So I get another week off. And instead of feeling post-carbo yukky this afternoon, I feel physically great! & I'm going to try and live in the moment and enjoy this extra week of feeling good and not worry about something I can't control. (easier said than done)

ARGH!!!
Linda,
I feel your frustration!!! Looking back over my last year of unsuccessful chemos I wonder if should have waited. I thought well the cancer is so small the chemo will knock it right out. Boy was I wrong. Glad you are feeling well thought. That really is half the battle. I've been dealing with daily stomach pain for weeks now. It's not so much the pain that bothers me more than it is the cause of the pain that scares me!

Are you on Carbo alone or Carbo/Gem? My platelets dropped quite a bit too. They did Carbo/gem one week, Gemzar alone the 2nd week. I think two times my platelets were too low. Then of course when I had my 2nd infusion of carbo (10th total) I had that LOVELY allergic reaction. What a kill joy. I think my ca125 dropped from 32 to 20. This was my biggest drop since restarting chemo earlier that year. Now my ca125 is at 192.

You go back again next week? Hopefully your platelets will rise!! I googled how to raise platelets to no avail when I was having that issue. I hope it will be worth it for you. Maybe a lower dose is what you need.

Glad you are looking at the brighter side of all this!!!! XOXOXO
How far from the NY boarder do you live? Anywhere near Scranton?