Any suggestions to build platelets and avoid infection during Chemo

nempark

As I mentioned before, my daughter was dx in 11/2011 with ALL. Horrible journey with chemo and since we do not do blood transfusions the Doctors claim that it will be very challenging since her case is bloodless even though we are in a hospital that has several bloodless programs. "Anyway, If anyone knows what we can use to build up platelets and white blood cells, please let know because when she has chemo every three weeks she has to be hospitalized for a few days and she is likely to get serious infections. Last week she developed sepsis and was very successful in beating that monster, although I almost lost her. Best regards. J

txtrisha55

Salmon
The one thing I found that helped raise my WBC was to eat smoked salmon. I bought it from the Safeway by my house, in little 4oz packages. It was fresh, smoked, vacuumed sealed and the right size. I would eat it 3 times a week before I went in before another treatment. As a rule I normally do not eat fish like this but I did week 2 & 3 after the chemo and before the next. It did raise my WBC to 6.5 when it was 3.1. I would just eat it with some saltine crackers. Hope this suggestion helps. I know there are other ways to cook salmon but since this is something I normally would not eat, I do not know how to cook it. For me it was easy just to eat it already packaged up for me. Good Luck on raising the counts. trish

Tethys41

Tahini Butter
Jeanne Wallace, an oncological nutritionist, recommeds eating two tablespoons of tahini butter to keep platelets up. I understand that the supplement Astragalus boosts white blood cells.