Anemia?

Jen28
Jen28 Member Posts: 45
edited March 2014 in Colorectal Cancer #1
I finished 12 cycles of FOLFOX at the beginning of June for Stage III colon cancer. I'm going to be getting my port removed on Monday and had a CBC done yesterday in connection with that. The CBC showed that I am still anemic--hemoglobin is 9.2 (normal is 11.6 to 15.4 with my lab) and hematocrit is 27.9 (normal is 34 to 45 with my lab). The counts basically haven't gone up at all since I finished chemo, which worries me a little. Has anyone else had counts that took a really long time to come back up?

Thanks,
Jen

Comments

  • scouty
    scouty Member Posts: 1,965 Member
    #2
    Hi Jen,

    Congrats on finishing up the folfox regime, it ain't much fun. Are you doing anything to help elevate your red blood cell counts? Don't forget to look at your white blood cell counts too, especially absolute neutral counts (ANC the ability to fight off infections). Fresh fruits and veggies can help as can some supplements. My blood levels were really good until I had surgery in January of this year and lost quite a bit of blood. It took me 6 months to get my levels back up where they had been (hemoglobin 14.9, hematocrit 44.3, and absolute neuts 7.5). I also monitor my white blood cell count (WBC) and red blood cell count (RBC) I love that you are looking at your blood work. I personally think it along with an alkaline ph within the body keeps the **** cells from "moving in and making a home".

    Do NOT take an iron supplement unless your doc recommends it. They can really mess with your liver counts if you don't really need one.

    Lisa P.
  • taraHK
    taraHK Member Posts: 1,952 Member
    #3
    Hi Jen. I also want to say congratulations on finishing the FOLFOX. Fantastic! It took a while for my blood counts to return to normal. (My biggest problems had been white blood cell and liver counts - but my hemoglobin was also low. Unfortunately I can't remember how long it took (my memory, never good, seems to be wiping that whole time period out of my mind!) but I'm thinking it was at least 3-4 mos. Good luck.
  • Jen28
    Jen28 Member Posts: 45
    #4
    scouty said:

    Hi Jen,

    Congrats on finishing up the folfox regime, it ain't much fun. Are you doing anything to help elevate your red blood cell counts? Don't forget to look at your white blood cell counts too, especially absolute neutral counts (ANC the ability to fight off infections). Fresh fruits and veggies can help as can some supplements. My blood levels were really good until I had surgery in January of this year and lost quite a bit of blood. It took me 6 months to get my levels back up where they had been (hemoglobin 14.9, hematocrit 44.3, and absolute neuts 7.5). I also monitor my white blood cell count (WBC) and red blood cell count (RBC) I love that you are looking at your blood work. I personally think it along with an alkaline ph within the body keeps the **** cells from "moving in and making a home".

    Do NOT take an iron supplement unless your doc recommends it. They can really mess with your liver counts if you don't really need one.

    Lisa P.

    Thank you. I haven't been doing anything specifically to help elevate my counts, but I have been trying to eat well, and I've been eating lots of veggies and fruits. My white blood cell counts and platelets have both come up to the low end of normal since chemo, so it's only the red blood cells that haven't come up. Thanks for the info about iron--I was wondering whether I should start taking extra iron. I actually just called my nurse practitioner and asked her if I should be concerned and if there was anything I could do to bring the levels up, and she said that they'd redo the test in a couple of weeks when I'm scheduled to come in for a checkup and they'd do iron studies then to see if iron supplements would help.

    Jen

Discussion Boards