WBC question

[Guest guest]

Hello everyone:

here in Florida. I am still fairly new here. Dx, March 1, 2007. I

have been doing really well. Monday, I had a brain MRI to rule out anything

additional as the Gleevec has given me some pretty severe headaches, which now

are getting better. I am happy to say it came back normal.

Today I had a CBC and MD visit. First CBC in a month. MY WBC had gone up

from about 6.5 to 12.9. My other counts were good. I was really

disappointed, no, pretty upset and had a hard time getting across to my Dr and

wife. The

Dr was not concerned, in fact said he was more concerned with my pulse only

being 45 this morning than about the WBC.

I asked if the Gleevec is starting to not work? He shook his head, stating

he really did not think so. Anyone else had the WBC roller coaster?

Thanks!!!!!

Chris

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[Guest guest]

Hi

I live In Fl too. Tampa to be exact. Where do you live?

I wanted to comment on your question regarding your WBC.

Someone please correct me if I am wrong. When you first start getting

treatment the goal is obviously to get the WBC's down and sometimes it

plunges to levels that are too low which could cause you immunity problems.

That's why your WBC's should be monitored more closely at first so you and

your doctor will know how your body is responding and provide any other

treatments if necessary. My doctor had my CBC's ordered every other day for

the first month of treatment (although my first treatment was hydrea &

interferon -pre-FDA approval of Gleevec) A few times I had to stop a few

days to give my whites a chance to get back to normal but again that's is

what the treatment is suppose to do.

Once my counts stabilized we went to every week and then every other week.

Now of course it's every month.

Anyway once the counts stabilize your counts should be at a normal range

and everyone could have a different range.

Example: My RBC has never went back up pass 3.4 that's just a bit low but I

had always been slightly anemic from a child. So we could say that that

would be normal for me.

This could be the case for you and 12.9 is not much above the normal range

for a man. (Men and women differ a bit and men usually range a bit higher

than women)

However, what I would suggest is that you have your doctor monitor your

CBC's a bit closer. Maybe once a week or twice a week just to see if indeed

it is going up again or is it just that that's normal for you? Once a month

being newly diagnosed is really not a good idea. Your counts could have

dropped really low in that month as they usually do and you may have had

some infection as a result which also could have caused your WBC to be a bit

higher. That's why they should have been watching you closer for the first

few months (anything can happen) Do you have an Oncologist that has other

CML patients?

And that's my 2 cents:-)

By the way I have been on 400 mgs of Gleevec since FDA approval and I

achieved PCR negative results in 60 days and I'm still PCR negative after 6

years on Gleevec.

My 7 year anniversary is May 24th 2007!

ez