Low blood counts

Low blood counts can refer to:

  • Anemia: low or misshapen red blood cells, which can cause fatigue. It can be treated with Procrit or Aranasp to increase the number of cells produced.

  • Neutropenia: low white blood cells, which can cause increased risk of infection. It can be treated with Neulasta or Neupogen to increase the number of cells produced.

  • Low platelets: can cause potentially dangerous bleeding problems. Experimental treatments are currently underway.

If your spouse has very low red blood cell counts or low platelets, the doctors may give him or her a transfusion, which sometimes causes transfusion reactions. Platelet transfusions are only a stopgap measure, as donor platelets often only stay in the system for a few days Œ sometimes they donēt take at all. Red blood cell transfusions may provide support for longer periods of time.

Low blood counts can delay chemo, radiation or surgery, and increase chances for infection, larger and more prominent bruising and an inability to heal wounds in a timely manner.

How to deal
The treatments are usually more effective early in the course of chemotherapy. As the bone marrow gets more and more chemo and becomes worn out, the treatments become less effective. When this happens, sometimes the only thing to do is wait for the bone marrow to recover for a few days or even a couple of weeks. This waiting period without any treatment can be agonizing when you just want to keep going with the treatment, but it is necessary so the chemo does not kill the patient.