Help me I'm petrified! Anyone else familiar with this?

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SPoole
SPoole Member Posts: 10
edited June 2014 in Stage III Breast Cancer
Help me I'm petrified! Anyone else familiar with this?

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  • SPoole
    SPoole Member Posts: 10
    edited March 2010

    I had my routine blood work before chemo yesterday. This morning at my onc. appt. she noticed my Alkaline Phos. and LDF levels were extremely high (WBC-16). Now I'm having a bone scan and liver ct scan to rule out mets. Apparently both of these levels throw up a red flag for mets to liver and bone.

    She also said the levels could go up due to my daily neupogen shots.

     I repeated the blood work today to rule out lab error.

    Anyone ever have this?

  • Leah_S
    Leah_S Member Posts: 8,458
    edited March 2010

    I never had this, but I just wanted to send you good wishes. Praying very hard for neupogen doing it!

    Leah

  • KerryMac
    KerryMac Member Posts: 3,529
    edited March 2010

    Sending good thoiughts to you too.

    I can understand how you are in a panic. Try and relax - Chemo can make your counts all wonky, I would say the shots must too. Hoping you get some good answers quickly.

  • Enjoyful
    Enjoyful Member Posts: 3,591
    edited March 2010

    I had really high alkaline phosphatase, calcium, and d-dimer levels once during chemo, all of which suggested bone mets.  We retested a few weeks later and everything was normal again.  Chemo does weird things to you so maybe it's just that. 

    Best wishes...keep us posted! 

  • YATCOMW
    YATCOMW Member Posts: 664
    edited March 2010

    Yes......and I am surprised that your oncologist is making you do all those scans.  During chemo these levels jump up.....due to the chemo going through the liver.......Most oncologist just ignore all of this while on chemo because of that.

     Please don't worry........honestly the only bloodwork they should be looking at is your red and white blood and platelets........this will tell them if you are ready for the next chemo........any of the other numbers are useless during chemo.

    Jacqueline 

  • Nancy0531
    Nancy0531 Member Posts: 17
    edited March 2010

    I had this happen throughout chemo and also for a couple of years after.  My dr. ordered cat scan of the abdomen and pelvis and also the bone scan.  Although she felt that these results were likely a result of the chemo, or maybe even normal for me, she felt it was better to have scans and rule out mets.  I agree, and as a result, I've had these scans every year.

    Did you have these scans when you were diagnosed?  Many oncologists order these routinely anyway upon diagnosis for staging.

    Anyway, try not to worry too much as these are commonly elevated as others have said.

  • kim40
    kim40 Member Posts: 904
    edited March 2010

    I know this is easier said than done,but try not to worry too much.

    As Yatcomv stated above, it is probably from the chemo going through your liver.  When I as going through chemo, I had a terrible pain in my liver for 4 weeks after I completed chemo!   Needless to say, I panicked big time as I didn't know what was wrong.  My nurse told me that my levels were showing high as well, and as for the pain in my side, it was normal as the chemo was going through it.  It disappeared about a week later. 

    I would think that if you WBC is ok - that's all that matters during chemo. 

  • kimf
    kimf Member Posts: 334
    edited March 2010

    I had the WBC issue once during chemo when I went to the ER the day after my Neulasta shot for a horrible sinus infection that caused a 104 fever.They got the labs back in the ER and saw my wbc count and thought I had luekemia. I explained to them that I had just had a Neulasta shot the day before, but they were all in a panic (this was my local hosp, not my cancer center)...it took 24 hours for ME to calm them down. Hang it there. Hoping it is what we all think, just chemo wreaking havoc as it normally does. Best wishes!

  • diana50
    diana50 Member Posts: 2,134
    edited March 2010

    anytime something isn't right; it rocks our world.  keep us posted on what they find out. chemo can really cause things to happen in our body; ie..blood work. . it is not unusual for them to repeat bloodwork to recheck levels.

     i know it is scarey; sending hugs.....and best wishes

  • AnacortesGirl
    AnacortesGirl Member Posts: 1,758
    edited March 2010

    Can't speak to the other two blood test level but your WBC at 16 is almost certainly due to the Neupogen.  I also take the shots daily and every now and then it would spike.  I felt fine, no signs of illness, so my onc was OK with the spikes.  The most extreme spike I had was a WBC of 55.  That was when both RBC and WBC were really low so the onc deferred chemo but kept me on the daily neupogen.  The next week I only did 3 and it was still at 25.  Then it normalized.

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