will my surgery be cancelled b/c of low WBC/RBC

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weety
weety Member Posts: 1,163
edited June 2014 in HER2+ (Positive) Breast Cancer

My blood counts are still running low after finishing chemo in Dec.  I'm still on herceptin, which is probably the reason, but I'm scheduled for a hysterectomy surgery next week and just got my bloodwork results from my pre-op appt.  They are as follows:  WBC-3.7 (normal is 4.0-11) and RBC 3.9 (normal is 4.2-5.4).  My hemoglobin is right at the cut-off--12.0 (normal is 12-16).  Will they allow me to go through with the surgery since my results aren't in the normal range? 

My counts seem to jump around on herceptin--2 weeks ago they were all low-normal  (WBC-4.2, RBC-4.2 HGB-13.1), but 3 weeks before that they were pretty low--my WBC's were ONLY 2.6--my onc said, "Wow--that's like chemo-lows!"

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  • weety
    weety Member Posts: 1,163
    edited April 2010

    just bumping this up in the hopes that someone sees it!

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  • Jaimieh
    Jaimieh Member Posts: 2,373
    edited April 2010

    I was running low for a while and I still continued to have surgeries.  Each doctor has an limit to what they are comfortable with.  I hope that your counts start to rebound.  It has taken me 14 months for my counts to finally get into the normal range. 

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  • ElaineM
    ElaineM Member Posts: 81
    edited April 2010

    Hi, Your surgery will probably be postponed if your platelets are low. Low platelets can cause too much bleeding during surgery.

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  • weety
    weety Member Posts: 1,163
    edited April 2010

    thanks jaimieh and elainem.

    My platelets are lower than they ever were before bc, but still in the normal range.  Just the WBC's and RBC's seem to be low.

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  • Sassa
    Sassa Member Posts: 1,588
    edited April 2010

    When I had my mastectomy on my left breast, I was 4 months out of chemo (AC) and 4 months into weekly herceptin doses.

    Both my WBC and RBC counts were still below normal.  The surgeon didn't bat an eye at the counts and I believe the anesthesiologist made adjustments to the anesthesia to allow for the lower counts.

    Keep in mind that surgery is often done on trauma patients that have had a large blood loss and other problems.  Surgeons and anesthesiologists are experienced in dealing with the problems.   

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