Platelets dropping 7 months after chemo

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CassieCat
CassieCat Member Posts: 1,257
edited September 2015 in Managing Side Effects of Breast Cancer and Its Treatment

I finished six rounds of TCHP in December and have been getting herceptin alone evey three weeks. I finished radiation in April and started tamoxifen in April as well. At one point in the past 7 months my platelets bounced back to normal, but my last three counts, over the last six weeks, have all been lower. Today was 119,000. I can't get my MO to tell me if that is normal or not. Of course I am now worrying about worst case scenarios. I'm not on Heparin, don't take much ibuprofen and rarely have any alcohol. My spleen isn't enlarged.Anyone have any words of advice or comfort? Thank you.

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  • vlnrph
    vlnrph Member Posts: 1,632
    edited July 2015

    I'm not a hematologist but have to wonder if you're having any symptoms like bruising or bleeding. Perhaps your doctor has an associate/nurse practitioner you could talk to about your concerns. Do you know whether your numbers "normally" ran low prior to chemo?

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  • CassieCat
    CassieCat Member Posts: 1,257
    edited July 2015

    I saw my MO yesterday and he's running lots of tests now. He tends to see the worst in everything, however. Yes, my numbers have been trending down since May. They were normal before chemo and eventually recovered back to normal levels after finishing chemo.

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  • CassieCat
    CassieCat Member Posts: 1,257
    edited July 2015

    It's not the number it's currently at that concerns me - or him - but the fact that it is dropping. 6 weeks ago it was in the 120's, I think, and 3 weeks ago it was in the 130s. Yesterday it was 119 and they did the test twice to be sure. I of course am now worrying about all of the worst case scenarios. I really hate cancer.

    I have read that a rare side effect - 1% of patients - of tamoxifen is lowered platelets.

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  • CassieCat
    CassieCat Member Posts: 1,257
    edited July 2015

    From what little I've gleaned in my reading online, it seems to be reversible.

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  • CassieCat
    CassieCat Member Posts: 1,257
    edited September 2015

    None of the tests my MO ordered revealed any problems (YAY!), so for now we're chalking it up to chemo and all that. It was still below normal 2.5 weeks ago, but it was up a bit from the CBC prior to that one.

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