Anemia?

[Susanna1013]

Hi, I just wondered if anyone has had bone marrow infiltration and anemia. What treatment did you have and how long did it take for your hemoglobin to come back up?

Long story, but my dad has had severe anemia along with pc - platelets and hemoglobin have been low and he has had several blood and platelet transfusions. About a month ago, he came down with pneumonia and was in the ICU for ten days - treated with a heavy dose of steroids and antibiotics. His platelets went down to 6 and hemoglobin down to 6.5. He received a blood transfusion and two platelet transfusions and the oncologist stopped treatment and released him on to hospice, with the agreement that we could continue to do labs/transfusions for several weeks to see if his bone marrow could recover. Amazingly, it has been recovering. Over three weeks, his platelets have gone from 22 to 144 yesterday. His hemoglobin ranges between 8.0-9.0. His oncologist has resumed treatment with Lupron, Zometa, and Xtandi. We were able to take him off of hospice and on to supportive care.

He is walking and eating well, and starting to get back into his normal activities. We are extremely thankful. I just wondered if anyone had experienced something similar with the anemia. The low hemoglobin is still making him feel kind of weak. His doctor said it could take a few months for the red blood cells to mature and the hemoglobin to come back up.

Has anyone else dealt with the pc plus the anemia? Thank you very much for any feedback you can share.

[LearnAll]

what a wonderful recovery....its inspirational for all. I hope some members who have gone thru something like this would like to provide insight and knowledge for the rest of us.

[tango65]

Great recovery. Congratulations !!!

Best of luck.

[Magnus1964]

Xtandi was taking all the iron out of my body so I was prescribed Ferris 150 iron capsules. My iron is OK now.

[Susanna1013 in reply to Magnus1964]

Thank you very much. I will look into this. Glad you're doing better.

[G2779]

My father is same , on Zytiga and he’s in and out of hospital all time with low blood and getting infusions , hospital again as we speak , very weak due low bloods

[Susanna1013 in reply to G2779]

I'm so sorry. I hope that he feels better soon.

[JimVanHorn]

What I did was ask my doctor about kidney disease. My BUN and creatinin tests had gone up while I was on Lupron, but I think the radiation was also a factor in my kidney disease. I also had low RBC counts. In my case they gave me shots of a hormone called Erythropoetin (that the kidney gives out). RBC stay in your bone marrow until this hormone tells the cells to loose their nucleus and mature. My hemoglobin levels are 10.5 to 11.3 now. I wish your Dad well and hope he feels better soon.

[Susanna1013 in reply to JimVanHorn]

Thank you so much. I had seen this mentioned a few times in searching for information about cancer and anemia. I will definitely ask the oncologist about this. All the best to you.

[JimVanHorn in reply to Susanna1013]

Hi again, Once they said this was the problem, it turned out I need more Iron in my body as well. They gave me a small IV with iron for injection every 2 weeks for 2 months. Now I get the Erythropoetin shot (Procrit) about every other month. The only side effect is that if his hemoglobin level goes above 13.6 he can have a stoke, so they watch for that. Also, I want you to understand that Red Blood Cells sit in your bone marrow most of the time, but do nothing until they loose their nucleus and go into the blood stream. Then after 4 months the spleen opens the RBC's. So RBC's are never more than 4 months old when in the blood stream. My Dad had the same anemia problem and they have been doing this for over thirty years. I go to a Nephrologist for my kidneys and they have an anemia clinic.

[Susanna1013 in reply to JimVanHorn]

Thank you for this information. It is very helpful. I will talk to the oncologist about it next week - I think they need to take a closer look into his anemia and possibly do something like this.

[j-o-h-n]

Good news....and don't you cry for him....Kiss him and Hug him....

Good Luck, Good Health and Good Humor.

j-o-h-n Saturday 11/02/2019 12:09 PM DST

[monte1111]

Hope the turn around continues!

[lincolnj8]

2 years ago I ended up in the hospital getting blood transfusions (4). My hemoglobin was at 3. The alcalyne phosphate number was at 3000. So my liver and bones were not making blood they said. After 2 years the hemoglobin is at 11.4. Thank God. What is bothering me, is that the hemoglobin is still a little low and with the very low Testosteron which is a good thing, I have no strength and I'm fatigued most of the time. Just wondering if this is normal. Zytiga and prednisone is really working for me plus all the vitamins the Doc has me on. So glad to see another Christmas.