White blood count doubled since March with CLL

[sukiskye6]

I had a routine blood test this week at my doctors and my WBC has doubled from 25.1 to 51.7. I live in Greece and my Hematologist is in Athens (240km) from me - also her English is not the best. I was diagnosed in 2010 with a WBC of 9.3 and since then the figure has increased slowly. I saw a doctor today at my local health centre who told me that the other figures on the Blood Test do not vary much from my last on in March - except for the WBC. Can someone give me some advice on what I should do. Should I contact my Haematologist and see what she says?

[Cllcanada Top Poster CURE Hero]

HI

WBC in CLL can be misleading...you need to track your absolute lymphocyte count (ALC) , in the differentials section of your blood report. This figure is the same as the WBC, with the neutrophils removed from the number, which can be misleading...

So while absolute lymphocyte count (ALC) doubling in under about six months is an indicator of progression, it does not mean you start treatment based on this fact alone.

What it does indicate, is that you now need closer monitoring by your hemetologist, so yes, give her a call and make an appointment to see her.

There are a few CLL specialist in Greece, so now would be a good time to find one...

Might try these ...may be pure research, but they will know the CLL doctors in clinical practice.

Hematology Department and HCT Unit, G. Papanicolaou Hospital, Thessaloniki, Greece

Institute of Applied Biosciences, CERTH, Thessaloniki, Greece

~chris

[bronx77 in reply to Cllcanada]

Hi you don't say where in Greece you live but the only two hospitals I know in greece are Athens and thassoniki that are specialist haematology centres

Which country are you from??

The public hospitals in Greece are not in a good position right now

You might be better going to your home country and getting your treatment overseen from there if you stay on watch and wait that might not be such a big deal for peace of mind

[288kingstreet]

Hi everyone ☺

I sure wish that my Dr. would be useful and do his job by being upfront with me which hasn't been very impressive and he seems to just want to scare me more than anything, no empathy at all. However Here is my question. Dr. says absolute lympocyte count high at 13.5 , red cells abnormal, keeps feeling my spleen. Says sarcoma or carcinoma !!! Maybe not cll ? What is he doing? Does any of this sound familiar to anyone or make sense ? A year ago he said that he was going to send me to a pathologist and now it's just a regular cancer center for a consult ? But he has not told me about what it is I'm to be consulted about.

[Cllcanada Top Poster CURE Hero in reply to 288kingstreet]

Hi 288

I'm confused..is this doctor your GP or an oncologist? CLL has a test called a Flow Cytometry and it will provide a 'fingerprint' of CLL.

Its not 100% accurate and there are grey areas with other lymphomas... some overlapping that requires further testing, but it is the gold standard diagnosis for CLL.

CLL is a rare cancer and most GPs and some oncologists simply are not up to speed.

If you give your city, perhaps other members can suggest a CLL doctor for an initial consultation.

~chris