fever, stomach unease and fatigue

[veranaish]

hi dear all

my husband was diagnosed 2014, now WBC 200,000, spleen 21cm - started feeling uncomfortable stomach, has 37C fever for 2 weeks now, fatigue - are those 'normal' symptoms to his condition? at the moment not treated, he will start Ibrutinib Jan19

many thanks for your advises

health to all

[Lola69]

I’m

Not a Doctor but 37C is usually a normal body temperature but depends on the person. At 37.2 C it’s a low grade fever for me.

His spleen is quite enlarged though and that may be causing the discomfort in his stomach.

Imbruvica should help reduce spleen size and make husband more comfy

[veranaish in reply to Lola69]

Thank you so much !

[cajunjeff]

An abnormal wbc of 200,000 and abnormal spleen size of 21 cm can be in the “normal” range for those who have advancing Cll. They also could be indications for treatment especiallly if the wbc has doubled in size in the last six months and the spleen is so big it’s pushing on your husband’s stomach causing him discomfort or to feel full and lose appetite.

The high wbc and enlarged spleen are not truly “symptoms” though. We often don’t feel any symptoms with high wbc or an enlarged spleen. A full feeling in the stomach, though, can be a symptom of an enlarged spleen.

Fatigue is a symptom that is a normal symptom experienced by Cll patients.

37 degrees is normal temperature , so I’m not sure why you think your husband has a fever. When Cll patients do have fevers they are typically not fevers due to our Cll directly, but perhaps indirectly if due to an illness caused by our weakened immune systems.

I agree with Lola that ibrutinib will in a short time period likely reduce your husband’s spleen size and probably cause his stomachto feel better if the enlarged spleen was causing him pain by pressing on his stomach. Ibrutinib should help the fatigue as well.

[veranaish in reply to cajunjeff]

Many thanks for all your insights really appreciate it

[roszika]

you mean to tell me the doctor waited till 200,000 before considering treatment and it wont start till Jan !!!!!. That is the most unbelievable thing I have read so far on all these blogs. At 158,000 my doctor started my treatment a year or so ago and not straight onto ibr utinib- something lighter to stat withI find that incredulous leaving some one go to 200,000 before treatments which leaves that person open to so many other things in the body going wrong like the enlarged spleen,. My oncologist is so cautious thank goodness. I would not go to a doctor that leaves me go to 200,000 wbc before doing anything- wrong wrong wrong

[Cllcanada Top Poster CURE Hero in reply to roszika]

I know many patients over 300K who have no other symptoms and are not in treatment, because they have no symptoms, or massive node involvement.

Don't go by the numbers... absolute lymphocyte count [ALC] are only part of the treatment decision.

My last treatment I had an absolute lymphocyte count [ALC] over 425K.. felt great...but the nodes around my heart were a bit of an issue...

~chris

[Justasheet1 in reply to Cllcanada]

Yeah, but you my friend are Superman.

[roszika in reply to Cllcanada]

well that is interesting. Must ask my specialist tomorrow- perhaps the reason I have treatment (chlorambucil) is that it brings down the wbc count and then I go off it and then they come back to high numbers very quickly and of course it may be to do with the rest of the blood picture. I call it a yo yo treatment. I suppose the thing with cll is it can present differently in people and then again it depends on what the onclologist thinks is the best treatment for that individual. Anyway merry Christmas to you and hopefully a healthier 2019 for all of us- Cheers from the warm down under

[veranaish in reply to roszika]

thanks for your concern, the doc took in account many factors and together we decided starting jan, we start ibrutinib as a result of a very thorough gene/mutation/deletion analysis

[Zia2]

Hi. My WBC heading towards 150,000. Tx not discussed since symptoms minimal and hemoglobin ok. Platelets and ANC dropping but not dangerously

All the best to you