White Blood Cells lowered

[kitchengardener]

I saw my consultant yesterday and she was very pleased with me. She told me that my white blood cell count was down from 43 to 36 from December 2018, there were no swellings in my armpits or groin and my spleen felt normal. She now says that so long as I feel well, she doesn't need to see me now for four months. She said go away and enjoy life. I don't know what 'normal' blood counts are so don't know if my results are good or bad.

[AussieNeil Partner Administrator]

Ask for copies of your blood test results to see for yourself what's changing in your white blood cells. There's a section called the differential which lists the different types of white blood cells, generally both by percentage (ignore these, generally indicated by '%') and absolute counts, generally indicated by '#'.

Sometimes only the percentages are given. In that case, you need to multiply the WBC by the different percentages to get the absolute results. Generally you only need to concern yourself with the absolute lymphocyte count - as that should be followed to monitor your CLL for progression and your neutrophil count, as that's a measure of your ability to fight off bacterial and fungal infections.

Most of your high WBC will be due to your increased lymphocyte count. Once it gets above 30, specialists monitor for doubling time. In your case, it looks like your CLL is less active, hence the drop in WBC. Your lack of swollen nodes and spleen puts you in an early stage of CLL and all this is good news. That's why you're been told to go away and enjoy life. You have the best possible examination outcome and are considered a 'boring patient', something we all like to be. Stay this way and you will likely see the time between appointments stretch out further!

You might be interested in tracking your blood test results using a spreadsheet and educating yourself on the relevance of your different blood counts:

healthunlocked.com/cllsuppo...

There are a number of excellent Patient Power videos where Dr Susan Leclair explains in very easy to understand terms the importance of our different blood test results in monitoring CLL.

Neil

[kitchengardener in reply to AussieNeil]

Thank you so much for your reply. I feel happier now. My consultant was very busy yesterday and had lots of people waiting. Because she seemed happy with me, I didn't want to take up too much more time. If anything changes I will get in touch with her but will ask her to explain the WBC next appointment. Until then I shall just enjoy my holidays.

[MsLockYourPosts Passed Volunteer in reply to kitchengardener]

Patient Power - patientpower.info

Love Dr. LeClair!

[honey1969]

Good news!! I am on every 4 months visit. Your WBC is just a little higher then mine. I get so nervous when I go to see my doc for the lab work. But I am glad I am on every 4 months. I pray that they will soon go to every 6 months and then yearly. Thats my hope!! Good for you.

Enjoy!

Jackie

[Senecio]

"She said go away and enjoy life"

That is absolutely what you should do. I had some very good times while I was on watch and wait. You have the best of both worlds - you are well in all the ways that matter, and you are also being regularly monitored, just in case those pesky little white cells start playing up. 🙂

John