Latest blood draw

[jj401]

Hello,

I was diagnosed with Cll in June 19 and I am 59yo. active male. I was exhausted all the time, lost 12 lbs in 2 months so my gp ran a myriad of tests to find out I had EBV and Cll. One Dr says it’s MCL B cell but the oncologist/hematologist says Cll since the flow came back with all the standard Cll CD markers. My numbers are below and look good to me but she told me to watch trends. My worry is now I feel my lymph nodes starting to swell in my neck, back of my head and elbows. Is this considered normal in the beginning?

WBC 8.3

Rbc 5.3

Hgb 16.2

Hct 48.7

Plat 198 down 25

Lmp 44.1% Up From 35.8

Lmp 3.7 from 3.49

Neut 47.2% From 61.5%

Neut 3.9

[cajunjeff]

It is normal with Cll to experience swelling of our nodes. Nodes can also swell because of some underlying infection, so it’s hard to pinpoint for certain why you are feeling this swelling. Since you have been diagnosed with Cll, your Cll is certainly a prime suspect.

Your labs, taken as a snapshot in time, would suggest very early stage Cll. The pace of Cll is what is important. If your labs change slowly over time, that would be a good indication your Cll is indolent and you could be many years away from needing treatment, if you ever need to treat at all.

Some people present with an sll version of Cll where their Cll cells gather in their nodes rather than their blood. I would not conclude that you have the sll version just based on you feeling node swelling with such normal labs that you have, but that is something to consider for those who have a low wbc but swollen nodes.

[jj401 in reply to cajunjeff]

Thanks for the reply, I was spoiled my wbc went down but my ebv might have had a hand in that

[AussieNeil Partner Administrator]

The change in "Lmp 3.7 from 3.49" is negligible - it's well within the repeatability error for one blood sample remeasured. Importantly it's below 5.0, so you either fall into the MBL category or the SLL category if your clonal B-cell population is showing signs more in keeping with a proliferative blood cancer.

After we are newly diagnosed, we become more aware of our lymph nodes and it is easy to imagine swelling when it's not actually happening. That said, if your nodes don't return to normal over the next few weeks, follow up with your doctor.

By the way, totally ignore any percent figures in your results and concentrate on absolute values as that's what counts.

Neil

[jj401 in reply to AussieNeil]

Thanks for your reply, my gp was the one that found about 6-10 swollen lymph nodes while she was teaching me how to look for them. I will see the oncologist on Friday to see if it’s a concern or not.