my mom may be diagnostic. Please help!

[Mysticnissam]

hi everyone. My mother is my best friend and the only one I have in this world. She is 78, has heart failure, cholesterol, BP, kidney diease, annemia and diabetes. It’s been a real challenge with doctors daily with these conditions. Now, to top it off I am deathly fearful because she may be diagnosed with CLL. Her wbc has been rising ever since March. It is now 30.6. Her RBCs are low but her platelets are fine. She had smear cells present. She had a UTI last year but her wbc were never this high. Will she have CLL? Will she live more years? Please advise.

[AussieNeil Administrator]

Hi Mysticnissam and welcome to our community,

We had a very similar post to yours just over a week ago. You should find the answers very reassuring for you and your Mother. healthunlocked.com/cllsuppo...

With respect to your Mother's diagnosis, it's very important to have the cause of her rising WBC identified, as the WBC is the total of 5 different white blood cell types. If the increase is due to B lymphocytes, then a monoclonal population (duplicate cancer cells) with specific CD markers needs to be confirmed with a flow cytometry test to confirm a CLL diagnosis. Having smudge (smear) cells present is indeed common with CLL, but it's actually good to see if CLL is confirmed. That's because it means the CLL cells have weak cell membranes and are more vulnerable.

Neil

[cajunjeff]

Hello Mystic, sorry to read about your mom's health challenges. I doubt anyone on here, even a cll medical doctor, could give you answers specific to your mom on such little info.

That said, speaking generally, a wbc of 30.6 is high and would be consistent with a diagnosis of cll, but there are other possible causes of high wbc. A relatively simple blood test called flow cytometry would probably answer that question. You might check your mom's records to see if such a test was ordered or done. Cll cells have certain molecules on their surface that act like a fingerprint of sorts to identify cll.

But even if your mom has cll, it is typically a very slow growing and treatable cancer, if indeed she ever needed treatment Unlike most other cancers, there is usually no advantage to rushing to any treatment. Some people never need treatment for cll.

At your moms age, her heart failure, diabetes and kidney disease, might be more worrisome as to her longevity than cll, if indeed she has cll.

I am not a cll expert or a doctor. Your questions would best be answered by her doctor who would have way more particular information about your moms condition and have the experience and education to give you answers specific to your mom. Even not being an expert, though, I am comfortable in telling you that cll is generally slow growing and generally very treatable for most people. Good luck to you and your mom.