My mum was diagnosed Jan 2019 with stage 3A hgs. Full debulking and 6 round of carbo and taxol and NED.
Recurred Feb 2022, started with carbo and Caylex x 4. Ned at the end.
Started Niraparib but it seemed to grow back very quickly and recurrence confirmed on Dec 2022.
Started carbo/gem and has so far had 2 rounds. Seems to be responding well with ca125 down from 1600 to 550.
However her platelets don’t seems to recover at all and so far we have had 5.5 weeks since round 2. She has just been told she has a blood clot so is over at our local hospital getting treatment for that.
My question is please, how the hell do we deal with the low platelets for the chemo if we keep bashing her blood with thinners that affect the platelets.
Has anyone come across this?
Thanks in advance!
Written by
N-A-58
To view profiles and participate in discussions please or .
She’s had a lot of treatment in a short span of time really. Which must have left her system a bit battered.
My old oncologist said something about delays to treatment due to low platelet levels which really encouraged me. He said if platelets are still down, chemo is still working.
Perhaps she will need a longer cycle because her body is affected for more than the standard 3 weeks. The chemo will still work.
Once she’s out of the woods with the clot, her oncologist should be able to answer questions about how they will play subsequent cycles xx
We mentioned those sorts of injections at her last app and the onc was a bit peeved and said he was the doc and if he thought she needed them she would have them. Do they help white blood or platelets?
that’s so encouraging what you were told re the chemo still working . Just told my mum
She is on clexane at the moment, due back at the hospital tomorrow and then chemo Monday if bloods allow
OMG! I am so happy you posted this. I have been supporting my chemo with auyrvedic medicine and when my white blood count crashed my Ayurvedic doctor told me to take papaya leaf and eat fresh papaya and within one week, my bloods were back to normal.
Filgratism injections. The oncs at the public hospital didn't want to give them to my mum but her professor(when we moved to a private hospital) was all about them and she had them with every chemo round. It allowed her lymphocytes to recover enough for her to have the next round of chemo.
what a worry for you. This might seem like a complex situation to you but I am sure her doctors will have dealt with these issues before and confer with the haematologist and make the right decisions.
You will need to discuss Mums diet with the doctor or CSN. I wouldn’t plan on making any changes to the diet until then as some foods may be inadvisable, particularly those that are claimed to boost the platelet count. I don’t know but would certainly check.
Wishing you and Mum all the best. I’m sure a solution will be found 🤗
Filgrastim injections are used to raise white cell count, particularly neutrophils and lymphocytes, and are quite often given during chemotherapy if necessary; platelets are an entirely different component in the blood and will be unaffected by filgrastim, so it would be a pointless and unnecessary treatment in terms of low platelets. If your mother has a blood clot somewhere, that's a more immediate threat to life, so treatment with Clexane is essential; the hospital should carefully monitor the platelet count and it may be necessary to delay the chemotherapy for a while.
As for taking supplements such as papaya to try to increase platelet count, that may not be a wise move while your mother has an active blood clot - thinning the blood, including platelets, is necessary to treat the clot so it doesn't get bigger or move to a more dangerous place, such as the heart, which is why she's being given Clexane.
I drank two 8 oz of glasses of beet juice every day AND when really low on platelets I did wheat grass (awful stuff) every other. Platelets went up but who knows if that helped or if it was just my body recovering.
Content on HealthUnlocked does not replace the relationship between you and doctors or other healthcare professionals nor the advice you receive from them.
Never delay seeking advice or dialling emergency services because of something that you have read on HealthUnlocked.
Port is possibly infected...what happens next?
Have treatment now or what for clinical trial?
First post here and terrified, What happens next.
