Can someone explain white cell breakdown?

[patti]

Hi Neil,

Yep. Mom takes about 50 pills a day (at last count). All kinds of supplements to help with each cell line and the immune system as a whole. If mom decides next week to do the Vidaza I think she’ll do okay because she’s kept herself on a whole food diet with lots of supplements. I guess the fear part is one never knows until you try the chemo what will happen. That’s what has kept us (her) from trying it so far. Afraid to rock the boat but knowing if we don’t she will transform to AML.

Take good care, Neil. You are a terrific assest to this group.

Patti

[Sandy L]

Marla

That was a great explantation. I thank you as well.

Patti
How is you MIL doing?

[patti]

Hi Sandy,

Mom is doing okay. We were hoping giving her some blood might boost her marrow to kick out some platelets and that seems to have worked. She was veeerrrrryyy low in platelets last week. I think she’s going to have to consider getting a port even though she’ll do it kicking and screaming. They had to poke her four times to get a line in that wasn’t blocked by scar tissue. Does Mike have a port? If he does, what does he think of it?

We’re going to meet with a cancer naturopath (a new one) in the next week and then she’s going to decide on if she should do the vidaza or not. We feel like one thing she’d have going for her is all of the supplements she takes and her whole food diet. Hopefully that would keep her counts from plummeting too low. She and I both feel schizophrenic when we think about the Vidaza. “If we don’t do it, we’ll never know if it would have helped her. If we do it, it might kill her earlier then if we had just left well enough alone.” And a million other thoughts that she and I talk about it.

How’s Mike doing? Are his counts doing okay? How’s his energy level?

Take care.

Patti

[BonBon]

Uno Grasshopper, I finally understand a little more about WBC. Thanks Now I just need to know what ANC’s are. Sorry for my ignorance, thanks to you all, Bonnie

[patti]

Hi Bonnie,

Ah, ANC’s I understand! ANC stands for absolute neutrophil count. Neutrophils are the portion of the white cells that actually fight infection. Normally they like to see ANC’s 1500 – 3000 (I think 3000 is the high end). My MIL runs around 400 which is very low. Anything below 500 and the risk of infection is very high because a person doesn’t have enough neutrophils to fight off infection.

I see your husband has aplastic anemia. Maybe Marla (uno grasshopper) will post her website info for you. She healed using natural methods and is still doing well.

Best Wishes,

Patti

[sarah]

Patti my husbands recent ANC was 0.14. This is very low.

[sdrake]

Neil,

You mentioned that the ANC seems to be a vital component. I was wondering what your’s normally runs with your wbc in the 1.1-1.4 range?

[Neil]

My neuts run from .08 to 1.1 K/uL
Percentage between 69.5 and 75.6%

[uno grasshopper]

Hello BonBon:

Yes, as Patti wrote, ANC is the “absolute” neutrophil count. All the different white cells have their specific duties–i.e neutrophils destroy bacterial invasion, lymphocytes fight and control viral infections, eosinophils deal with allergens and parasitic infections, and so on. The reason that the neutrophils are so important is because those are the white cells that are usually present in the greatest abundance and which are commonly the first line of defense in the event of bacterial invasion. Our immune systems have a bunch of checks and balances and each type of white cell has its specialty in defending the body and keeping it free from infection. The lymphocytes commonly search and destroy viral infections, and sometimes if some bacteria escapes the neutrophils, the lymphocytes may try to pick up the slack. So when our white counts start to decline, particularly the ANC, then we have a smaller army to defend our bodies from pathogens.

Patti is right that the docs like to see the ANC between 1500-3000, however as long as you’re over 1000, you’re in pretty good shape. The normal range is a bit wider at 1500-8000. But you may notice that the “normal” range can vary from lab to lab. Another point of interest is that the CBC only reflects the cells that are currently circulating in the peripheral blood stream. Like the platelets, white cells also move into the tissues so that they aren’t included in the total CBC count. And if a person is taking Prednisone, then the Prednisone prevents and/or causes the white cells to not go into the tissues so that the white counts tend to look higher on a CBC. So that is one reason why some people who take steriods show a higher white count but still have a tendency to get infections–they have less white cells in their tissues.

Hope this helps, and good luck to you and your husband!

Marla

P.S. In case you’re interested, here’s my website http://www.geocities.com/marlakins

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