14 weeks After treatment, platelets and hemoglobin raising but neutrophils coming dow

[paulaespada]

14 weeks after treatment my husband's blood tests have been showing improvement and bone marrow activity/production.
He has no blood or platelets transfusion for 6 weeks.
Two weeks ago his blood tests were:

Platelets: 110
Hb - 9.6
Neutrophils - 1.6

We were told we could go home (we moved to a far away city from home to his treatment). Then this week blood tests revealed:

Platelets - 118
Hb - 11.5
Neutrophils - 0.5

With this doctors decided we stay and not give my husband that shot to help develop white blood cells. They want to wait until next week and then see what happens.
They were not hurried what this neutrophils decrease but we are.

We wonder if there is something that could be the cause of it (the night before my husband vomited maybe because he ate peanuts - this is ridiculous but it's true; can be because of more activity than he did?). Our heads are full of questions that doctor didn't ask. Just said "Don't know. Maybe it's because you're not stable as we though" - which is not comfortable to hear or know.

Also, and this is my concern only because I don't tell it to my husband - is this frequent? or can it be a signal that everything will come down again?

I'm really concerned.
As you may know, I feel I'm dealing with something quite instable that can come backward anytime.

In advance I thank you for your answers that most certainly will help, as always.

[Ruth Cuadra]

Hi, Paula.

It's good to see that Jorge's hemogloblin and platelet counts are going up. A sudden drop in any counts, like he has just had with his white count, is very unnerving, but it is not that unusual. I don't think that eating peanuts would cause a drop like this--if they were making him sick, his white count should have gone up a bit as his body tried to fight back. More likely, it is just a temporary fluctuation like we all have. It's a good idea to remain cautious while his counts are still low, so staying close to the doctors for a while longer seems reasonable to me.

Regards,
Ruth

[Birgitta-A]

Hi Paula,
Wonderful that your husband has so good HGB and thrombocytes! When his neutrophils are so low he should be very careful. I dare not eat nuts only food that is cooked or fruit that I pile myself. Here is info about low neutrophils: http://tinyurl.com/3zf75h
Kind regards
Birgitta-A
MDS. Neutropenic fever Aug 2007. Since then Neupogen 2 injections/week. I try to avoid infections and have not had any since Aug 2007.