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Breast Cancer (Expert Forum)
Unexplained Bruises
Questions posted in the Breast Cancer Forum are answered by medical professionals from The Cleveland Clinic. Topics include Breast Biopsy, Chemotherapy, Hormone Therapy, Lumps, Lumpectomy, Lymph node dissection, Lymphedema, Mammograms, Mastectomy, Radiation Therapy, Reconstruction, Self Breast Exam, and Surgery.
Unexplained Bruises
by Rosa, Aug 13, 2001 12:00AM
Hi, my name is Rose and I have posted questions here before. I am a bc stage 2b survivor x 1 yr. and Saturday while attending the Cleveland Browns' football game I developed these large bruises on the back of both of my calves. I did nothing physical to cause this and they appeared so instantaneously. I don't want to go to the onc. for every thing that comes up; just saw him in July twice.
I posted to another message board and became frightened when someone mentioned the word leukemia. I had my cbc with diff. drawn today and platelets were 135,000 just slightly low and wbc's were 4.1. I had finished chemo in Feb. and radiation in May. Can you please shed some light on what might be some other reasons for these bruises. I had 2 on my hip which faded and went away in a couple of days. I hope that is the case with the ones on the back of my legs. Thank you.
I posted to another message board and became frightened when someone mentioned the word leukemia. I had my cbc with diff. drawn today and platelets were 135,000 just slightly low and wbc's were 4.1. I had finished chemo in Feb. and radiation in May. Can you please shed some light on what might be some other reasons for these bruises. I had 2 on my hip which faded and went away in a couple of days. I hope that is the case with the ones on the back of my legs. Thank you.
Doctor's Answer
by CCF-RN,MSN-JS, Aug 14, 2001 12:00AM
Dear rosa, Your wbc was within normal range, and the platelet count really isn’t low enough that you would blame it for spontaneous bruising. Perhaps the pressure of where the seat caught your legs combined with the slightly low platelet count was enough to cause some bruising. Are you currently taking any aspirin, NSAID’s such as ibuprophen, or are you on steroids? These may leave you more susceptible to easy bruising.
Well, I'm going to the Indians' game tonight and the Browns' game on Saturday - lol. I'll pay special attention to how I sit and try not to get too nervous or excited.
Rose