black

[vermontgirl]

Hi-
Last year I had lumpectomy for stage IIb tumor, AC chemo in the summer and radiation in the fall and am into my 6th month of tamoxifin. All checkups since the surgery have been great.  During the last 6 weeks, I have had 4 very large (about the size of half a dollar bill) black and blue spots appear on my legs.  Just as one starts to pale and disappear, the another appears on a different part of my leg.  I can think of no trauma that has occured which can account for these large black and blues!  Is there any possibility that they could be connected with the bc or the ensuing treatments or the tamoxifin???  I'm not panicky, just wondering if I should be.....Thanks in advance for your opinion!

[CCF-RN,MSN-rf]

Dear vermontgirl:  Tamoxifen can, in a very small number of patients, cause the platelets to drop slightly.  Low platelets can cause a person to bruise easily.  You might ask your physician if your platelets are low.  Either way, you should probably bring this to the attention of your doctor.

[vermontgirl]

Thanks very much for your advice!  I now have an appointment with the doc for early next week to check this out further. Thanks again....