Two week labs

[Aquisi]

Already my Dr. wants to reduce my peginterferon by half after seeing my labs, very disappointing.
Baseline    G2 S4 cirrhosis, start the vic on 2/3/12                          
Hemoglobin= 14.6         Two weeks 10.2
Neutrophils (ANC)=1.6  Two weeks 0.4
WBC=3.9                        Two weeks1.7
RBC=4.61                       Two weeks 3.34
ALT=143                          Two weeks 107
AST=157                         Two weeks  129
                                          Platelets        44
Trying to get approved for neupogen and hoping for the best, no question just a downer comment.

[Aquisi]

Hi Karen, I looked at your profile and you've been threw the mill, glad your seeing the other side of things. On my Labcorp results I have two Neutrophil counts, one says just "Neutrophils" and the other "Neutrophils (Absolute)", that's the one that is the ANC. Thanks for your reply.

Regards
Charlie

[crossroadsec]

Your numbers are low..I too hope your feeling ok. You may have said, but I'm curious if your seeing a hematologist. As Will said, they will try n keep you in the game.
I went back n looked at my baseline n labs. Before tx PLT 69
  ".            WBC 4
  ".            Hgb  14
3 weeks in PLT 44
   ".             WBC 2
    "              Hgb 11
Low point at 10 or so weeks
PLT 20's. WBC 2. Hgb 5
I ended up w a reduction soon after til I could get rescue. That to say: it can be a little hellish. I was a zombie and sat on the forum reading advice A LOT! We kept tweaking n adding n I've made it 29 weeks. I truly hope you can do the same. It's a roller coaster, and so worth it.
When you've had a lot of liver damage, it can be harder. Take care of you.
I can't comment on neupogen - it never came up.  I use procrit n Promacta.
We're with u all the way.
Frijole- how do u calculate ANC? Mine doesn't show that. U n Will are great to be a teacher/ coach to us!  Xo Karen ;)

[willbb]

Hi Charlie.Sorry you seem to be getting slammed pretty hard  fairly quick from the meds. .
I would imagine it is the platts the doctor is more concerned about right now than the ANC. There is much  debate in the medical community as to whether low ANC  causes one to have more susceptiblity to infection.however Neup is used by many and at .4 probably a good safeguard.
With the platts starting low anyway and dropping so fast  it sounds Iike his concern is if they drop as much again in the next couple of weeks then you are getting into dangerous territory ( in the 20"s) and heading that off by reducing INF. is the proper strategy.

Certainly not ideal so soon ,however it might keep you in the game...

Good luck  with this...
Will

[Aquisi]

Thanks frijole, you are a big help and asset to this forum. I'll be talking to my NP tomorrow and see what she has to say, I really don't want to reduce the P/R, and hope I can get approved for the Neup.

Charlie

[Aquisi]

Haven't been feeling to bad, just a bit more memory lag, at the end of the day I'm more tired then usual but not to bad. My platelets before baseline in Sept. 2011 where at 64. I'm hoping we can make adjustments in order to keep going with the tx. Question, do people here do Procrit and Neupogen together while on tx?

[fretboard]

Terrible news but I guess that way the doctor figures you will be able to start the Vic and to leave you on the full dose of interferon may be too much.  I mean your platelets are really low so the doctor is approaching this very delicate situation with caution.  At least your Hemoglobin is doing well.  Where were your platelets at baseline?  When your platelets are low and they drop, there is much to be concerned about.  good luck with the rest of your journey!

[1oftheclub222]

That's quite a drop in a short period of time...have you been feeling really run down?  Did you suspect that something was going on by how you felt? Hopefull your doctor will be able to adjust things and do rescue drugs so you can continue treatment...sending out positive thoughts your way...