2 ?'s - dextran - liver enzymes

[Pam P]

I have just finished a year of navelbine/herceptin & will now continue with herceptin/zometa only. (more on that on my post from last week "glass half full or empty".

My questions are:

1) My hemoglobin has been low - ranging from 8.3 - 9.8 while on navelbine. I have been getting aranesp every 2 weeks. Now my onc. wants me to get a one time infusion of dextran to boost my iron. I'm not familiar with this. This is not the same as a blood transfusion, right? My feeling is that now that I'm not on the navelbine my counts will improve. Has anyone else had this dextran?

2) For the last 6 months my liver enzymes --- the ALT (I think) have been bouncing around, highest 173, last time 150, now & then in normal range. I'm worried about liver mets. As far as I know I'm just dealing with bone mets. My scans have only shown bone mets. What do you make of these higher liver numbers?

Thanks. Pam

[Esther]

Pam, I have liver mets, so my knowledge of liver enzymes comes from that perspective.

The liver is very responsive to whatever foods you are eating in your diet. Some foods are harder to process by your liver, and will result in higher liver enzyme levels.

Alcohol, certain meat products, etc can cause the levels to go up. If you're concerned about your liver, ask your primary care dr for nutritional information on a diet that is liver friendly.

If your enzymes have bounced around, then come back to normal levels, it probably isn't mets, but could just be something for you to keep your eye on.

[StephN]

I also had a severe case of liver mets and my liver panel was never very far out of normal range the whole time I was fighting out the tumors.

Milk thistle capsules are very good as well as Detox/cleansing type teas, which I used religiously (and still do). I stay away from sweets and too much processed food that is high in a lot of filler and junk.
Eat whole grains and lots of fresh veggies and fruits, organic whenever possible.

Your liver should be working well, and it has had to deal with a chemo for quite a while.

For extra iron I ate things like lentils and other high iron foods, plus a good supplement. So can't tell you about this one-time infusion.

[Lisa]

I'm also not familiar with this injection. Why not a wait and see?

As far as liver mets, Steph explained it well. I just always like to tell everyone that a pain under your right shoulderblade in the middle of your back can be a sign of cancer in the liver. I had it for months before my liver mets diagnosis, and never knew what it was.

Love and light,

Lisa