Brain MRI questions? scared!

Alice · 03-21-2009, 01:18 AM

Hi,
I have been out of the loop for awhile. I am glad to see some of the names I remember. I am going for a brain and spine MRI in a couple of days. I had a brain MRI last year and it was fine. I am anticipating this one will be fine also. I do have a question regarding my bloodwork though. My WBC's have never come up to normal after treatment. The best they were was 3.7 about 2 years ago and now they are at 3.1. It seems to range from 1.7 to 2.9 most of the time. My onc says that we need to just keep an eye on it to make sure that I don't have a syndrome going on. Has anyone had this type of problem? I am just worried about getting a secondary cancer like Leukemia or something.
Alice

ElaineM · 03-21-2009, 01:33 PM

Have you been eating enough fruits and vegetables? Do you eat mushrooms? Anything that is supposed to be good for the immune system usually helps the white blood count. Also good ole Echinecea might help a little.
I never took shots for my blood counts the whole time I had chemo, because I ate alot of those things and took supplements that help the blood counts.
I think if you have diseases of the blood or bone marrow your blood counts would be too high, but I am not sure about that, so check with your doctor.

Debbie L. · 03-21-2009, 08:37 PM

Alice, those are the ranges for my WBC's too, on the fairly rare occasions that I've had blood drawn since chemo in 2001. However I have not been sick any more than anyone else and perhaps less. When I do catch something, I haven't had it any worse than anyone else. So I haven't worried about those numbers.

Leukemia heralds itself with too high a count, I believe.

Debbie Laxague

Alice · 03-22-2009, 12:46 AM

Thank you for your replies. In the case of Leukemia you are right that the WBC's are high. I talked to the onco nurse and she said that there have been a few cases that the WBC have stayed in that range and the patients have done well. They just want to keep an eye on it in case it changes. I am scheduled for an MRI tomorrow and I think it will be fine. Oh, and by the way, I am the closest thing to a vegetarian you can get without acctually being one, so I have a much more than average intake of the fruits and veggies.
Alice

Believe51 · 03-23-2009, 09:10 AM

Alice, embracing you as you take those tests and wait for the replies. Sending you a prayer and thinking positive for you. Please keep us updated about what you find out.>>Believe51

Shobha · 03-23-2009, 09:48 AM

Alice,

Praying that your MRIs will come back clean! God bless you.

love,
shobha

Alice · 03-25-2009, 11:54 AM

Thank you all for your support. I just got the preliminary results today. No evidence of mets!!! Needless to say I am thrilled! I do have some degenerative problems in the neck and 2 small foci in the white matter which has not changed since the last MRI. They say these spots are indicative of early detection of chronic white matter disease and not cancer. Heck I can deal with all this other garbage no sweat!
All of you that have had not so good news are in my prayers.
Thanks, Alice

schoolteacher · 03-25-2009, 12:31 PM

Alice,

Glad to hear your good news.

Amelia