Blood tests..hoping good

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I’m just curious, as my dad had his last lot of chemo 3 weeks ago, was his 3rd. 4th next week. I asked the nurse about his blood results while she was getting him sorted for chemo, although iron is a little over it’s satisfactory. As is everything else. he’s on iv etoposide and carbo for SCLC.

I'm curious to know if it’s a good and positive thing that things are working if his bloods are all good and within the satisfactory range?

We do have his CT results Wednesday, but I think I’m just preparing myself for what’s to come.

Tia

Sherrye - Macmillan 22 days ago

Hi Rnfnrslash

Thanks for getting in touch and welcome to our online community. My name is Sherrye and I’m one of the Cancer Information Nurse Specialists on the Macmillan Support Line.

I can see you’ve joined one of our forums, I do hope you’re finding it a supportive and informative place.

I’m sorry to hear that your dad is having chemotherapy for small cell lung cancer but very glad to hear his blood counts are doing well.

It’s natural to feel worried at a time like this, especially with a scan coming up.

When having chemotherapy we do expect the persons counts to drops at certain points during the cycle, but then to recover ready for the next cycle to start. This a completely normal part of having chemotherapy treatment.

Good blood results during chemotherapy generally do not mean that treatment isn’t working but rather the person's body is able to tolerate the treatment and maintain a healthy balance of blood cells.

Dad’s blood counts are likely dropping during the cycle but unless an extra blood test is done at that point you won’t see the lower counts.

The main reasons to perform an extra blood test during a cycle is if the individual is:

>Feeling unwell, fever, sweating, muscle aches or other signs of infection

>Having temperatures, high or low

>Experiencing bruising or bleeding

>Extreme fatigue, dizziness or breathlessness

If dad is not experiencing any of this than that is a real positive that he’s tolerating his treatment well.

As to whether the treatment is working, that will be reported in the CT scan results dad will be getting this Wednesday. It’s very understandable to worry about this, what might be helpful is to encourage dad to write down any questions he can think of around the results and to take someone with him for this appointment for support and to also take in the information being shared.

I do hope he gets positive results.

If you or anyone else in the family feel it would help to talk to us on the Macmillan Support Line please don’t hesitate to call we are always happy to talk.

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Blood tests..hoping good