# I'm scared I have leukemia!



## Inthedark (Feb 14, 2013)

I will just cut to the chase,I really think I might have leukemia. When I went to urgent care about my abdominal pain that I was having, they did a CBC on me. Here were the results:
WBC Count - 7.2 (4.0-10.5)
RBC Count - 4.65 (4.60-6.20)
Hemoglobin - 14.0 (14.0-18.0)
Hematocrit - 42.0 (40.0-54.0)
MCV - 90.3 (80.0-100.0)
MCH - 30.1 (27.0-32.0)
MCHC - 33.3 (32.0-36.0)
RDW - 12.2 (11.5-16.0)
Platelet Count - 230 (150-450)
MPV - 10.6* (7.4-10.4)
Neutrophil - 62.2 (43.0-71.0)
Lymphocyte - 25.7 (25.0-33.0)
Monocyte - 9.8* (5.0-9.0)
Eosinophil - 1.9 (0.0-5.0)
Basophil - 0.4 (0.0-2.0)
Absolute Neutrophil Count - 4478 (1700-7500)
Absolute Lymphocyte Count - 1850 (1000-3500)
Absolute Monocyte Count - 706 (200-900)
Absolute Eosinophil Count - 137 (0-500)
Absolute Basophil Count - 29 (<240)
Sorry this is long, but I'm scared about this because of the increased monocyte and increased MPV. Also my hemoglobin level is on the lower side. That blood test was taken 2 weeks ago. Also I noticed I have 2 small red dots on my chest under my skin. They have been there for as long as I can remember. I haven't noticed any frequent bruising at all, but I'm still scared. I have noticed though that I have had a cough for the last 1 to 2 weeks that comes and goes at times. I noticed it's kind of hoarse lately. I was told that you are prone to infections when you have leukemia. I'm just scared that the numbers have changed since then. I have had lower and mid back pain too. Also the other day at work I looked at my right forearm and noticed a small yellowish spot/blemish. That has since gone away. But I'm really scared that this is leukemia. Does it really sound like nothing is wrong with me? And what would my results have been like if I had leukemia? I've also had the abdominal pain. My weight has since returned to normal along with my appetite. But I have almost felt confused as well and been tired on and off since this whole thing started, which is why I'm afraid I'm anemic. Lastly, when the cough thing started, I would cough up really thick mucus.
I'm a 19 year old male...I know men are more prone to diseases.
EDIT: I should also mention I thought I saw 3 little red dots under my skin. When I would scrape them they would go away for a split second and then they returned. One of them I've had for as long as I can remember, but the other 2 are extremely microscopic. I also had a pimple on my chest that I popped and I just popped it again and it was all blood and pus that came out. I keep checking my legs for bruises, but I don't see any - yet. Please help me. The doctor said "all your blood tests look fine." I'm just really scared, every single person I talk to says that as well, but I'm still scared.


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## Wirt (Jan 16, 2009)

get a second opinion or a third. you can speculate and worry till youre blue in the face and itll do you no good


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## millenniumman75 (Feb 4, 2005)

^I would agree. Don't panic until you find out more information.


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## lonelyjew (Jan 20, 2010)

LOL relax, your CBC doesn't have anything in it that points to leukemia. The CBC ranges are "normal" for a certain percentage of the population, so there are always going to be healthy people who have some things outside normal values, some of the time. You said you have a sore throat, which is usually from a viral infection, which could cause monocytosis (increased monocytes) for instance, or it could be any number of very many other things. Moreover, the hallmark of leukemia is immature cells in the blood (mature white blood cells don't divide), which are pretty much always a bad sign of some disease or another, but the CBC would have picked up that red flag, which means you don't have them floating around. 

Anyways, if anything, at least wait until your sore throat is gone before you go get anymore blood tests, but I would dare say that even that isn't necessary, and that unless you start to get physical symptoms, or enlarged lymph nodes for no obvious reason, that you're fine. 

Just out of curiosity, are you often worried that there is something wrong with you?


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## millenniumman75 (Feb 4, 2005)

Hypochondriasis VACUUMS! :rain

Heh - I found something out with that post. :con


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## lonelyjew (Jan 20, 2010)

millenniumman75 said:


> Hypochondriasis VACUUMS! :rain
> 
> Heh - I found something out with that post. :con


, It's easy to fall into worrying. One of my salivary glands is enlarged a bit, and is non painful, and it's been like this for a while now. When I went to the doctor a while back, he basically laughed at me when I expressed my worry about it possibly being cancerous (not in a mocking way, more like: lol @ medical students who freak out over everything). Odds are it isn't cancerous, because tumors in that particular gland are pretty rare, but it's hard not to worry about it because when that gland does get a tumor, it's almost always a very nasty one that's metastatic. While I am not freaking out, it is easy to start thinking "well, what if it is a tumor?" which leads into "well they're usually pretty bad there, so even if I don't die, they maybe would have to remove a lot of tissue FROM MY HEAD, which would leave me either horribly disfigured, or if I'm lucky, with half of my tongue and lower face being numb for the rest of my life."

Again, not freaking out, but either way, I'm going to get an ENT referral from him, and then get the damn thing biopsied in the not so distant future.


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## diamondheart89 (Mar 21, 2011)

That's not a significant enough deviation to be abnormal. Your results look fine.


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## komorikun (Jan 11, 2009)

We found out my mom had leukemia when she fainted at her workplace cafeteria.


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## lonelyjew (Jan 20, 2010)

komorikun said:


> We found out my mom had leukemia when she fainted at her workplace cafeteria.


I'm sorry to hear that. I hope she's doing well, and that there was/is a good prognosis for her. Acute leukemia, as far as cancers go, at least from what we've learned, tends to be one of the more treatable cancers usually; it's kind of odd to think about that the aggressive forms of it tend to be the easiest to treat...


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## komorikun (Jan 11, 2009)

lonelyjew said:


> I'm sorry to hear that. I hope she's doing well, and that there was/is a good prognosis for her. Acute leukemia, as far as cancers go, at least from what we've learned, tends to be one of the more treatable cancers usually; it's kind of odd to think about that the aggressive forms of it tend to be the easiest to treat...


That happened over 24 years ago. She underwent a bone marrow transplant and died 5 years later of something sort of related to the leukemia (leukoencephalopathy). For 5 years she was disabled both mentally and physically. The doctors could never figure out why she had some sort of brain damage in the hospital. She could still walk and talk but she wasn't the same person and had trouble operating the remote control of the TV and needed help with bathing (partially due to weakness). Oddly enough she could still play the piano. My dad theorizes that her high blood pressure (medicated) might have gone through the roof. She had ALL, the type that is common in children. Was 45 when diagnosed.

I also had a friend who got AML. She was 16 at the time and it was so aggressive they couldn't even get her into remission.


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## diamondheart89 (Mar 21, 2011)

komorikun said:


> That happened over 24 years ago. She underwent a bone marrow transplant and died 5 years later of something sort of related to the leukemia (leukoencephalopathy). For 5 years she was disabled both mentally and physically. The doctors could never figure out why she had some sort of brain damage in the hospital. She could still walk and talk but she wasn't the same person and had trouble operating the remote control of the TV and needed help with bathing (partially due to weakness). Oddly enough she could still play the piano. My dad theorizes that her high blood pressure (medicated) might have gone through the roof. She had ALL, the type that is common in children. Was 45 when diagnosed.
> 
> I also had a friend who got AML. She was 16 at the time and it was so aggressive they couldn't even get her into remission.


Sorry you had to go through that komo.


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## lonelyjew (Jan 20, 2010)

Jeez, real sorry to hear that. I've brought it up with my classmates how I felt the "experience" of diseases wasn't expressed well enough when we learn about them, and this sort of speaks to it. We learn what goes wrong, who it goes wrong in, what it looks like, how to treat it, and how often said treatments are successful, which are presented in cold statistical terms. Missing in that is how the patient is really affected, which I guess we'll learn for ourselves in the hospital, but imo is important. Your mom might statistically fit in the "survived 5 years category," but does that describe the totality of the impact the disease had on her? We do learn that non autologous bone marrow transplants are nasty, and we do learn just how terribly they can damage the person, but again, it doesn't really speak to the experience of it. 

I guess I'm thinking this now because I remember when seeing the statistical survival rates of acute leukemia and thinking "wow, the worst type has a 50% chance of survival over 5 years, that's great!" without really considering that survival only means not dead.


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## komorikun (Jan 11, 2009)

I think kids make it through bone marrow transplants not quite as scathed as adults. The treatment of cancer is still rather...brutal/gruesome. 

It's weird that the survival rate has not gone up in nearly 25 years. We were told that if she had just a series of chemotherapy treatments (over 2 years I think?) her chance of survival would be 25% but with a bone marrow transplant (and all the nasty radiation that comes with it) her chances would be 50%. So naturally she chose the bone marrow transplant. 

She got the bone marrow from her sister by the way.


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## diamondheart89 (Mar 21, 2011)

lonelyjew said:


> Jeez, real sorry to hear that. I've brought it up with my classmates how I felt the "experience" of diseases wasn't expressed well enough when we learn about them, and this sort of speaks to it. We learn what goes wrong, who it goes wrong in, what it looks like, how to treat it, and how often said treatments are successful, which are presented in cold statistical terms. Missing in that is how the patient is really affected, which I guess we'll learn for ourselves in the hospital, but imo is important. Your mom might statistically fit in the "survived 5 years category," but does that describe the totality of the impact the disease had on her? We do learn that non autologous bone marrow transplants are nasty, and we do learn just how terribly they can damage the person, but again, it doesn't really speak to the experience of it.
> 
> I guess I'm thinking this now because I remember when seeing the statistical survival rates of acute leukemia and thinking "wow, the worst type has a 50% chance of survival over 5 years, that's great!" without really considering that survival only means not dead.


A tiny rant here about that, I hope you don't mind. The number one problem I see in the hospital I work in, a level 1 trauma center and a relatively large teaching facility, where we get tons of residents, med students, and interns passing through - is that a significant percentage of them forget that there's a person at the other end of their orders. The ones who remember that are the best docs. Yes, you are there to "cure" the patient, but sometimes what matters more to them is not that you push for another surgery but that you figure out what is important to them and let them face the end of their life peacefully. I know the majority of them have the best intentions but it's almost like they are obsessed with the disease and don't even consider the person who has it. Or they see death as a personal failure of themselves as doctors. Anyway, I'm glad you're not one of them.


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## Cletis (Oct 10, 2011)

OP: You're fine.


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## frank81 (Dec 1, 2011)

Inthedark said:


> I will just cut to the chase,I really think I might have leukemia. When I went to urgent care about my abdominal pain that I was having, they did a CBC on me. Here were the results:
> WBC Count - 7.2 (4.0-10.5)
> RBC Count - 4.65 (4.60-6.20)
> Hemoglobin - 14.0 (14.0-18.0)
> ...


Don't think too much before you actually hear the results from the doctor. Nearly 4 months ago, I had very same symptoms like leukemia too; chest pain, some redness that appears that won't go away for hours when you scratch your skin, feeling extremely tired and weak, coughing, bone and muscle pains, etc. I went for hospital checkup & it was actually Influenza A (aka H1N1). I was hospitalized for 2 days & when I went out of the hospital for rehabilitation, I called my brother to prepare a room especially for me as I still had to wear the mask & continue taking the pills for another few days. My family was so shocked that I didn't inform them that I was hospitalized.


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## tom1980 (Apr 1, 2013)

Inthedark said:


> I will just cut to the chase,I really think I might have leukemia. When I went to urgent care about my abdominal pain that I was having, they did a CBC on me. Here were the results:
> WBC Count - 7.2 (4.0-10.5)
> RBC Count - 4.65 (4.60-6.20)
> Hemoglobin - 14.0 (14.0-18.0)
> ...


Don't worry about it. These parameters are only some of you don't look normal. People's health has been changed, this report does not indicate anything. Leukemia is not terrible, it can be cured. Now you insist to take exercise body, keep a good living habits. You have a month to check must be okay. A necessary condition for the optimistic state of mind is overcome difficulties.


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