We don't have any advice on platelets - Holly's wbc dropped several times, but they never mentioned platelet counts that I remember.  We'll keep Charlie in our hearts and prayers. We're all here for you.

Sending hugs,

Holly, Zuzu and Susan

"Ah, crap" was the first thing that popped into my mind when I read this.  Hopefully the platelet count rebounds and all will be fine.  Your Vet would know more than I, of course, but stopping chemo is what I would do, if they feel this was caused by chemo and nothing else, just my opinion.  They will for sure wait until the levels are okay.  Talk with your Vet and follow your heart.

We dealt with low (basically no) platelets.  Harley was on a different chemo (CCNU/Lomustine), and we don't know if his platelet drop was caused by chemo (we opted not to do a bone marrow biopsy to find out).  Harley's platelet level did not drop to dangerously low levels until about 2 months after his last treatment, so our situation is/was a little different.

From what I was told, 60,000 is not dangerously, dangerously low.  You should not have spontaneous bleeding at that count (I believe we were told below 20,000 was when spontaneous bleeding was very likely), but you still need to be careful about bumps, cuts, etc … We were told to watch for nosebleeds, red spots in the whites of the eyes, bleeding gums, urine that appeared bloody, and stool that appeared to have blood in it.  (Again, I'm not a Vet, hopefully Pam will pop in and clarify if I am wrong … it seems numbers tend to be all over the place when you read online, our Vet has 200,000 as the low end of normal, btw.)

Again, we dealt with levels that machines could not read, and visual tests would estimate 4000 or even lower counts.  We never experienced any signs of bleeding.  I'm sure I annoyed the heck out of Harley constantly pulling on his eye lids to look at his eyes and looking in his mouth for bleeding signs.

On the Livestrong website, they had different food suggestions for people going through chemotherapy and dealing with low platelet levels.  Kale and brown rice were two things I added to Harley's food.  

http://www.live.....platelets/

http://www.live.....platelets/

There are certain mushrooms that can lower platelet levels in humans, just so you know if you are adding mushroom supplements to Charlie's diet now.

http://www.bloo.....telets.php

Also, an infrequent human side effect of Gabapentin is lowered platelet levels.  My understanding is Gabapentin is a drug that has not been used in animals for very long, and lowered platelet count is not listed for animals, but it is listed for humans, so we chose to not use it on Harley after his platelet levels dropped (we did use it at the very, very end, as we were not concerned with platelets at that time and just wanted to make sure he was comfortable).

Did you Vet check for tick diseases?  Or xray/ultrasound the spleen?  Or do they feel this is just a side effect of chemo and nothing else?  Sorry, I am rambling.

I pray this is just a bump in Charlie's road and the counts rebound quickly!  If you have any questions, feel free to PM me, I can tell you more about our experience or answer any questions, if you want.  I spent hours upon hours upon hours reading about platelets.  Again, I'm not a Vet, but I can certainly share with you what I learned.

Praying for Charlie!

Viking Queen said:

I just clicked on the first link and "The Platelet Disorder Support Association lists whole grains among its most important foods for individuals with low platelet counts."

 

Yeah, the whole grain thing killed me, too.  I felt like a bad Mommy when I read it and beat myself up over it.  You just have to remind yourself that everything you have done was done out of love.  I was so mad at myself for feeding grains to Harley when I found out he had cancer, then when I found out he had low platelets, I was mad I wasn't feeding him grains!  Harley was basically on the Atkins Diet, and the Atkins Diet is not recommended for people with low platelets.  Argh!  It never, ever ends!  There is no one right answer.

Whatever you have done was done out of love (I still have to tell myself this).

Hoppy 4week Ampuversary, Charlie!

You'll be in my prayers tonight.  Hope you get good news & all your questions answered from your Vet tomorrow!

We missed you, but we're counting you anyway Charlie!  You're still getting added to my Tripawds donation pledge tally.  Now boot those  platelets of yours back up!!!

By the way, you and anyone else can feel free to propose a tripawd pawty date in the Madison at anytime that you might like to come and we'll do everything possible to show up, and when possible, we'll advertise as much as we can too (for all the good that does  - haha).  And now that Gerry has made vast progress on his car riding (which hopefully won't be destroyed by our vacation journey all the way to VA) we are totally up for doing our best to travel to pawties elsewhere in the midwest as well.  Though we will be out of town on vacation starting next week for a bit - rhoooohooooooo!!!!!!!!

Now Charlie, you've got an important job ahead - getting good test results next time!  Eye on the prize.  Both for your mommy Tammy and for Spirit Harley's mom Gwen.  They both could use a break with some pawesome hoppy news, ok?  You can do it, pup!  Platelets, platelets, platelets!!!