Leukemia

A white blood cell count (WBC, or WBC Count) is used to determine the stage and/or type of cancer (usually Leukemia) that is being dealt with in a patient.

My friend's son has Acute Myeloid Leukemia and has had a blood cell count of OVER 200,000 on more than one occasion, 150,000 count just a few months back.

The normal range is about 4-10,000. Over that might mean a bacterial infection, it does not mean that you have cancer cells in your body.

If a doctor has ordered another WBC after you have already been diagnosed with Leukemia, and/or after a Chemotherapy treatment.. then he is checking to see if the chemicals had any effect on the cancer cells. If not, then more chemotherapy and/or bone marrow transplant will be done. Experimental drugs are a possibility, as are harsh combinations of chemicals.

The White Cell count is a determination of the ability of the immune system to fight infection. People with very low white counts are susceptable to illness mush easier than persons with normal counts. Very high counts can indiocate an ongoing infection in the body or a leukemic condition. Most leukemia patients have a decrease in white counts. The damaged stem cells that cause the Leukemia do not produce the correct anamounts of these important cells.

Fatigue as in mononucleosis is cause by too many white cells but Mono is gernerally benign and goes away after rest. It is cause by the Epstein-Barr virus and in most cases, the EB virus goes away in a few years of the inset of Mono.