Bruising with CLL

Posted by mabfp3 @mabfp3, Oct 10, 2022

Hello Everyone,
About a month ago, I posted a few questions for my husband concerning his recent diagnosis of CLL. He is 72 years old. He had his first visit with a specialist at Mass General Hospital in Boston in late August and was told that he was at “stage zero”, which was wonderful news! However, over the last week, he has developed a large circular bruise on the inside of his upper arm. He didn’t bump into anything that he knows of and it seems to be in a strange place for an injury like that to occur. Is bruising also a part of this CLL diagnosis, even if you are told that you are at stage zero? He is due to go back to MGH in mid-November for his second set of blood tests, just to check his numbers. If anyone can shed any light on this for us, we would both be most grateful.

Interested in more discussions like this? Go to the Blood Cancers & Disorders Support Group.

Lori, Volunteer Mentor | @loribmt | Oct 10, 2022

Hi @mabfp3 Bruising can be fairly common and random with any form of leukemia. If your husband starts seeing more frequent bruising then he might want to call for an earlier blood test.

What was his most recent platelet count?

mabfp3 | @mabfp3 | Oct 11, 2022

In reply to @loribmt "Hi @mabfp3 Bruising can be fairly common and random with any form of leukemia. If your..." + (show)

Hi Lori, My husband just looked up his platelet count on Aug 25th (his first visit to the specialist at MGH Boston) and it was 125. I guess that this is a little low. Can someone with CLL receive platelets from a spouse? If so, I would definitely donate for my husband. Thanks so much for any insight that you can provide. MaryAnn from Boston

Lori, Volunteer Mentor | @loribmt | Oct 11, 2022

In reply to @mabfp3 "Hi Lori, My husband just looked up his platelet count on Aug 25th (his first visit..." + (show)

Hi, MaryAnn! You’re so sweet for wanting to donate for your husband. From my understanding, platelets aren’t required to be type specific like red blood cells. So, theoretically, you could be a donor for your husband.
There is such a thing as Directed Donors, where you can specify the recipient. You’d have to contact a local blood center to see if you’re eligible to donate for your husband. There is criteria that has to be met before a person can donate blood…it applies to Directed Donors as well.

After the blood is collected it is separated into different blood products so your husband might use your platelets but the other components may be put into general distribution for other’s in need.

Or, you could simply donate blood at a local center. They’re always in need. And then when your husband requires platelets he’ll receive someone else’s but your donation would help several other people.

A platelet count of 125 is a little low, so that could explain your husband’s bruising. A ‘normal’ range for men is 135,000 and 317,000 platelets per microliter of blood. While his August check was just slightly below the minimum for the norm, platelets have a short life span 7-10 days, so it is possible that his level is lower than his dated test.

Did his hematologist mention a possible platelet transfusion in the future?

mabfp3 | @mabfp3 | Oct 11, 2022

Hi Lori, Thanks so much for your response. I just showed it to my husband. The hematologist didn’t mention any platelet transfusion in the future, but we will be going back in mid November for a second blood work up. I will definitely bring up the platelet number when we go. I will keep you posted. Thanks for your input! This is all new to us, so any information that we can gather will be immensely helpful to us.

Please sign in or register to post a reply.