Radiation Treatment and low blood white cell count

[Lori1129]

My mom, age 73, is getting ready to start radiation treatments following breast cancer lumpectomy surgery.  She went through this same surgery and radiation treatments about 15 years ago.  Since her radiation treatment 15 years ago, she has experienced bouts of severe fatigue and her white cell count has been extremely low, approximately 1100-2500.  The dr believes all the cancer cells were removed and lab reports indicate that her lymph nodes are clear.  

With this in mind, do you think is it wise to take the radiation treatments again?  I'm concerned that this round of radiation treatments will further deplete her white cell count and can cause other serious issues with her health.  Your thoughts?  

[eduj]

My 34 yr old daughter had a large oligodendron removed from her head in June. She had radiation, and was due to start chemo this week. However, the white cell count is too low. I looked it up, it seems radiation does not cause low white cell count. What does cause it?

[Lori1129]

Thank you very much for your candid opinion.

[Londres70]

Keep in mind this is your mother's decision.  

[Londres70]

I am not telling you all to not do the radiation, but I would definitely ask more questions before deciding.  If you get a ton of  "shrugs"  from the doctor I would consider that to be a red flag.  I would ask the physician how are her other counts too, i.e. cbc labs in particular.  The wbc is a bit worrisome.  

[Lori1129]

I haven't seen her blood work report to know if her neutrophils are ok.  Do you recommend asking her dr?  The Dr. shrugs it off and doesn't seem to have the same concern as my mom and I do.  I saw a study of 100 women that had breast cancer with lumpectomy surgery with no further radiation treatments.  58 of the women had no further recurrence of cancer, 20 had a recurrence of cancer and 22 died of causes other than cancer.  This tells me that her odds at 80% are better than going through more radiation that will leave her more susceptible to other health issues that may be worse.  

[Londres70]

Radiation with that wbc count?  I am not so sure that is a great idea? Are her other counts ok, i.e neutrophils?