Terry Anders

Caring.com Expert

About

Terry Anders is a registered nurse and clinical educator at the Zangmeister Cancer Center in Columbus, Ohio.

Recently Published on Caring.com

  1. Monday February 02, 2009

    1. How can we prevent bruising due to low platelets?

      Answer - Unfortunately, there's really nothing you can do to prevent your mother from bruising easily. This is a normal side effect of having a low platelet count, which means blood doesn't clot as easily. Cancer patients with low platelets get severe bruises, and sometimes they don't even know how they got them...

  2. Tuesday November 13, 2007

    1. How can I prevent frequent nose bleeds brought on by low blood platelets?

      Answer - Having a low platelet count leaves your mother vulnerable to nosebleeds because it takes her blood longer to clot. And once she has one, they tend to recur. So you want to try to prevent nosebleeds from starting in the first place, or at least break the cycle.

  3. Monday November 12, 2007

    1. Can low hemoglobin cause fatigue?

      Answer - Yes, both chemotherapy and radiation treatment can cause anemia, which in turn can lower the amount of hemoglobin in your father's blood. Low hemoglobin causes fatigue and shortness of breath because there are too few red blood cells to circulate oxygen to the tissues, making your father's body feel like it's hard to move...

    2. Is there any way to help my mother, who's losing her hair, decrease the itching on her scalp?

      Answer - The first thing I'd ask her is what she's using to wash her hair. Sometimes as people lose their hair, they start using soap or body shampoo on their scalp, and that's not a good idea because it's too drying. That, combined with chemo agents — which also make the skin especially dry and flaky — coulcould...