HCT and Platelets

My next appointment with the oncologist is May 17th, a week from tomorrow. I just received the results from my latest blood test. The comments were “platelet count ois slightly low; Hct is also slightly low. We will follow these numbers on our next lab draw.” FYI [from Wikipedia] … the number of platelets or thrombocytes in ones blood determines if you are a clotter [high] or a bleeder [low]. There wasn’t much else I could understand w/o a medical education. My platelet count was 123. The “normal” range is 140 – 450. On the other hand, HCT [or Ht] was much more informative. Hematocrit [HCT] is the packed cell volume [PCV] or the erythrocyte volume fraction [EVF] of ones blood. It is the volume percentage of red blood cells in the blood. In males, 45% is normal in females 40%. My HCT is 40.0 with the “normal range” at 42 -52. I have 4 recent blood panels to compare. On 4/9 my HCT was 41.7 so it has dropped some. On 4/4 is was the same. On 1/23 it was 43.2. This makes sense. Now for the platelets. On 4/9 and 4/4 the count was 193. On 1/23 it was 164. I don’t know if diet makes a difference but I am about to investigate.