Question: Is Essential Thrombo Cythemia very often caused by Chronic Leukemia? My Doctor wants me to have a bone marrow test to check for Leukemia, even though all blood tests showed nothing. Would you think this test is necessary, or is my Dr maybe being too thourough? (I'm very worried about having a bone marrow test.) Thanks! XXXXXXX

Thank you so much for your response! I appreciate it. I do have 3 other questions......1. My Doctor said that she wants me to take some stronger medication for my ET, now that I turned 60. She said the low dose aspirin I take nightly isn't enough any more after age 60. Do you agree with this? What med might you suggest for a patient in my position, if you agree with her statement? 2. My platelets were over a million four years ago after my total abdominal hysterectomy surgery. Last week they were at 526,000. Every time I've had my blood tested in the past 4 years the count has gone down some. Is this normal with ET? Could it eventually go down to a "normal" level? Do you think that I need to be starting to take whatever med my doctor is going to give me? 3. I am having a total hip replacement surgery on March 4th. Am I at any greater risk due to the ET? Thanks very much for any answers you can give me! :) XXXXXXX