Wednesday, July 17 - The past week has been a bit of a challenge for me. Last Wednesday after chemo I was feeling fine. That evening I had broken out in a cold sweat and had stomach cramps. I had some bowel issues and went to bed. Thursday and Friday I felt pretty good other than being fatigued and a little numbness in my right toes and left fingers. Saturday and Sunday I had bowel issues, nausea and was just plain tired. I didn't do much and felt more like myself by Tuesday. I was a little frustrated at feeling so bad for almost a whole week as this is supposed to be easier than the AC I was on before.
On Wednesday, Connie picked me up for chemo and we headed in. She brought me a cute hat that I wore and had lots of compliments in the chemo room. Charlene, my nurse was back after being out for 2 months. She accessed my port and and took my blood to check my WBC. The result was a 1.3 with the range being 4 - 9. Pretty low. They took a look at my ANC (Absolute Neutrophil Count) and it was only .16 or 160. They want you to be at least 1,000. These are the fighter white blood cells. They also look at the immature white blood cells which were also very low. Therefore, Charlene went to talk to Dr. Coplin who was with a patient. So after about a half hour Dr. Coplin said to give me a Neulasta Injection which stimulates the white blood cells to grow. If you remember, I had this injection each time after my last chemo sessions. Since I am supposed to go weekly, this particular injection isn't used as it takes about a week for those white blood cells to grow.
The reason she did it this time is because I will be going on vacation for a week and won't have my next infusion until August. Otherwise I would have probably received an injection 2 - 3 times a week called Neupogen which also stimulates the wbc but is faster acting.
I was disappointed but this probably happened so I would be feeling good for vacation just as it happened for the wedding in June. Hopefully when I start chemo up again in August my white blood cells will start cooperating a little better and I can move along with these treatments and be done. My hope is still to be finished with chemo and radiation by Christmas. We'll see!!!!
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