Tag Archives: neulasta

Lab Work and Medication

Today has been a down day. Over the last eight days, I would say three have been down. One, yesterday, was a great high. This is a rollercoaster ride and I’ve never liked coasters.

As I said, yesterday was a high. Early in the morning I had an appointment with the oncologist for post-chemo lab work. They took three vials of blood, which I assume will be the normal amount taken each week. I was taken back to the waiting room and told that the doctor would see me when the results came back.

According to the paperwork, it took the lab about 20 minutes to get the results updated. Impressive!

I was taken back and weighed. I was surprised to see I had lost seven pounds in a week. To some this might be alarming and it was at first to me and then I thought about my week. I had been eating but far smaller portions than normal. In addition, all I had been drinking was water or Gatorade. Those two things were good things. I often eat far too much and have Dr. Pepper constantly running through my veins. The weight loss could easily be explained by making those two changes in my diet. The nurse and doctor thought nothing of the weight loss so I assume all is well.

Now onto discussing the blood work. She started off by saying all these numbers are to be expected by someone who just had chemo. There were two main things they were looking at. My white blood count (WBC) and my ANC.

Prior to chemo my white blood count was a 7. Well within normal limits. On this day, it was a 1.3. I was shocked at how low it was and questioned if the Neulasta shot given the day after chemo had worked. She assured me it had or that number would be a zero. What the white blood count means is that my body can’t fight infection. White blood cells are what fight the nasty germs and mine were nearly depleted.

My Complete Blood Count

The next value she looked at was the ANC. I am not sure what my value was prior or chemo, but these results showed a value of 200. this puts me at a “High risk of infection”. If it falls below a 100 you are in the “Extremely high risk” category. At least I wasn’t at the bottom!

The doctor explained to me that we needed to watch closely for signs of infection. I inquired about fever being an indicator and was again shocked to find out fever would not be a good indicator for me. My counts being so low, my body would not have the white blood cells needed to even produce a fever. By the time I got a fever it would be a very severe infection. I had absolutely no idea that could happen.

I was slightly bummed by the results. I didn’t feel bad but my blood work showed I was definitely not at the top of my game. I was planning to have lunch with a friend and my soul needed that visit. I told the doctor that I was upset because I would need to cancel my lunch date and she said, no you don’t. What?!? I can go? She then explained that while I am high risk, if I am smart and assume no person or surface is clean, clean it myself, I would be okay to live life. She told me that the lunch was important for my emotional well-being. She asked where I planned to go and I told her to a little sandwich place and we planned to eat on the patio. She said go and have a great time. Yes,ma’am. No arguments here.

That lunch is one of the main reasons my day was a high. Sitting on a patio in 70 degree Texas sunshine enjoying a meal with a very dear friend is exactly what I needed. We talked about life, not just cancer. Sure there was talk about that but we got it out of the way first and then moved on to our kids and solving as many world problems as we could in our 90 minutes together.

The rest of the night went okay. I have been battling headaches off and on for a few days and ended the night, as I had the three previous, with a pretty nasty headache. I went to bed medicated and had an up and down night with not feeling well and Eli having trouble sleeping as well.

This is when it started to go down. We had an early morning wake up call. Our house was going to be cleaned (For Free! Blog coming on that soon!) and we needed to not be here while they did their thing. We loaded up to head to another dear friend’s house to spend the morning. We had to get there in time for Isaac to jump on his first school class around 8. The first part of the morning went well, but around 10 I started feeling very run down, weak, and all over yuck. Thankfully, our house was done by 11 so we headed home.

I got concerned about the way I was feeling along with finding a swollen lymph node under my left arm so I called the doctor. The swollen nodes on my good side (non-cancer side) really scared me. As you might imagine, my thoughts went to the cancer having spread. I knew I would worry so I wasted no time calling. They promptly returned my call and eased my concerns about the new symptoms. She said the lymph system can have this type of reaction during chemo treatment. She then said that based on my lab results the day prior it would be wise to go ahead and start me on antibiotics. we talked about the headaches again and the nurse believes that it may be due to dehydration.

This afternoon I began taking a strong antibiotic called Levaquin. The pharmacist informed me to not do strenuous exercise while on this medicine because it can cause tendons to rupture. Again, what? Noted. And I promise there will be no strenuous exercise happening. My plan for the next few days is to take my antibiotics, drink plenty of fluids, and rest.

I tried to do this my way. I tried to say, I’m fine. I feel fine. I’ve got this, but yesterday and today have shown me that I am not in control. My body is. More importantly, my God is. I need to listen to Him as well as my medicinal providers and allow myself time to not be okay.

The prayer is that my WBC can double by Tuesday so that I can receive my second dose of chemo. That magic number needs to be at least a 3.5. We don’t want any delays in getting this over with!

‘Twas the Night Before Chemo

I have been thinking about what to say in this post all day. I wanted to be all creative and write a poem, but that is just not my thing. My mom could probably knock a ‘Twas the Night Before Chemo” poem out in a matter of minutes, but that skill she did not pass down to me.

I will just tell you how I’m preparing for tomorrow. I was prescribed five prescriptions to help me through this part of the journey. I picked all of them up along with some over-the counter things that will also aid in making chemo less awful. The doctor has prepared me as best as she possibly can. She warned of nauseas, fatigue, constipation, diarrhea, and bone pain. I was given three medications to ward off the nausea. One medication for the bone pain. The last is a cream that I will apply just prior to leaving for chemo. It is to numb the skin where my port is so that them accessing my port won’t hurt. So much research has been done to limit the side effects of chemo and my prayer is that these medications allow me to live life as normal as possible over the next five months.

Many have asked me about how susceptible I will be to infection and the great news is that this is not a big concern to Dr. K. There is a new medication, Neulasta, that I will be given. It is an injection that will auto-inject 24 hours after the chemo treatment. This injection will stimulate my bone marrow to produce more marrow keeping my white blood count from dropping. When I first found out I would need chemo, this issue was my largest concern. Having two kids at home, germs are everywhere. With COVID my anxiety was high. This little injection will keep me, hopefully, healthy and able to continue to do things that we as a family enjoy. The injection does come with a possible down side. Because it is stimulating bone marrow production, there will be bone pain. Research has been done recently that and has shown that taking Claritin helps counter the pain. I was shocked and interested in why a medication for allergies had this effect, but she said it has been shown to have great success in lowering the amount of pain felt in the first few days after the injection. Since it is October, I see no bad that could come from taking Claritin, chemo or not, so that is my plan. She said I only need it the first few days post injection, but I will probably take it throughout the cold and flu season to prevent normal allergies.

I questioned what would happen if I did come down with something like flu or strep and she said we would treat it like any other person. I was not at a greater risk for complications. That was a relief.

Other mediations I have gotten over the counter in preparation is a stool softener to help with the constipation. Dr. K said that most patients have constipation for the first few days and then it turns to diarrhea so I have medication for that as well.

Protein and probiotics are also important to maintaining proper nutrients. I have gotten some protein shakes and probiotic drinks for those times I may not feel like eating.

Staying hydrated is another very important aspect. The help move the chemo through my system I will need to drink a significant amount of fluids the first few days after the treatment. I was told to attempt to drink two to four liters a day for the first three to four days. I have stocked up on Gatorade to drink in addition to water.

I have a bag full of things to keep my occupied during the infusion. They told me to expect about three and a half hours for the first treatment. I will have books and my iPad to keep me company. Unfortunately, at this time Chris is not able to be in the treatment room with me. He has taken the day off and will be playing with the boys while mommy does her thing. I am scheduled to be there at 9:30. I will start with seeing Dr. K. Then I will have blood work done to make sure my body is ready to begin treatment. I will then be taken to the treatment area to begin the chemo.

Everyone keeps asking me if i’m ready. The answer is, yes. I’m as ready as I can be, but there is so much unknown. Every person reacts differently. That fear of the unknown is causing me anxiety. What I keep telling myself and others is that this is just a small bump in the road. Sure, I have to do chemo for four months, but the end result is hopefully many, many more years with my family. It is a fight worth fighting. I know that God already knows how this chapter ends. I am putting my trust in Him. I know that He will guide the hands of my doctors. He will give them the knowledge they need to treat and eliminate completely the cancer.

I was looking around Amazon the other night for cute shirts and headgear. I had an idea for a shirt, bracelet, whatever you can put it on and I might have to have some stuff made. Since this adventure started I have been saying “My God is bigger than any cancer”. There are many shirts that say that, but how cool would it be to simply say “God > Cancer”! Maybe that shows how geeky I am, but I love that. It is simple and would hopefully spark questions where I could share my testimony!

I want to say, again, thank you to everyone who reads this blog. I do this for me to get my thoughts out there, but also to spread awareness and take away fears of those who may be starting this journey or going through it along with me. With every step I have had a million thoughts and questions and my hope is that through this blog I can help answer those questions for others and ease the fears of what is to come for them.

With October being breast cancer awareness month, I would love for all of you to join me tomorrow and my other treatment days wearing pink to help spread awareness! God is bigger than all of this and with Him and all of you I will make it through!