March 2012 chemo

lostinmo

Enjoyed sitting outside reading this afternoon!  Even got to put on shorts. Although it's not fair that I still have to shave my legs. LOL

Kltb sorry about your pet skunk, maybe it just wanted to be friends at first. The excitement here was a snake the dog caught and tried to throw on me.

Hope the weather stays this way, but I know the humidity is around the corner, along with the bugs. FUN, FUN 

journey4life

If you're a rabid skunk, do you go to skunky heaven or hell? RIP...

Just came back from MOs office where I boo hoo-ed with my nurse about how tired I am, how I hate the way I look, how my foot infection hurts, and how much I hate chemo and BC.  WBC is low so I'm semi-quarantined for a few days.

Sorry ladies - I can't think of one positive thing to say today. Maybe next time.

kltb04

Lost - aaaaaack. Bad doggie.



Lisa what was your count? Just curious as to what others are told is too low. Sorry you are having a bad day.



And yes all skunks go to heaven

journey4life

WBC (total count): 1.7

Neutrophils: 1.0 (1000) - Doc told me anything under 1.2 (1200) is neutropenic

What have yours been running?

kltb04

My lab just runs a CBC with WBC, RBC, hermatacrit (which my SIL has tried and failed to explain to me), and platelets. 

My WBC Monday was 2.9 but the nurse just said "that's kind of low but it will come back up."  I don't know how the nuelasta "works" but I guess it is in some form time released if it is the equivalent to a series of the other shots...I just think 6 days post shot it would have already gone back up if it were going to with the shot - and at some point after you reach nadir/lowest point (day 10ish?) it is going to start climbing back up anyway as a part of the cycle after treatment.  I just keep thinking that maybe if I wasn't getting the Nuelasta it might be really low, I don't know.

But anyway, I guess 2.9 isn't low enough for them to worry about...last time it was 3.6 one week post TX and by two weeks post TX, it had climbed back to around 6.  So I hope that it will be back up next Monday and I can have more of a normal week next week.

I think that I may have overdone it today with the errands and the walking and the skunk dodging and just trying to keep on top of everything the last few days.  I feel like I have been hit by a truck. 

IndigoMont11

Aw, come on, kltb04 - Big Bang Theory is the perfect laughter medicine fix!!!!!  Well, no, scratch that - this p.m. your skunk story gets those honors. 

IndigoMont11

Okay, another WBC question - so at what point/count do they put you on Neulasta/Neupogen?  I guess the plan for me is typical - I've been told that I won't do labs except for the day before chemo.  So I do them tomorrow, then wait 3 weeks.  They said everyone's WBCs go down and that's to be expected - but they aren't saying I'll need either of the booster meds.  At this point I won't know until right before my second treatment.  Is that how it's working for you?

onvacation

I get the neulasta shot the day after treatment.   This round I have no blood tests in between treatment so I won't have it taken again until the 3rd (my next treatment).  The first round I had blood taken on week 2 and everything looked good, so maybe that is why I don't have to do it again mid treatment?

kltb04

I'm actually sad because I am all caught up on BBT; I watched all the seasons til the current in about two months - my DH and his friends aren't QUITE that nerdy though - but D&D??  C'mon.  1983 called and wants it's nerd game back.

On Nuelasta - my MO does it as a matter of course.  What about everyone else?  I always have a nagging at the back of my head that it is just pushing a (very expensive) drug and wonder if it is even working for me?  Big pharma conspiracy theory and all that.  I was never given the option not to do it.

My routine is Week One (Monday), labs then chemo.  Day after chemo, Nuelasta.  Week Two (Monday) labs, Week Three (Monday) labs.  Then repeat.

onvacation

Yea they just told me I was getting the shot.

KCB

Nsmolen: I am sorry you've been in a dark place. Scary and nasty and hard to talk through. I have no valuable advice except to say that I just try to stay where I am, mentally, and not forecast into the future, to simply deal with what I have on my plate now, and not anticipate what I couldn't possibly know. Big hugs to you.

kltb04

I just think that if I didn't get it my WBC might be negative four.   

Kim, you and I were posting at the same time...I thought mine was going to be like yours.  When my MO first mentioned labs, I thought I was only having labs the first cycle from what she said but maybe since mine were lowish they continued on with it? I don't know..I just know when I leave after TX they give me a list of appts on a printout with two weeks of labs and my next TX listed.  So I show up, lol...

Indigo, your dr may just wait and see how your counts do without before they decide if you need it.  

onvacation

Yea I get a print out also that is how I knew I didn't have to go back for labs!  We just obviously do as we are told!  LOL

Sonant

Hello,

I have to take neulasta the day after my chemo.  That shot is to boost your white cell count.  If you get headaches or backaches, it is because the shot makes your bone marrow work harder on producing the white cells.  My lab work is done the day of my chemo.  I have a port.  Blood is drawn first.  While I am waiting for the results, saline is pushed through my drip.  My blood comes back with the results and then my chemo starts. 

lostinmo

It seems some of you get labs done more than others, depending on MO maybe.  I get to drive 2 hr, get labs, see MO, get tx, then drive 2 hrs. I get to do this every other Friday and the Sat. after I get to give myself the shot. Which is better than driving 4 hrs for them to give it to me!

I like the printouts, it helps me remember what time to show up! 

IndigoMont11

My neutrophil count before surgery was 5.8. Low end of range per Kaiser is 1.5. I sure hope that means I have some wiggle room... but they are still saying nadir in 7-10 days, sounds like, even without a blood test at that point.
class='post_sig'>"Hope is like a gift, both to give and receive" by author Vickie Gerard
Diagnosis: 3/2/2012, IDC, 5cm, Stage IIIa, Grade 2, 4/7 nodes, ER+/PR+, HER2-

Love74

1983 called....kltb you are soooo funny. I'm laughing so hard I have tears running down my cheeks.



Tx #4 tomorrow...can't wait.



I think our group will be ringing the battle juice bell for the first time on Friday for MLB!!

IndigoMont11

Hi Love! Geez what an embarrassment for the Flyers huh?

Love74

Indigo...I'm kind of hoping the penguins win the series! Gotta cheer for the guy who got us the gold a couple years ago against u guys!!



Forgot to take my 'roids a few hours ago...now I'm really going to be up all nite. Boooo.

IndigoMont11

If they could score 10 goals every gsme, the Pens *would* win the series! Now let's see if LA can close out theirs.....

Sissydi

Whew, anyone else getting hot flashes? I think the chemo pause has begun! I ripped off my wig today and felt like my head was on fire!

Masserz

Love- I forgot to take mine too! DH and I were at dinner and I suddenly remembered and shouted, "oh shit!" in the middle of the restaurant. Um, clearly chemo does something to your filter as well as your memory. I'm sure I'll be up all night too. Oh well, I'm terrified about this next treatment so it's not like I'd sleep well anyway.



Sissy, I haven't had any major hot flashes yet, just swings in my temp. I wake up hot a lot, but not really sweaty, etc.like I would expect from a hot flash. I'm sure if I don't get them with chemo I will with Tamoxifen. My mom had them something horrible when she went through menopause.

Myleftboob

Sissy

I'm getting them more like Masserz when I'm sleeping.  I did the whole menopause hot flash routine about 2.5 years ago just before turning 47, it was brutal and this is nothing like that.  I think this is harder for sure on anyone pre or peri because its so sudden.

I forgot to take a dose of roids until late on my 2nd TX so I know how that feels.

Thanks for the shout out Love74! 

JoanG

I had a Neulasta shot 24 hours after my first treatment. I happened to go to my oncologist, and she had me do a blood test on Day 7. Turned out that my WBC was 1.2 with a note saying "not critical value for oncology patients". Four days later, I came down with a cold and fever so I went to the hospital to get it checked out. By then, the WBC was back up to 6.1, within the normal range. I guess that the Neulasta shot just makes the WBC return to normal more quickly.

Myleftboob

JoanG

That's exactly what the Neulasta shot does,bring the WBC count up much faster.  My MO explained that while you can get away without the shot, 30%  will have issues with infection and end up in hospital. I'm not sure if you have universal health care where you live.  I do in Canada but the shot is not covered unless you have private medical insurance and sometimes depending on the carrier, they may only approve Neupegen due to the cost. I was lucky mine was covered mind you.  He also went  to explain that the government feels that from a cost benefit analysis they felt that they still saved money playing the odds that at 30% they would still save money by not giving the shot as part of standard care. Not that he agreed though, I would think the cost of someone being in ER would far out weight the cost of the shot.  Thats the rub with universal health care I suppose. Although those with no benefits at all still receive very good TX.  I know too that the pharma companies have different programs that will help offset some of the cost if not covered.

Wow did I ever get off topic LOL!!

kltb04

Morning peeps...after a cruddy evening - I was just so moody after having a good day and it hit me after I got so tired and I just got really teary and ugh...thought I might feel better after a good night's sleep. Well, it would have helped had I slept.  I am not not sleeping and staying awake.  I just doze off, wake up, doze off, wake up, all night long.  So frustrating.

Sissy - sorry about the hot flashes; I haven't had anything like that...yet...sure it is coming!

Masserz - laughing at you yelling in the restaurant!!

Love - Good luck today!

Ok, well, I am trying to organize my checking account info in a new program since I wiped out my phone the other day where I had my account stored.  While also watching last week's Mad Men...and surfing the net.  Multitasking at its finest.

tc9876

KLT:  You are HILARIOUS!!  Your posts definitely cheer me up.

MichelleMassey

Think I'm in one of my nadir days. Day 10 after tx 2 and I'm so tired I can't do anything. Told hubby I would plant seeds today and just don't see it happening. Thank God for cable tv! To bad they cancelled all the soap operas. I haven't watched them in 20 years but I'm sure I could of picked up where I left off.

kltb04

I am lying here watching Scrubs reruns on comedy central. I have some things recorded I could watch but I would have to get up and find the remote.

I had to abandon my earlier project because our Internet keeps going out.

journey4life

My labs are taken before right before tx (Wed) and I go back the next day for the Neulasta shot. The following Wed, I have labs again and I see my MO or NP. Then back to tx the following Wed.

I have what they thought was a fungal thing on my right foot and in no time, it turned into a nasty infection. Got an antibiotic shot in my booty along with pills to take for 10 days. MO says if it isn't healed by Wed, I won't get tx. I tell ya, they don't take infections lightly! This will be the last A/C tx for me and I'm dang sure not gonna postpone it! Be healed, foot!