Anyone starting Chemo in August 07?

Hi Everybody! (Special "Hi" to KeriC...welcome!)
Sounds like everyone is doing pretty well - I'm so glad!
Sorry I couldn't give Ggma & Jackie and Keri a "proper" send-off on the 15th, but I was a little busy, as you'll see...I'm just glad you're doing well.

This is PART 2 to the post I did on Aug 11 re my Neutropenia…

“What I Did On My Summer Vacation”

Low White Blood Count is nothing to take lightly. After I posted that last post, ...EXACTLY after I posted that post, I started running a temp of 99.6, 99.8 and my onc had said to call if it got to 100.5. So at 1:30am when it was 100.1, and 100.2 I moved to the couch to monitor it every 5 minutes. I was pretty miserable - it was like it was some of the worst cold/flu symptoms I'd ever had. Stuffy nose, bad headache, achy joints, swollen glands and now fever. I kept pumping water into myself, (after I would take my temp, not before, so the number would be accurate). The fever broke by itself around 4:am, but then the nausea started. I took the Zofran (Thank God for Zofran) which took care of the nausea, and slept a few hours until I could call my onc in the morning. She said to go to my local hospital ER and have my WBC checked. I did, and it was at POINT ONE. (That's ".1", like: it doesn't get any lower than that!). So they admitted me, and kept me from Sunday to Wednesday. I, and everyone who went into my room - nurses etc.- had to wear a mask, they had to wear gloves any time they did anything with me - take blood, take temp, BP readings, etc. and they told me that during this nutrapenia time: NO FRESH VEGETABLES, SALAD OR FRUIT.
NO MEDIUM RARE MEAT - WELL DONE ONLY.
NO FRESH FLOWERS, OR VISITORS.

My onc had said they wouldn't give me the Neulasta shot 24 hours after the Taxotere/Cytoxin, the first time, because they typically don't after Taxotere, and she "wanted to see how I'd do". (????!!!? Well, not well, apparently) The Neulasta helps to regenerate the WBC, and doesn't do away with neutropenia, but lessens the duration.
I'll try to attach a site where you can learn about it, and I'm sure that here on breastcancer.org you can do a search for neutropenia (it's called febrile neutropenia when you develop a fever) so check it out, sistahs….

NEXT TIME: 1) I’m going to ask for the Neulasta (or something), and 2) I’m going to have my WBC checked periodically during that time to see “where I am”, like from day 7 every day through day 11 or so. (Why didn’t my onc order that?????grrrrrrrrrr.)

They let me go home, finally, and I was glad because my hair had been starting to fall out, and I'd wanted to have a little "shearing ceremony" with my family to mark the day. (life is short, celebrate everything. Otherwise know as “party on, Garth”.)

So, when we got home, my 21 yo son got out his electric buzzer, (he being the natural choice, having been bald for a few years himself – now with hair halfway down his back and more metal in his ears than in my car), my 25 yo daughter got out the champagne (and the broom to destroy the evidence), my husband looked on (and swallowed hard once or twice) and we documented it all with some great photos of the various stages and styles. I had the obligatory Mohawk, and the Punk (my personal favorite), and finally I'm down to the Naked Truth of Me. I'll be really happy when it all completely falls out because grey hair is not bad. Grey stubble is just ugly. Period. He had to use the #1 guard on the buzzer because we couldn't risk any cuts, so we couldn't shave it clean and smooth with a plain razor. My husband suggested carving a "K" into the back of my head, and my son tried, but gave up because he was afraid he might nick me.

So, all in all, I'm wiser now. (and colder.)
and Vin Diesel has nothing on me. (ok. More muscles.)

Words to the Wise: Find out when the “nadir” (lowest point) of “neutropenia” is expected for whatever chemo meds you’re on, and take the precautions SERIOUSLY.

And that's the truth.

Hooray Michelle! I was wondering about you...glad you're doing well. Did they give you anything to build up your WBC? (I'm on a mission from now on!)

And get this, the local onc in the hospital(not mine at the cancer center) said there is a very big thing with the Neulasta - it is very expensive, some insurance companies won't cover it, and apparently (this is what he said, i can hardly believe it's true but he did say it...) that the pharmaceutical company that makes Neulasta is having some Doctors sign a contract to never use any other manufacturer's drugs...and for that they'll give them a "break" on the price of it. My response was: somebody get an attorney in here. This has GOT to be illegal.

Arrgggghhhh!