Well, I never thought I would say this, but I’m sad to not have gotten Chemo today! After an amazing vacation of relaxing, yoga, lots of walks (I can not say eating healthy) and my ear infection is gone as is my cough, I went into my appointment today excited with a WestWorld Episode to watch thinking I would have super high white blood cell counts, only to hear that they were lower than last session, to the point where I couldn’t get chemo today. So I was beyond disappointed. To add insult to injury, I’m up 1 more lb. So here’s what the Dr. said:
- Counts: I think I was down from 1.27 to .57? I need them to post my blood panel to confirm, but it was below 1, and they want you above 2. They reiterated staying away from people who are sick and try not to get infections. Luckily, I have no travel planned and it i a holiday week.
- Neulasta: I asked again about Neulasta – they said it needs to be 14 days between Neulasta and chemo so they can’t do it on the weekly Taxol. THOUGH if they had given it to me last time, I would have had plenty of recovery time with this canceled session but who knew.
- Other Drugs: she said there are a few other drugs they can try with the Taxol. They have to give you shots maybe 3x per week a few days after Taxol. Not as easy as my Neulasta injector. She said they didn’t want to go with that option yet.
- Getting the count up: she said that one week should get them back up. It sounded like there is nothing I can do either, just time helps.
- Going forward: to help prevent this, they will most likely reduce the Taxol dose for me to 80% next round and going forward. She seemed confident the week plus reduced dosage will get me to a stable level.
- Impact: I have to add another week to my plan to replace this week, so now my last week will be Sept 10. Probably the thing that is bumming me out most.
So I guess I get a week off and will try again next Monday. I’m mostly worried this same thing will happen on next Monday.
On a brighter note, I got into the office today I had a stack of cards from my Clarkston family with lots of inspirational messages to cheer me up!
Thinking of you…