immune system around day 10 of chemo

Denise_C

Hi Ladies,
I've been snooping in on your posts since i was diagnosed 2 months ago & thought id finally start asking some questions!

I'm on taxol/carbo, 4 sessions every 3 weeks & just had my first one exactly a week ago. happy to report hardly any negative side effects (& im praying it stays that way) just a little tired & a few bowl issues but no nausea.aches & pains so far...

At the min im just wondering what the story is with leaving the house around day 10. In all the booklets info etc I got it says thats when your immune system is at its lowest & to avoid crowds & stay away from people with colds etc. but how far do you take this?? lock myself inside with a mask (with all the swine flu hysteria thats what my mom wants me to do!) or is it ok to meet people for lunch, go to the shops etc...how cautious do you really need to be & for how long (just on day 10 or for a couple of days)...my friends is having halloween house party on saturday (which will be day 11 for me) is is really dangerous 2 go?

saundra

Pray for protection
I have been in treatment for over 2.5 years. I go to church, grocery store, parties etc... I just pray for God to protect me. I do avoid hugs when I am in my days 7 thru 14. Wash hands often. So far, I have not caught anything. Not able to take the flu shots so this fall will be a test, I guess. If you wear a mask, people will stay farther away from you which may help. I think I will wear one on the plane Friday when I fly to see my younger son. My close friends are aware and stay away if they have a bug. My husband has had a cold for a week now and so far, so good. The main thing is that everyone is different. If your immune system is generally good otherwise, you should be OK. Saundra

misspokey

my thoughts
Hi. Here is what I've heard on the immune. I've asked my dr and he said wanted me to stay active and social, yet careful. They really didn't think the face mask did that much on our part, maybe more for ones that are sick. The main thing is to wash, wash, wash. And keep hands away from eyes, nose and mouth, which sometimes is hard. They have been testing my every two weeks and my white cells have been in the ok zone. He is to tell me when or if too low, then I'll lay low and also will have to stay away from fresh flowers and fresh veggies and fruits, but then again said would be ok if I skinned them. So far so good. But is scary with all this around. Also of coarse stay away from ones you know is sick but with this stuff they say they don't know until it hits and was contagious the day before, plus about 3 days after the fever is gone. We can't keep ourselves from our friends and loved ones, we need them but yet have to be cautious. Hope all goes well with you and we all keep away from these bugs, have enough to deal with already.

Lisa 00

If it were me....
I would avoid going out in public from day 7 to day 14. Mostly because of the H1N1 flu thing. That flu looks to be serious stuff that could very possibly kill someone with a compromised immune system. It's not like you can go to the doctor and get a shot of white blood cells. Your body has to manuacture them. And if you end up in the hospital with H1N1 you could then get neutropenic pneumonia. Seriously. I would stay home. Your friends will understand.

Denise_C

Lisa 00 said:

If it were me....
I would avoid going out in public from day 7 to day 14. Mostly because of the H1N1 flu thing. That flu looks to be serious stuff that could very possibly kill someone with a compromised immune system. It's not like you can go to the doctor and get a shot of white blood cells. Your body has to manuacture them. And if you end up in the hospital with H1N1 you could then get neutropenic pneumonia. Seriously. I would stay home. Your friends will understand.

Thanks for replies...
thanks for the advice, I won't risk it so (though maybe I could go dressed up as a doctor with surgical scrubs, gloves, mask etc to keep the germs away lo!!l)... better safe than sorry when it comes to all this stuff i guess, Denise

Lisa 00

Denise_C said:

Thanks for replies...
thanks for the advice, I won't risk it so (though maybe I could go dressed up as a doctor with surgical scrubs, gloves, mask etc to keep the germs away lo!!l)... better safe than sorry when it comes to all this stuff i guess, Denise

Just a few more thoughts....
on this subject.
I have recently been grateful that I finished my chemo earlier this year, far away from the H1N1 threat.
If I were getting chemo now I would think about avoiding going out very much at all. I mean, lets say you get exposed to the virus the week before you get chemo. You have no real symptoms when chemo day arrives, you take the chemo, then what? Virus is on board, your immune system is headed downwards and it just seems scary to me from what I see on the news about how bad this virus can be.
I don't want to alarm anyone. I'm just sharing my thoughts on the subject. Please be careful.

LPack

immune system
Denise,

This time around I am having chemo every other Monday which makes it hard to recuperate the cells between treatments. First time around on taxol/carbo beginning February 2008 (every 4 weeks) I was indoors somewhat because I was still recuperating from surgery. But my onc/gyn told me to use common sense. I went to church, shopped for groceries when needed, etc.

This time around my bone marrow counts are lower. Less time to get them up, so more at risk for infections, etc to happen. I was told in order for my normal cells to recover from the drugs' effects (cisplatin/gemzar) I needed to learn to rest between treatments. And the key to success is staying on schedule (been off schedule 3x in 6 treatments).

I still go to church (praying God's protection), go to gyn for shots every day, go out to eat the week off of chemo, etc. I too wash, wash & wash again and pray, pray and pray again! I am doing less this time around, but my system is not as good as it was first time.

In His Grip,
Libby