MAy have to skip third infusion...any advice?

pmac

Anyone have any advice...my best friend, colon cancer, mets to the liver....surgery 12/2011 for stage ii colon...resection done...June cea up to 49 (cea up to 4.2 in March, 'doctor' suggested waiting three months as level was 'probably' due to inflammation...it wasn't)...anyway, chemo started 7/31, second one 8/13..Neupogen shot on Thursday...blood work yesterday shows 'ok' WC, but may not be good by next infusion, next week.

Any one have any words of advice if she has to miss her second infusion?? I will have her on bone marrow broth ASAP ....daily...she's been taking the glutamine 3x's a day (just started that last week).....chemo is the 5fu, oxiplatinum and leuv (?)...the saltz regimen.

Thanking you in advance for your input.

P

taraHK

skippiing
I just want to say that if she has a delay in the next infusion, it's not necessarily so bad. Many of us have had chemo postponed because our blood counts aren't high enough yet. It's a delay, not a cancellation. If possible, she might want to talk to her doctor about the Neupogen. My was fine-tuned for number of shots (say, 4) as well as the days I have that shot. Otherwise, rest, healthy eating....

Good luck to you both

Tara

smokeyjoe

taraHK said:

skippiing
I just want to say that if she has a delay in the next infusion, it's not necessarily so bad. Many of us have had chemo postponed because our blood counts aren't high enough yet. It's a delay, not a cancellation. If possible, she might want to talk to her doctor about the Neupogen. My was fine-tuned for number of shots (say, 4) as well as the days I have that shot. Otherwise, rest, healthy eating....

Good luck to you both

Tara

You say Stage 11 mets to
You say Stage 11 mets to liver....mets anywhere makes you Stage 1V doesn't it?? People correct me if I am wrong.....but I think once you have spots showing up anywhere away from your original tumor you have metastatic disease which is stage 1V.

Patteee

I had to miss my second
I had to miss my second infusion due to low WBC- and not less than 12 hours later I was hospitalized with a blood infection. WBC so low couldn't knock a bug outta me. So got the shots and all was well for the next infusion. Never had the shots again, it was as though they fine tweeked the chemo after that and it wasn't a problem.
I agree that it isn't necessarily a bad thing to miss a week, one wants the WBC up before infusion, because it will take a whammy with chemo.,

peterz54

green tea
my wife's onc said green tea helps with bone marrow stem cells and I verified that it does. don't know how muc. plus EGCG in green tea has anti cancer properties.

postponing a chemo session is normally not a big deal.


maybe double check glutamine---too much may stimulate tumor growth. see abstract below

Therapeutic considerations of L-glutamine: a review of the literature.

Abstract 1999

The most abundant amino acid in the bloodstream, L-glutamine fulfills a number of biochemical needs. It operates as a nitrogen shuttle, taking up excess ammonia and forming urea. It can contribute to the production of other amino acids, glucose, nucleotides, protein, and glutathione. Glutamine is primarily formed and stored in skeletal muscle and lungs, and is the principal metabolic fuel for small intestine enterocytes, lymphocytes, macrophages, and fibroblasts. Supplemental use of glutamine, either in oral, enteral, or parenteral form, increases intestinal villous height, stimulates gut mucosal cellular proliferation, and maintains mucosal integrity. It also prevents intestinal hyperpermeability and bacterial translocation, which may be involved in sepsis and the development of multiple organ failure. L-glutamine use has been found to be of great importance in the treatment of trauma and surgery patients, and has been shown to decrease the incidence of infection in these patients. Cancer patients often develop muscle glutamine depletion, due to uptake by tumors and chronic protein catabolism. Glutamine may be helpful in offsetting this depletion; however, it may also stimulate the growth of some tumors. The use of glutamine with cancer chemotherapy and radiotherapy seems to prevent gut and oral toxic side-effects, and may even increase the effectiveness of some chemotherapy drugs.

Annabelle41415

Treatment
If they get a shot today and WBC is good for tomorrow it doesn't mean that it will be good next week. Once they get treatment again the count usually goes down very fast and then stays down, most times needing shots each treatment time after that. Some will bounce back, but treatment is hard on the counts and it takes the body a long time to build itself back up. Good luck and hope counts go back up soon.

Kim

steveandnat

should be ok
Your friend should be okay if she misses a treatment. I usually always would miss one week because of low counts. As long as you don't miss too many straight treatments. Pray everything is good. Jeff