Building up WBCs

HFTG61

My care team has started to order me either Neulasta or Udenyca for my upcoming treatments since my WBCs are already on rhe "low" end. Anyone have any up front info for educating me on these drugs? I already have been briefed that I will most likely get BONE PAIN for days after the injection is given cause the wbcs are made in bone marrow. Ugh! And all the other side effects like Spleen bursting, aorta inflammation, kidney failure ???

How much can one body take? Or one mind, that has to keep re-living all the gross, scary facts it sees on all these drug pamphlets.

cmb

I had to give myself the Neulasta shot the day after each of my last four chemo cycles. I did take Claritin too, and perhaps that helped, but I did not have any bone pains (unlike the legs pains I had after the first four chemo cycles).

Other women have used the Neulasta "onpro" device instead of going back to the doctor for the shot. But my doctor was fine with me giving myself the shot at home - as long as I took it at the designated time. I did have to pick it up from the pharmacy a few days in advance and keep it in the refrigerator until I used it. But that was because my last four chemo cycles were given as an inpatient in the hospital and I wanted to be sure I had the shot ready to go the day after I got home.

I had a hard time with the second phase chemo cycles, but those were typical of the chemo drugs, not the Neulasta.

Ribbons

I had Neulasta onpro, it’s just a little device they stick on you, it gives you the shot at the right time and then you just peel it off and toss it. I did take Claritin. It didn’t seem like a big deal. It is expensive and not all insurances cover it, I was able to get mine paid for through a non profit foundation. Do yourself a favor and stop reading all that scary stuff, or read through it once and then file it away and don’t dwell on it.

HFTG61

Ribbons . .

Lol. That's the student in me, always reading. I am trying to break myself of the habit of reading all this bad stuff while going thru it!

Yes! It is the onpro that they want to attach to me. I am gonna get a small trial pk of Claritin just in case they ok me using it. Thanks for jumping in to pull me out of that Rabbit Hole.

Ribbons

https://csn.cancer.org/discussion/comment/1694981#Comment_1694981

I always read all the things on my weekly blood tests, comparing the numbers to the previous ones. I had my blood tests done at my local hospital the two weeks between chemo and then the one at my oncology center the morning of treatment which included the CA125. Did you read my post titled Just a little laugh? It’s about the Neulasta onpro

cmb

Although research has always been a big part of my work life and one of my favorite books as a kid was the "all in one volume" Columbia encyclopedia, I was more like Ribbons during my treatment. I did read studies and reports about my type of cancer when I first learned what it was and also about the surgery and chemo I would be having. But once I started the process, I tried not to fall down the rabbit hole of constantly looking up stuff as that just made me more anxious.

When a new issue or treatment change came up, I did some research on those occasions. But otherwise, I tried to keep my mind occupied with other things during treatment, including work during chemo phase one and pretty much just vegetating during chemo phase two.