Neutropenia with Chemotherapy
I was about to begin my 8th (final) cycle of chemotherapy. However, on what should have been Cycle 8, Day 1, my white blood cell count and, specifically, my neutrophil count were too low to proceed. The protocol is to wait a week to give the bone marrow a chance to recover. However, one week later, the numbers were still too low. My oncologist is confident that the numbers will be within range in another week. Because there are no chemotherapy infusions from Day 9 of one cycle to Day 1 of the next, I go at least 14 days without an infusion--giving the cancer drives time to work after the Day 1 & 8 infusions while also giving the cancer-free, fast-cell-producing areas of my body a chance to recover.
When I return to the infusion facility this coming week, it will have been 4 weeks since my last infusion. First, I will have more lab work. I have read about patients whose bodies shut down due to neutropenia. They receive daily infusions to help their body recover, but that can go on indefinitely. So, while I'm eager to be done with chemotherapy, I'm trying to be patient.
#neutropenia #lowneutrophils #gallbladdercancer #chemotherapy #gemcitabine #cisplatin
Discussion Boards
- All Discussion Boards
- 6 CSN Information
- 6 Welcome to CSN
- 121.7K Cancer specific
- 2.8K Anal Cancer
- 446 Bladder Cancer
- 309 Bone Cancers
- 1.6K Brain Cancer
- 28.5K Breast Cancer
- 395 Childhood Cancers
- 27.9K Colorectal Cancer
- 4.6K Esophageal Cancer
- 1.2K Gynecological Cancers (other than ovarian and uterine)
- 13K Head and Neck Cancer
- 6.3K Kidney Cancer
- 670 Leukemia
- 792 Liver Cancer
- 4.1K Lung Cancer
- 5.1K Lymphoma (Hodgkin and Non-Hodgkin)
- 236 Multiple Myeloma
- 7.1K Ovarian Cancer
- 58 Pancreatic Cancer
- 486 Peritoneal Cancer
- 5.4K Prostate Cancer
- 1.2K Rare and Other Cancers
- 537 Sarcoma
- 727 Skin Cancer
- 652 Stomach Cancer
- 191 Testicular Cancer
- 1.5K Thyroid Cancer
- 5.8K Uterine/Endometrial Cancer
- 6.3K Lifestyle Discussion Boards