Low White Blood Count

Larry ended up with no wbc from the chemo. Fever, exhaustion, etc. He received a Neulasta injection to get his blood cells in gear. The injection works but causes alot of bone pain. Larry stopped eating and drinking at that time and ended up in the hospital. They stopped his last cycle of chemo because of it. Your husband is now at very high risk of infection right now. We were advised to not even allow fresh fruits or vegetables during that time. Be very cautious and don't let the Dr's take this lightly. Most take this very seriously. Good luck!

callerid said:

Fruits & Veggies

He has primarily been on a diet of fruit, veggies and fish & chicken.  I have given him a lot of fruit today, apples, oranges, strawberries and banana.

It's becoming increasingly difficult to know what to feed him. One source says no dairy or red meat, one source says no grain. Another says fruit can raise blood sugar too fast and cancer cells will grab it. Totally confused and not sure how to proceed. Any suggestions?

His temperature is 100.9 and he thinks he is feeling a little better tonight. Since his WBC's went down on this first dose of this chemo combination, will they stop it? He was supposed to have another infusion next Friday.

I have heard of bone pain with that injection. Does it last long? 

Thanks

 

Larry was advised no resh fruit or veggies due to the bacterial risk. They said he was a greater risk getting a bacterial infection than the common cold or flu. This was around Thanksgiving . I took holiday decorations out of the attic at that time and poor sick hubby tried to help. We have a history of bats in our attic. Unknown to us Larry contracted Histoplamosis inhis respiratory system just from being in the vicinity of the boxes that the little varments had come in contact with. His wbc was 1.6 at the time like your husbands. His temp would go up and down usually lingered around 100 then would spike up to 103 during his second cycle of chemo. He had the fever and infection for 2 months. The pain from the injection was horrible for him. The low blood count experience was probably the roughest part of this whole journey so far. They cancelled his chemo due to it...said it would kill him. The scarring from from the histoplamosis caused false positives on pet scan. If it were not for the hunch his surgeon had Larry's surgery would have been cancelled. I created a post titled I think "lymph node spread, please read" in March. If you get a chance read. I would note too the injections are very expensive $2000 each. Our insurance covered it 100%. When Larry received his 3rd cycle they gave him the injection 24 hours later to avoid the drop. He still ended up in the hospital, he was just too weak. Our oncologist told us at the time the diet wasn't about so much as what is good for him it was about calories, calories, calories. Panera Bread soups, Wendys Frostys. Pudding, ice cream. Larry lost 30 lbs during treatment, but gained it all back during recovery for surgery. He is down again 34 lbs post surgery. This disease stinks. Also the bone pain lasted about 10 days. days 3-5 being the worst.