Chemo sucks

People who have not been through it really don't understand.  Chemo assaults both your health and human dignity in so many ways.  I hear you.  Perhaps the short break will give you a taste of a more normal life.  Sorry you are going through this.

I was out of my 1st treatment yesterday on this new phase (after removal of the lung met) and I told myself I'm not going beyond 6.  It feels like a child who was about to go visit a dentist, if there's any way I could escape it I would.  I don't like the feeling of having the infusion, it takes too long.  I sometimes have to literally bring my feet forward just to move and walk.  I would go for my 12th infusion in 2 weeks and I'm not looking forward to it but I've got no choice.  We're in this together.  Let's do this.

Kazenmax, do ask your oncologist about Neupogen. I'm currently on a regimen of FOLFOX plus Avastin every other week and am scheduled to receive 12  treatments.  My WBC  count dropped to 2.8 after the first treatment and I just got the third of three Neupogen shots yesterday.  Hopefully they will  bring the count up enough to get  the second chemo treatment on Thursday. The same problem occured when I  had Folfox plus Avastin the first time back in 2015,  requiring 17 Neupogen shots in all, but I was ale to complete 8 chemo treatments.  I found this article which explains the differences  between Neupogen and Neulasta:https://www.verywellhealth.com/neulasta-vs-neupogen-for-chemotherapy-treatment-430223

Grace/lizard44

i am only a caregiver but I do hope your counts come up so you can feel better! Your new picture threw me off I was used to the Eagles one being a NY Giant and a Patriots fan I like this much better

Hey Kazenmax,

You're absolutely correct - chemo sucks in so many ways!  I too had low WBC after the first round of chemo and was on Neulasta for the remainder of treatment which did the trick.  In fact, it can do too good of a job.  I once had labs done 3 days after an injection and my WBC was 32.5

My chemo cycle was a 5 week deal.  Week 1 - HAI pump chemo, week 3 - systemic, week 5 - systemic, one week later rince and repeat.  So my systemic chemo treatments were two weeks apart between weeks 3 and 5, and three weeks apart between weeks 5 and 3.  I received the Neulasta shot after each 5FU bottle disconnect (actually disconnected myself at home and gave myself the shot).  Not sure why your doc is saying it's only a three week shot.

mountainhiker

PS. I live not too far from Philly and my son loves all things Philly sports.  Go Eagles!

Kazenmax said:

Another low WBC

I just got back from my oncologist. My WBC is still 1.8. He said that it appears that I can't tolerate the current chemo and he would look into another option. I asked about both shots and he said that he thought I would be better without the shots. Evidently my platelets are in fine shape and all the other blood work looked good. He sent me over for a CT scan. He said he wanted to see how things were. I had no other evidence of cancer when I had my lung surgery. Now I'm hoping to get a clear scan. Maybe he's thinking about watchful waiting. i don't know...

Not sure what to think. But ultimately I have to wait another week to see what will happen. In the meantime he told me to eat well, drink lots of water, and get plenty of rest.

k

And maybe you don’t need anymore chemo. It’s goid the other tests were good a lot of times all levels go low. So rest like he said, and hopefully things improve soon.

People only see you from the outside.  So when you don't lose your hair, they think you're fine.  They have no clue what's happening on the INSIDE, physically and emotionally!

AFBDVM said:

chemo sucks

People only see you from the outside.  So when you don't lose your hair, they think you're fine.  They have no clue what's happening on the INSIDE, physically and emotionally!

 

Even my brother told me that.  You might look normal, like you say, but you don't feel normal.  Some days you just want to crawl into a hole and other days you pretend that you are normal.

Kim