gotta love Neulasta

So, on Monday I went in to have a blood test done. I called several times to get the results but no luck, so finally I went into the cancer center and tried to talk to someone face to face. The nurse said :"your white blood cells are OK but your hemoglobin is low, the triage nurse is talking to the dr to decide if you need a blood transfusion". Needless to say I was very upset, I do not want a blood transfusion if I can help it But she said that my WBC were 2200, so I was quite happy about that.

Finally the oncologists assistant nurse came to talk to me, it turns out the 2200 was the number of total WBC - however the more important value is the actual neutrophil count (ANC) and that was only 500. 1500 is the minimum level to be able to get chemo, at lower values one is very prone to infections. Thankfully the hemoglobin levels were not so low that they would require a blood transfusion. Instead I was told to come back on Thursday to repeat the test.

Well, today everything looked better, hemoglobin levels came back to almost normal, and ANC was 1700, yaaay! Aaaand I still have a week to get chemo so from now on the numbers should improve even more.

Another thing that happened this week is pain in my mouth, mostly on my tongue. Of course the first thought is mouth sores, but I could not see any open wounds, neither could the nurse on Monday, but she talked to the Dr. and they prescribed an antifungal medicine. Later in the day my mouth felt better and I decided to hold till it got worse. Then on Tuesday night I woke up with a lot of pain in mouth, and started the treatment, in the morning it had already improved. And now it is almost gone. I am not sure if it really was a fungal thing or a mouth sore about the start and with the WBC count reaching almost normal levels my body fixed it itself, whatever it is I am happy it feels better because it was making eating a hard task.

After a wonderful week for my eyes (thanks to the steroids and humid weather in GJ), the eyes are dry and itchy again. I even had a day where my vision was somewhat compromised, but not as bad as 3 weeks ago. The warm compresses and the artificial tears are helping, but I think the real solution will be when the chemo ends.

This week I have been going into my office every morning to get some work done. Classes start in 11 days, yikes! I still have so much to do. But I am also getting excited to teach again, I just have to be very careful not to get sick.

I doubt that I will have another post till next Friday when the 3rd cycle will be done.

Love to you all!