Try again early next week

Sherrie heard from the doctor today: they want her to take more Neupogen shots over the weekend and have a CBC on Monday for a possible chemo attempt on Tuesday.

She feels quite discouraged because the Neupogen doesn't seem to be working very well. She is worried that each of the final two rounds will have a similar story, and extend her even longer.

We'll obviously be consulting with the doctor on this next time we see him.

CBC still too low

Sherrie had a CBC this afternoon and got some discouraging news: the total count was 1.2. That's too low for chemo. The results were faxed to the doctor, and we'll wait to hear from them what they want to do next.

Needless to say, Sherrie is discouraged. It's frustrating for her to want to be done, but to be held hostage by her body's inability to keep up.

No joy today

Sherrie was denied chemo again today. Her blood count was too low (1.3 total white count), and her infection fighters were especially low (0.4). So, she's going to get Neupogen shots for the next three days, and then try again with a CBC on Wednesday for Friday chemo.

She took it in stride, though she's disappointed. She really was hoping to be all done by the time school starts, but that doesn't look likely right now.

As the doctor said, it's much safer not to do chemo with such a low count, even if it pushes the schedule back.

Report on latest chemo round

Sherrie began another round of chemo (number four!) on Monday of this week. Like clockwork, she threw up around 9:00 that night. She seemed to get a bit behind on the nausea on Tuesday and Wednesday (maybe because her scrip for Compazine ran out?), and had a rough couple of days.

She went on her morning walk this morning (Thursday), and seems to be feeling better. Hopefully she'll bounce back quickly.

The oncologist ordered Neupogen to start Tuesday the day after chemo. Maybe it will work well enough that she can get part two of this round next Monday.

Chemo cycle number four

Chemo cycle number four starts today. Sherrie had a CBC on Friday, and her white count was only 3.4 or so. That's not very high, but I think it will be high enough to start (hopefully; unless it has gone down more since then).

Sherrie has lost almost all of her eyelashes and eyebrows. I'm sure that whatever is hanging on will be gone within the next cycle. I know it's kind of a big deal to her, but I think she looks great, and she needn't worry about losing them.

Chemo report

Sherrie's blood count was high enough yesterday (10.0), so she had the 5-FU chemo yesterday. It went quickly and well, with no surprises or issues. She felt a little queasy later last night, but seems to be feeling okay today.

She was going to take herself to the doctor today (non-cancer related visit), but her eyes were tired and she had trouble driving, so I took her instead.

She's on Neupogen shots again for the next six days, and she'll have a CBC next week to make sure her white count is high enough.

Sherrie is now officially halfway through chemo; three more cycles to go!

Another setback today

Sherrie had another setback today. Her CBC showed a total white count of 1.8, and the "infection fighting" white cells at 0.5. The former has to be over 2.5, and the latter over 1.0, or they won't do the treatment. So, no chemo today.

The plan is to have a batch of Neupogen shots over the next several days, and then try again next Monday.

Sherrie was quite disappointed. As she said, she's a person who likes to keep to schedule, and having these hiccups is hard to swallow. But by this evening, she was feeling better. She knows it's best to be safe; getting an infection would be far worse. So she's being patient and strong.

End-of-week update

Sherrie is starting to feel better. She had a rough few days since Monday. She managed to keep food down after Monday night, but she's been quite nauseous and tired since then. Last night she started to feel better, and she seems more chipper, so we're hopeful things will be looking up. If we can keep her from getting "anticipatory nausea" on Monday, she should be able to have a good couple of weeks.

She starts Neupogen shots on Tuesday, and this time she'll get six of them. We will make sure we find out what her white count is when she is done, and if it's not high, we'll contact the doctor and see how to proceed.

The last vestiges of her "normal" hair have fallen out, and she's left with very fine, hard-to-see white hairs. She still has her eyelashes and her eyebrows, and she's hopeful she'll keep them a while longer (forever?).

This week while she was ill, she made a lovely crocheted hat out of bamboo yarn--it's soft and comfortable.

Chemo report

Sherrie's white count was quite high today (around 18!), so she received the chemo. The bone soreness which came with the Neupogen shots the time before last didn't occur this time. (The doctor says that when the shots are working well, the bone marrow expands and makes the bones ache.) Nevertheless, the shots must have worked, because her white count was high.

We've tried everything in the book to keep her from getting sick, but she still got sick and vomited tonight around 8:00 or so. I feel so badly for her; she's not feeling well at all. It will likely be a day or two before she can hold anything down, if past experience is any predictor.

Although she has another appointment next week for the second treatment in this cycle, it won't likely be bad at all, and so tonight she feels like she's halfway done. She's doing awesome!

Chemo today

Sherrie is scheduled for another attempt at chemo today. She had Neupogen shots on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Her hips ached a little, so hopefully that means the shots were working and building up the white cell count.

I'll tweet something later after we find out if she's able to receive the chemo today.

Disappointing setback

Sherrie wasn't able to receive her chemotherapy injections today. Her white blood cell count was too low, particularly the infection-fighting component (count was 700, anything under 1000 is considered bad).

As a result, Sherrie is going to have three days of Neupogen shots, and then another attempt at chemo will be made on Monday, depending on whether the white cells come back up.

Apparently, the fact that her count was so low "slipped through the cracks" as the doctor said. The white count was 3.5 after the last series of shots. The doctor said that if he had known that, he would have ordered more shots until the count came up.

So Sherrie's schedule has slipped several days. From now on, chemo will be on Mondays, assuming no more slippage.

Sherrie was a bit disappointed, as she had psyched herself up for chemo today, a bad weekend, and feeling better early next week. Now, we'll have to wait.

It's probably for the best, as getting sick with a low count would likely set her back much more than a few days, besides being a bit dangerous.

Cycle number three starts tomorrow

Sherrie starts chemo cycle number three tomorrow. She's had a great attitude the last several days, but started feeling a little nervous today. I think she's done marvelously at keeping a positive outlook through the whole ordeal. I can only imagine the feeling of dread that must come about now, but it doesn't show at all. She's a great example and my hero.

She had a CBC (blood count) today, but no word on her white cell count. I suppose the doctor will tell us tomorrow. After the last chemo injection two weeks ago, she started on Neupogen the next day. After five days of shots, her white count was only 3.6 or so. I think that the Neupogen and the chemo were having a battle for white cells. She didn't get sick, so the Neupogen must have won, though we wished the count had been a little higher after those five days of shots.

Nonetheless, she's made it through two complete cycles without getting sick (at least, nothing other than nausea and throwing up :-)

Her hair is essentially all gone. A lot of little nubs on the top of her head held on for quite some time, but they're pretty much all gone now. She rubbed many of them away in the last couple of days. Her head is sore in the spots where the hair is still falling out. She has a nicely shaped head, and I think she looks good bald, but nobody else will really get to see her that way; too bad.

We're hopeful that a combination of anti-nausea meds, ginger, and a positive outlook will keep the stomach problems away this time. After this cycle, she'll be halfway done!

Sherrie's "chemo 2" day

Sherrie had "chemo 2" yesterday (they gave her only 5-FU). She was getting quite nervous in the days leading up to it, even though she didn't really have a bad reaction the first time. The nurses explained this as "anticipatory nausea," and it's apparently quite real for many people. The nurses told us that they've met some of their patients months or years after chemo and the patients will have the dry heaves or even throw up when they see the nurses! So Sherrie has this association problem to deal with each time we go.

She felt better after the treatment, though she did feel a little nauseous last night. She hasn't been without nausea since the "chemo 1" treatment (all three drugs) last week. Hopefully she'll get feeling noticeably better today.

Sherrie had a CBC yesterday and her white count was already down to 2.5. The nurses said they wouldn't do the treatment if it fell below 2.0. Since she's starting a five-day course of Neupogen today, they went ahead with the treatment yesterday.

She also has some sores on her head, so the doctor gave her a prescription for an antibiotic given her low blood count.

Sherrie's weekend

Sherrie had a reasonable weekend, but she hasn't started feeling noticeably better yet as of tonight (Sunday). She's still feeling a bit tired, nauseous, and not quite up to snuff. Hopefully a good night sleep and she'll be much better tomorrow.

What goes down must come up?

Sherrie threw up last night a couple of times. She seems to be feeling better this time than last, but one can't be sure. She held down a banana this morning and just tried some rice. She seems a bit weak, which is only natural considering what she's been through.

We're hopeful the ginger and anti-nausea meds will help her to feel better this time than last.

Chemo 1 report

Today's chemo session was unspectacular, at least so far. The only thing of any import that happened is that the oncologist told us he would order Neupogen for Sherrie to begin the day after her chemo session next Thursday. He said that since she had demonstrated falling to a low white count during the first cycle, we should just assume it will happen again, and try to prevent it with a five-day course of Neupogen. Sounds eminently logical.

The chemo induction was relatively quick and relatively incident-free. Sherrie didn't feel much like eating her ice toward the end, but she came home and ate a nice dinner (provided by a loving friend and neighbor--thanks!).

So now the waiting game begins. Hopefully the combination of the ginger and the two anti-nausea drugs will make the beginning of this cycle easier than the last.

Chemo 1 today

Sherrie has a "chemo 1" appointment this afternoon. We hope that she is well enough to do the chemo; her fever came back yesterday a little bit (around 99F), but it was gone this morning. So we'll see what the doctor says.

Sherrie's been taking ginger the last few days, which hopefully will help wit the nausea (see http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/05/15/ginger.chemo.nausea/ ). She's not too excited about the beginning of the new cycle, but she has to get through it to get to the other side.

She's growing accustomed to wearing scarves and her wig. I think she looks awesome in both.

Look for an update later today.

White fever?

Sherrie didn't feel super-well the last few days. She had a near-continous headache since receiving the Neupogen injections. The last of these was given on Monday, but the headache persisted beyond that.

Sherrie had a CBC on Monday and her reported white count was 17.0! Normal is anything above 6.5 or so, and her white count had gotten as low as 1.7 late last week. The Neupogen must be doing its job.

Of moderate concern to us is that she had a slight fever (around 99.5F) beginning Tuesday around noon. We watched it rather closely throughout the day and evening, but it never got higher. By Wednesday afternoon, the fever and headache were gone, and she was feeling better. It seems rather odd that she would have a fever when her white count was so high. This will be a question for the doctor on Thursday.

We're hoping that she'll be feeling 100 percent for the beginning of the next round of chemo this Thursday afternoon.

General, the ranks are thinning ...

Sherrie had a blood test today, and within 30 minutes the oncologist's nurse called and informed her that her white count has fallen alarmingly low. We had to go this afternoon to their office to receive a shot of Neupogen. Neupogen is an amino acid which promotes the growth of white cells in the marrow-producing bones. There's an interesting website at http://www.neupogen.com/pi.html which describes it nicely. It's definitely a high-tech drug; it's produced by recombinant DNA techniques in E. coli bacteria.

Sherrie has to have a shot of Neupogen each of the next five days. Since one of those days is a Sunday (and the office isn't open), she gets a larger size dose on Saturday. Her white count was down to 1.7 (in whatever units they measure white count). Normal is above 6.5 or so. Last week, just before the chemo 2 injection on Thursday, her white count was 4.5. They want to get her white count up to 10.0 by the beginning of the next chemo cycle on Thursday of next week.

Apparently this isn't a rare thing for chemo patients. The oncologist told us that about 60 percent of patients have to have Neupogen (or equivalent) injections during chemotherapy.

The funny thing is Sherrie feels great, with no apparent ill effects. It's kind of scary that one's white count can be so low, and yet feel fine.

She may have sore bones (back, sternum, and hips) as a side effect of this drug.

Hair today, gone today

This morning was a traumatic one for Sherrie. Her hair started coming out in small bunches last night. She could run her hand through her hair and pull out little clumps. This morning, the clumps were a little bigger, though it didn't look as though her hair was thinning yet. She struggled with the reality of the situation ("maybe it won't all fall out, but will just thin a little"), and in the end, she asked me to shave her head. So, we had a head shaving party this morning, and after a few minutes with the hair trimmer, it was all on the floor. It was an emotional experience, in spite of the mental preparations of the past few weeks.

Other than that, Sherrie has been feeling quite well. She's not really experiencing much (if any) nausea, and she seems to have sufficient energy each day. Her white count is surely low right now, and we have illness (colds) in the home, so those of us who are ill are keeping our distance as much as possible. She's beginning to dread the beginning of chemo cycle number two next Thursday.

I'm very proud of Sherrie for her great attitude and indomitable spirit. She's being put through the wringer, but she weathers the storms with strength, dignity, hope, and a positive outlook. She's a great example to me.