My Mum had her first chemo treatment on 23 Oct. Last Wednesday she was admitted to hospital with a very, very low white blood count and was in for about 5 days. They gave her antibiotics by iv and tablets to take for the next week. She is still not well - she has had her good days but on the whole she has not been right. I received a text from her today and she is not feeling as good as yesterday and doesn’t understand it – she thinks she has a cold possibly. Has anyone else had similar problems? Should the chemo be out of her system by now (day 21)? Her hair is starting to fall out also.
Hi London I too had this during chemo. As you are aware when blood count is low we are suceptable to infection and depending on how serious or what the infection is a course of antibiotics may not clear it . I would strongly advise you to contact the hospital chemo unit for advice. There are too many nasty bugs around to leave it too chance take care kittyx
Your mum should have been given information before the chemo to let her know of what might happen and what to look out for. I was given a chemo card with emergency numbers on it and typical symptoms, and was also given a thermometer as you must keep an eye on your temp and call the cancer clinic/hospital if your temp goes above 37.5 degrees.
I was told that during the first week after chemo you are likely to feel sick and tired, during the second week your immunity is lowered so you need to keep a closer eye out for infection (and keep a good check on temp, especially if you don’t feel well), and during the third week you should hopefully be recovering from the chemo and be ready for the next one.
If your mum feels unwell, make sure she is checking her temp and calling the clinic/hospital if it is high. Now is not the time to ‘soldier on’ - it needs to be checked out.
But it sounds like, unfortunately, what she is experiencing is normal, if thats what you needed to know. xxxx
Just to add to what the others have said already. Has your mother been given GCSF injections to boost the production of neutrophils in her bone marrow? If not that would be worth asking the Onc about. I had them for all but one of my chemos and the time I didn’t had them ended in hospital for 5 days with neutropenic sepsis. This little injections are usually given for 5 days (each time you have chemo) and can be administered by the district nurses.
The purpose of the blood test a day or two before the next chemo is to ensure that all the bloods have picked up fully enough for the body to endure the next lot.
If your mum gets a high temperature at any point in the chemo cycle it is really important that she makes contact with someone for advice.
I should add in case you aren’t aware (I wasn’t before I started chemo) that neutrophils are a type of white blood cell that fights infection. Elinda x
Thanks again for your replies. Thx elinda - yes my Mum had the GCSF injections when she was in hospital and we were told yesterday that she will have them again 5 days after the chemo (2nd session tomorrow) by the district nurse which is good but apparently the white blood count can still get low even with these injections?
She’s also taking Life Mel Honey which i read about on this forum that is supposed to help during chemo.