Just asking if anyone ever had any problems with their immune system recovery ??
Grade 3 invasive diag march 09, 3 x epi, 3 x tax, 6 x CMF (taken off early due to deterioration of bone marrow and sepsis twice) Onc made an executive decision not to give me my last four.
Started Herceptin sept 09 had single mx nov 09.
3 weeks of Rads feb 2010
Finished herceptin Sept 2010, had Double mx with immediate expander recon 6th november 2010. So early days I know.
My white cells have never recovered, I do not catch colds or anything though which I find quite odd. I absolutely feel like ive been run over by a bus at the minute, my face looks ashen, my eyes pitted, yes I know ive just had a major op and im digging for positivity. Just wondered if anyone else had any issues with their bloods not doing what they should do after your treatment.
Very strange also, that my hgb was 12.3 day one after operation, then day after it had gone to 9… the drains were fine, no excess, and docs didnt understand the sudden drop… Also prior to this every time my bloods have been taken there seems to be some issue with my white cell count that it hasnt recovered from chemo and herceptin battering…
Just looking for any similar stories, good or bad, to give me ideas where to go next !!!
Thanks in advance…
The most battered smallstar lol xxx
Something else very significant that I would like to share with you all as I am astounded by it and it could help so many of you.
Finished my rads in Feb… Nothing major only increasing pain underneath the collar bone, underneath my armpit where i had all my nodes removed …
June I hit 40 and partied far to much than I should have !! (got led astray by girls on here!!)… After my birthday party, I had a shoulder and neck pain that I can only describe as an ache…
This ache continued and got worse, so much so i could barely move my head to the side, i couldnt move it up or down with out a severe pain at the top of my spine…
My shoulder blade was joining in the fun… or not so as it was by now very sore…
I mentioned it to my onc on 22nd october after the pain was becoming so distressing. I asked for physio, she said she would send me for an mri first as they wouldnt see me unless this had been done, this is scheduled for 28th november…
However… since my double mastectomy ( Risk reducing to the right and replacing the left implant from last year)and speaking with my surgeon, He inserted my new implants and the one where i had the rads wouldnt sit right. I had a massive area of distorted tissue under my collar bone and almost like a block of soap under my armpit, This was caused by radio damage. He burned what he could off and manipulated the rest before putting my new implant in.
I have had no pain since… its a week today and ive been on zero painkillers since thursday just to make sure it werent the morphine that was keeping me happy haha…
Just in case any of you are experiencing similar… wont be going for my mri unless any pain comes back and its looking very good at the moment !!
yes I too have had problems with my blood - both WBC and lack of iron. My WBC or rather neutrophils are still low 2 1/2 years since treatment finished. My neutrophils are just over 1 which is out of the danger zone but they were lower than that for quite a while and after I had my reconstructive surgery earlier on this year, they went right down to about 0.5. and my RBC went down to 6 so i had a blood transfusion and the levels are still low. I have a very low level of iron right now which is being treated with iron tablets. i have a review with the doctor on Monday to discuss this all and see how things are going.
Other than that I’m keeping pretty well and not picking up infections or anything so that’s good. Sorry to hear about your worries but it sounds as if one of the problems has been solved now by the surgery.
Ruby
xxxx
Hi Smallstar, yes, I too had problems with my white cell count,and haemoglobin, to the point where I was taken off FEC Chemo after 4 cycles, because my bone marrow wasn’t coping too well. My Haemoglobin had gone down from 12.4 in June, to only 8 in September, so I had 2 units of blood, and no more Chemo! My Oncologist was happy that I had had 4 sessions, and I start Radiotherapy next week. I expect you was relieved to come off the Chemo, too, I know I worried a lot of the time, especially as 2 weeks after each session I got really cold, and then spiked a temperature, and had to go my my GP for a check up and repeat bloods to see just how low it had all gone! Still, I am here to tell the tale, and we all react differently to treatment, don’t we?
Heather.x
P.S My hgb is still only 11, and the Doc wants to do a repeat test in 4 weeks, I forgot to ask about the white cells, but they were persistently low after Chemo and then came up just before the next one. I can only gather it is OK now, or I think my GP would have mentioned it, so I’m sorry if I got side tracked going on about my hgb when your question was really about the white cells! I’m blaming chemo brain, but of course I know it is really just me!
Hope all goes well with you,
Heather.x