Hiya
Just heard this evening that my proposed second course of epirubicin tomorrow has been postponed because while my overall white blood count is okay - 3.3 - my neutrophils are borderline - 1.08. Have to go for another blood test tomorrow afternoon in the hope that they will have increased to the acceptable count of 1.5 so that I can then have my second course on Thursday but apart from now being upset that it may very well mean that each course may need to be postponed I really don’t understand what these figures mean!
I’ve googled ‘neutrophils’ and ‘white blood count’ - and understand a little - but am looking to anyone who can make it all more meaningful to me!
Naz
Hi Naz,
I’m sure if you give the helpline a call the staff here will be able to explain to you all about neutrophils. The lines are open again tomorrow at 9am until 5pm, the number is 0808 800 6000.
Hope this helps.
Kind regards,
Jo, Facilitator
Naz
My white blood and neutrophils were often low. At one point the neutrophils got down to 0.7. The only time it was normal was after a week away when my husband did most of the child care and my friend did most of the cooking, but I couldn’t do that every three weeks, unfortunately.
I think the most common thing is for them to make you wait a week before the next dose.
all the best
Pauline
Naz, just had the same experience! Totally p***d off because I want to get it all over…there was a really good thread going about this, but I cant find it for you now!! chicken soup/ carcasses good because they contain an amino acid called arginine which is an important component of white blood cells. Just the meat is no good becasue the arginine is in the gristle.Yum
I bought MANUKA honey (£9!!) becasue some of these girls said it was good for this, but its just given me the runs…
Good luck hope we will both be having the lovely CMF tomorrow…
Zoe xx
Hi Zoe - So sorry to ready your posting, it is so frustrating to have the chemo delayed when you are all geared up for it, and I do hope your count will be up tomorrow. 1.5 generally speaking seems to be the lowest neutrophil rate at which they will give chemo. Below1.00 you are called neutropaenic, and if you have a fever over 38 and are neutropaenic then that’s often the reading below which you are admitted with IV antiobiotics. My own little saga was that I went to A and E a couple of weeks ago with a fever of 38. Was told I would be admitted if neutrophils under 1.00. After blood test told my rate was low but not critical and sent home with oral antibiotics. However, when I saw the oncologist last week he was really shocked I had been sent home and said I should have been in hospital for a week on IV antibiotics as my neutrophil count was 0.18!!! I was lucky that things did not go badly wrong, and have written to the hospital. If it is any comfort, by a week later my neutrophils were 11 - who knows why, although laughter seems to come in for some rave reviews on the neutrophil front! The day after my chemo this time I had to have a neulasta injection (in tummy), this stimulates the bone marrow to make as many white cells as possible. Side effects - aches and pains! - had a fever of 37.7 last night, but hoping that it won’t come to anything more. Anyway, this is probably a ramble now! Good luck, and also to you Pauline. Sarah xx
Out of interest how are you using that manuka?
I’m not on chemo but chances are I will be soon (triple neg) but have used manuka for the last 2 years to fight off colds (which it has worked for me with).
I just wondered how much you’re eating and what you’re eating it with. I have visions of people eating a jar like haagen daaz or something 
I’m starting to eat manuka and omega oils now, and hope to get a month’s intake before they flatten my with chemo (dreading it even as a possibility but you’re all so brave I will just have to whimper quietly and bear it)
Angie
Thanks for replies everybody, I feel the need for my sisters right now! Putting on brave face a bit more difficult today, but dont have to do it here in our virtual world! Confession time - I have a nasty cough but I’m not going to tell them about it tomorrow, its only upper respiratory, not lungs. I really think my system will cope, and its had an extra week of getting back to normal.
Sara; when I went into hospital with a bad rash after chemo they called me the wrong name and nearly gave me someone else’s medicine!
Angie; sorry I dont know what I’m supposed to do with the manuka, I just take a teaspoon 3 times a day.
Just had a laugh on the thread about curly hair…Lindiloo has straight hair now instead of curly - I didnt know that happened, thought it was only the other way round. Think I will go and watch a funny film, build up those neutrophils. OH has gone out so tele to myself .
bye for now, Zoe
Good news everyone! In so far as having chemo can be good news at all, that is. My blood count has risen to an acceptable figure - 2.2 neutrophils and WBC of 4.8 overall. So tomorrow is on! And even better, not having felt too good this last week (I was expecting to feel on top of the world in the third week) I’ve not had the chance to worry about the next dose either! Here’s hoping, Zoe, that it all goes ahead for you tomorrow too.
I did start taking Manuka honey when I was first diagnosed - alongside countless other supplements - but I felt so guilty about the expense (£6!). I can now justify buying it again! Thank you. I used to add a teaspoon to a cup of hot water and occassionally add a spoonfull to my bowl of cereal too. As for eating it like a jar of haagen daaz, I think I’d prefer to eat the icecream on its own! Can’t say a chicken carcass appeals either - but having quickly googled ‘arginine’ I see that not only does it help the immune system but it also aids sexual performance, weight control and senility - side effects from which I also seem to be suffering!
Have you finished the chemo now, Pauline?
The more I think about it, Sarah, the more amazed I am by your experience - and relieved for you too!
I would never have thought that I would say this, Angie - and I am definitely inexperienced in all things chemo related - I have only had one dose so far - but the chemo itself has been more bearable than I expected it would be - and in the short time that I’ve been registered on this site I have found that everyone has been really, really, supportive - and informative, and, heaven forbid, even humorous! So you will certainly not need to quietly bear it on your own!
Roll on tomorrow afternoon and then it’ll be another epi down and one more course closer to CMF!
Lots of love, Naz
Hey!!! good news about the sexual performance, weight control and senility. Every cloud has a silver lining.
Having MEGA pre-chemo nerves right now (2 hours to go) even though I’ve had 6 already…
zoe xxx
p.s have just discovered how to catch up on where I have written (just used bookmark before) I enter my name in the earch box and there they all are.
And a big hug to everyone, including Sara - your chemo must be done by now as you are in Oz? My brother in Canberra is having surgery on his prostate next week, maybe you could go and give him a hug for me? x x x
Naz
Yes I’ve finished the chemo - YIPPEE. I had to have the neulasta drug 5 times of the 8. Also got the mastectomy out of the way and awaiting radiotherapy so coming around the final lap now.
best wishes to everyone
Pauline
HI Zoe - Very best of luck for your chemo today, it’s horrid thinking about it, but will soon be over and done with. We are here for three years in Canberra on a posting. Just arrived last September, and found I had breast cancer two months later, so have been having all my treatment here. Went back to UK for just a week in the middle of chemo as it was my son’s half-term, he’s here for Easter now which is great. Our daughter is here as well for a gap year which is lovely - back to UK in September to start Uni. Not quite finished with the chemo - one more taxotere to go, and then rads after that. Good luck to your brother for his surgery. Wonder where he is having it, I have my chemo at Zita Mary clinic which is at Calvary Hospital, they are fantastic. Rads will be at Canberra Hosp.
Pauline - fantastic news that you have finished the chemo. Its a long, tough lap but we do make it across the finishing line eventually, and what a feeling that must be!
Naz - Hope your chemo went OK, so glad your neutrophils behaved themselves in the end! Can’t rememer the last time I had a full night’s sleep, but it’s great keeping company with all of you here. Best of luck. Keep posting! Love Sarah xx
Well done Pauline, best of luck for the next bit! And good to hear from you Sara - you have really been through the mill, far worse than me. My neutrophils went way back up to 6.6 just with one extra week so it was worth waiting. Hope your blood counts stay reasonable Naz, I wish I knew when in the cycle our bone marrow starts producing WBCs again, cannot find out from the web. Maybe Sara (the expert on BC) knows. Have really hit the chicken stock, and a friend of mine who is a paramedic in the states, and also had BC herself 6 years ago, said raisins were big white blood cell makers.
really tired, itchy arms and legs, so signing off, love Zoe
Hi Zoe - Not sure if you mean me in your posting above, and would by no means claim to be an expert (!), but see that you asked here, and in another posting about the neutrophils and when they pick up again. My understanding is that they are at their lowest between about day 10 and 14, and from there on start to be produced again, all ready for the next chemo at day 21 ((or at least that’s the theory!). Hope that’s some help, - laughter is meant to give them a good boost! Very best of luck. Love Sarah x
Yes, Sara you are being modest! Every thread has a useful and informative contribution from you. And usually lots of moral support, maybe you should get a job with Breast cancer care?
I asked about the WBCs because I have been off work ages, and want to concentrate buying and eating the most expensive ‘good’ things when they work best…so 10 days sounds like a good idea. Phoned the helpline this morning and the nurse said the same as you! Forgot you would be posting ‘in the middle of the night’. Have a horrible lumpy sore arm too, think I may have a clot but they just dont seem so worried about it here. How long must you go on with injections? Do they keep checking for it shrinking?
Naz, Pauline, Angie and everyone, hope you’ are all hanging in there. At least we have spring and summer bursting out this lovely week, poor Sara is heading for winter…if I remember (14 years ago) Canberra has leaves falling unlike the rest of Oz with gum trees…
love Zoe xxx
Naz
Just to add my tenpenworth! Following my first cycle of chemo my neuts went down to 0.5 - shocked at having to be delayed a week - quite distressing at the time as we all just want to get it over and done with - they then rose to 2.5 the following week so second cylcle went ahead - I was prescribed the Neulasta injection for day after which did have some debiltating side effects for 48 hours - bony pain and flu type symtoms but soon cleared up - despite then having a really nasty cough and cold - my next blood result prior to third cycle showed neuts up to 6.7 - so brill the Neulasta worked!
Hope you manage to either maintain your neuts or alternatively be prescribed Neulasta - Onc has advised that he will prescribe this for each cycle for me now - which reminds me I better get it ready for later - just had third cycle yesterday!
The other thing that I have eaten is dried apricots and Rachels ‘live’ yoghurt - I know we’re not supposed to eat anything with live bacteria but risk versus benefit for me.
Hope you find that everything will go as planned for you- onward and upward - sending lots of luck.
Janey x