My mum was diagnosed with the most serious type of cancer earlier this year, is going threw chemo just now, had 3 sessions before they changed the medicine to a stronger type, since then she’s had 2 more sessions and not reacted well at all to them, dosnt seem to have a good week now, just const ill.
last week tho her neutroefiles? White blood cells were -3, she was running a temp of 103, and was taken in to hosp on doctors call, turns out she has a bone marrow infection, which they have started to stabalise, but today we were then told she has problems with hemoglobin (sp?) and requires a blood transfussion…
has anyone else experiecenced reactions like this, had to deal with what I think is quite severe, but might all be as were told -side affects’ of chemo? Normal prob isnt the word but what she going threw now, is that normal?
sorry ladies if im being blunt or upsetting anyone with what I say/ask
Hi CPM, so sorry to hear your Mum is having such a rough time.
Obviously I’m not medically qualified, but it sounds like your Mum is one of the unfortunate people whose neutrophils get really clobbered by the chemo drugs and fall to a very low level, which then becomes dangerous if you get any kind of infection - 103 F sounds pretty high to me, but I only know the guidelines for celcius, which is anything over 37.5C that lasts more than a couple of hours or anything over 38C means “go to hospital (emergency) now this minute”. So, your Mum is in the right place, and sounds like they are taking good care fo her.
Quite a few people also have to have blood transfusions during chemo. Usually they feel so much better afterwards, so hopefully your Mum will too.
This is obviously very worrying for you all, but with this good care, your Mum should soon feel muich better, and will hopefully be able to complete her chemo with no further problems.
So, to answer your question about ‘normal’, it’s not especially common, but yes, it does happen and people make a good recovery so long as they get the medical help.
Try to not fret too much, your Mum is in good hands.
I had 8 chemos and I needed a blood transfusion (can’t recall if it was after 4 or 5 now!). It was straightforward (I was in a bit of panic but nurse made it feel like it was pretty normal) and I felt better within 24-48 hrs. I was warned I might need another transfusion before the end of my treatment - but that never happened.