WBC counts?

[kamataca]

Mom was disappointed (again) this week that she couldn't do chemo yesterday. She has only been able to do her meager doses of Gemzar every other week so far. She is on the Aranesp to being up her RBC counts, but this week is was her White Blood Cell count that was too low. Is there a shot for that?

It was a bit funny--she was well enough to be crabby at them. Her nurse (whom we dearly love) was trying to explain why they couldn't just go ahead and give her the chemo, and told her, "Well, we have to be a bit careful with you because you are so fragile." Now, fragile is a word that anyone looking at Mom would use, but not anyone who has seen her battle over the last 30 years. Mom was offended by the poor nurse's choice of words.

We did convince her (I think) that even the bits of chemo she is getting is much better for her than ending up in the hopsital with an infection. Honestly, that is what scares me the most. The tumors are not immediately life threatening at this point, but I'm afraid an nasty infection, hospitalization, or pneumonia would be.

So again, anyone know if there is a shot or something she can do to boost WBC?

Kelly

[dchurchi]

Kelly,

I think Nulesta (spelling) is for boosting WBC. you

are right about being concerned about infection, that

is what put Alan in the hospital for over a month.

I hope the Drs can get your mom's count up. I wish I

had been there for your mom's reaction to being

called Fragile

[john]

Kelly,

Debbie is right it is called Neulasta

[RandyW]

THis is a link TO Neulasta info No Sales THough Click to be redirected;

http://www.neulasta.com/patient/index.jsp

[trish2418]

Poor Mom! I was given Neulasta injections my last 3 chemo treatments to boost WBC. Its an injection that you get the day after chemo. I was told that once you receive Neulasta, you must keep receiving it with each subsequent treatment. By the way, my sister called me "fragile" after my second allergic reaction to chemo and I went ballistic on her. Good thing she was in New Jersey and I was in Florida or I would have been needing a bail bond! Fragile is a bad word to use to describe someone who's fighting such a courageous battle. Get the nurse a thesaurus!

Hope things improve for mom real soon.

Trish