Thanks Neupogen - A Good News Update

Last week I reported that my white blood cell count was stonkingly low so I had to have a week off chemo as well as the dreaded five day course of Neupogen injections ('Ouch - Neupogen').

Day two duly delivered back ache and leg bone agony and I was dreading the remaining injections.

But I have good news to report: the next morning the pain had utterly vanished.  I had the third injection with a the glum certainty that the pain would be back by lunchtime....and it wasn't.  In fact, the rest of the course passed without incident. 

My husband did a splendid job of sticking the needles into my belly every morning and today I have been feeling much better.

I'm told that you can't tell whether your white blood cell count is up or down but I don't believe a word of it.  A few weeks ago I posted about how remarkably well  I was feeling and, hey presto, my blood test revealed my highest count yet.  And last week I was really struggling to cope - hardly surprising as my count was so magnificently low.

Today I might not exactly have as much bounce as a Tigger but I could definitely compete with a small frog.  So it was more with relief than surprise that I got my blood test results and found that my white blood cells have recovered.  They're still on the low side but they're high enough - so back on Taxol tomorrow!

Neupogen did the job and I survived a horribly low white blood cell count without catching a thing - despite the snotty kids.

On the other hand, I still have six Taxol to get through so it seems a pretty good bet that my bone marrow is going to struggle.  I asked the doctor what we could do about this and the short answer was...not much.  A low count will mean another missed week and another course of neupogen.  So I don't think I've seen the last of neutropenia and all these delays mean that chemo will end up stretching further and further into January.

But if there's one thing that chemo has taught me, it's to go with the flow.  So for now I'm just enjoying my restored white blood cells and my little frog bounce.