Postby Dot » Thu Apr 20, 2006 8:10 pm
Hi;
My husband currently is on chemo for stage IV CC. I watch his lab work more than he does. We get copies each time he has a lab draw. If his hgb or hct (hemoglobin, hematocrit, aka H&H) are low he gets a shot of Aranesp. He gets this if he is less than 12.6. These are indicators of anemia (low red blood cell count). Aranesp or similar drugs like Procrit or Epogen help the body make red blood cells and chemo kills some red blood cells.
He also gets a shot of Neulasta to keep his white blood cell count up. If your white blood cell counts drop too low you are at a great risk of getting an infection and your body not being able to fight it. The longer he is on chemo his white blood cell counts are slowly dropping even with the Neulasta, but the counts are still greater than 5000.
They had put him on the Neulasta as soon as he started chemo. His surgical wound was still healing and he was not on any antibiotics. Another factor is that he is a diabetic and diabetics do heal slower normally.
He gets the Aranesp on the first day of chemo and when he is done with his 46 hour 5FU infusion he gets the Neulasta.
So the Aranesp is keeping his anemia under control and the Neulasta is keeping his white blood cell count high enough to naturally fight any infection. He did get a couple of colds this past winter, but he did not get any other infection like bronchitis or pneumonia.
Periodically I ask that they give me a graphing of some of his lab reports. Like, CEA levels, LFT's (liver function tests since his tumors are in his liver). I review these and ask questions. For example, his CEA level was 14.1 before starting chemo and has been dropping till 4.1 then there was a slight increase up to 5.4. I questioned this and was told that this does sometimes happen while on chemo.
My advice, be your own advocate & ask questions. Get copies of your lab results and more importantly get the normal values of these labs so you too can see how low or high your levels are. Also, ask about getting Neulasta if your white blood cell cound is low. If you are told no, ask why! If you are anemic, ask about Aranesp.
Don't worry about being too pushy or demanding. It is your body, your disease and you have a right to know!
Stay strong and keep up the fight.
Dot