Persistently low white blood count after just one infusion

[violeta_k]

Hello all,

I'm resorting again to the forum's collective knowledge for the first (unexpected) bump in the chemo journey.

Mom had her first Folfox treatment three weeks ago. She was scheduled for the second one a week ago, but her white blood count was too low at the time (at 0.5) and it was postponed for a week (she was supposed to have the second infusion tomorrow). Today, one week after, her count went even lower, at 0.3, and the 2nd infusion is postponed again for a week (so at 4 weeks after the 1st infusion).

The nurse explained that mom will get some injections after the next treatment to prevent this from happening again. Now I read some threads here and I understood that she's going to get Neulasta shots, that she may experience bone pain as side effect, and that there's evidence showing that taking Claritin helps with that.

Now my question is: How is this low WBC related to the cancer's reaction to chemo and/or subsequent evolution? The side effects of the first treatment were manageable and she was feeling quite well in her second week, so this came as a surprise really -- after just the first treatment. Moreover, the white blood count kept decreasing, instead of going up (0.5 at 2 weeks, 0.3 at 3 weeks). I'm worried about this sharp reaction of her immune system. Can it not go up at all ?

Thank you all for your help.

Violeta

[dianne052506]

Your mom's drop in WBC is similar to what I went through on FOLFOX, although I think I managed to get 2 rounds down before it dropped quite that low. After that, I had to have Neulasta every round, and sometimes we still had to delay treatment for a week.
My memory's shot this late at night, but I tried to find an explanation on Dr. google. http://cancer.about.com/od/chemotherapysideeffects/a/low_WBC.htmHope this helps.
Dianne