Chemo Postponed - Still Effective?

[TheLadySkye]

Sadness.

Alas, my labs were all too low for them to go ahead with my scheduled chemotherapy this morning. This would have been the 6/12 dose of FOLFOX, and I find that I'm quite upset by this development. I wonder why my body isn't responding well enough to replace the necessary cells, and I also wonder if the chemotherapy itself will be as effective if it is postponed a week. Does anyone have any insights?

[Nicolouna]

Hi,

My 6th treatment of folfox has also been delayed due to low blood counts. I also had what they think was an allergic reaction to oxaliplatin 2 weeks ago so my 5th treatment consisted of leucovorin and 5FU. Next time around they are thinking of giving me a test dose of oxaliplatin. Anyway, as far as effectiveness goes, my oncologist was not too worried about my delay,...it's either that or your blood counts will crash after the chemo which would lead to all kinds of other potential problems - infection, palpitations, etc.... From what I've read also, it's not uncommon to have delays of chemo treatments...I know it sucks though, I was really looking forward to be done in early April .. Now that's probably postponed too....

[NWgirl]

It's quite common to have delays due to low blood counts. You can ask your oncologist about whether a Neulasta shot would help. When I was on FOLFOX I had to have it every round to keep my white blood counts up. For some this shot causes "bone pain" which you can take pain meds for. It never caused me any discomfort other than a little soreness and tightness around my shoulder area.

[CM35]

I had 2 of 12 rounds of folfox delayed (one due to low counts, the other by my choice - sometimes cancer has to be arranged around my life rather than me arranging my life around cancer.) It didn't have any deleterious effects as far as I know.

That being said, the round delayed due to low counts was frustrating. I had low white cells and ANCs that took an additional week to come up. One of the infusion nurses suggested walking - she said it sometimes helps stimulate bone marrow production in the legs? I tried it and it seemed to work... I walked and 2 days later everything was in acceptable range.

Good luck!

[hopeful]

This is really common. My husband's chemo was delayed a few times when he was going through chemo 4+ years ago. I was surprised at times how quickly his bloodwork bounced back up. Hang in there.

[orcasres]

Low WBC and Neutrophils are very common culprits and there are a couple of different kinds of shots that can help prevent this situation in the future. Neulasta is one option and Neupogen is another. I got one Neuopgen shot the day before infusion after the first time my chemo was delayed and it made all of the difference. Different folks need different amounts.

Lois

[nitebreez]

I just finished my 11th Folfox treatment -- after having a chemo break of 3 weeks. I just may have another chemo break before my last treatment coming up. I had so hoped to be able to be all through with chemo before this,....but oh well. Better late than never (as they say). My WBC is very sensitive to chemo, it seems.
On one chemo break I took 5 days of Neupogen (gave myself the shots, and was quite proud of myself).

[chrissyrice]

The idea is to kill the cancer... not kill you with chemo

Yes, you can take a break and let your body get stronger to work with the chemo.

Hope you medical team is also giving you IV fluids and whatever else is needed to get you through. Talk with them. Sometimes they are busy and forget you don't know everything that they think you should know.

Glad you have us... I was not so lucky to have this site until I had suffered more than I should have. Just, didn't know what to ask or what was "normal" during active chemo.

Praying for you,
Chrissy

[TheLadySkye]

Thank you all for sharing your thoughts and advice. I try again tomorrow and hopefully my labs will be in good enough shape to continue forward. And then hopefully it will all work and this rotten cancer will never recur. Please? Pretty please?