The mid-chemo trough

When the doc walked into the room yesterday, he said, "You look great, but your blood work results are terrible." All my levels are a lot lower than they should be. In fact, the lab called my nurse because my white blood cells are that low.

At this point last cycle, my absolute neutrophils or neuts (the part of the white blood cell they're concerned about) were 0.3, which puts me at risk for infection or illness. This time, they're 0.2. The literature says anything below 0.5 is dangerous. I've been told to be careful, avoid crowds and avoid sick people.

My red blood cells and platlets are low too. So, I'm going to feel tired (yup, but not too bad), I may get dizzy if I move from a laying to sitting position too quickly and I won't heal as quickly. That explains why a sore on my finger isn't even scabbing over. I may also get headaches.

I'm currently in, what my doc and nurse called the mid-chemo trough. It's the point when the full effects of the chemotherapy's killing power is witnessed in the blood cells. They're seeing the same types of results in the others in the study, regardless of whether the participant takes Olaparib. In other words, these results are probably typical of patients undergoing chemotherapy treatment around day 15.

My low blood levels aren't a problem unless they don't recover quickly. I need to see the vampires (oops, give blood) again tomorrow morning at a lab in London so my research nurse can verify I'm on the rebound by tomorrow afternoon. Then I'll be able to enjoy myself during the long weekend!

I also have a prescription for a new antacid. When I mentioned the breakthrough pain from over the weekend, the doc decided to try a different way to combat it. So now, I'm going on AcipHex, once a day. Hopefully, that'll work and I won't have any side effects from the Olaparib next time around.

I'm confident my blood levels will be fine by tomorrow and continue to build in time for my chemo next Friday. Until then, I'll lay a little low and rest.


Tina