Losing My Infection Fighters
After receiving my first chemotherapy treatment, I was given things to keep an eye on mostly because my body was now at risk for serious complications - infection or loss of blood cells.
White Blood Cells amongst Red Blood Cells
(White - balls / Red - discs)
Certain chemotherapy drugs can damage your bone marrow — the spongy material found in your bones. Your bone marrow makes blood cells, which grow rapidly, making them very sensitive to the effects of chemotherapy. Chemotherapy kills many of the cells in your bone marrow, but the cells recover with time. (MayoClinic)
Before my first treatment was even given, blood was drawn so the doctor could monitor my blood cell counts. Everything was good before the first treatment so the chemotherapy was given. Testing of the blood would be done before each round of treatment. When checking the blood cell count, the doctor was looking at the numbers and types of the following:
White blood cells. These cells help your body fight infection. A low white blood cell count (leukopenia) leaves your body more open to infection. And if an infection does develop, your body may be unable to fight it off.
Red blood cells. Red blood cells carry oxygen throughout your body. Your red blood cells' ability to carry oxygen is measured by the amount of hemoglobin in your blood. If your level of hemoglobin is low, you're anemic and your body works much harder to supply oxygen to your tissues. This can make you feel fatigued and short of breath.
Platelets. Platelets help your blood to clot. A low platelet count (thrombocytopenia) means your body can't stop itself from bleeding. (MayoClinic)
My cancer treatment was likely to cause low blood cell count so we were told to keep an eye on fevers of 100.5F (38 C), chills and sweating. On the sixth day I started having night sweats and on day seven I started to get the chills. As usual I blew it off as I’m always cold and just thought that the night sweats was that it got hot in our room overnight. My husband who doesn’t take anything lightly (which is probably a good thing, when it comes to going to the doctor) got home from work, felt my forehead and immediately called the oncologist. The direct order was to go immediately to the emergency room.
This was the first time I had ever been to the emergency room and I was pretty scared about what was happening. We went to the garage in our apartment and drove directly to Northwestern Hospital. My husband dropped me off and we checked in. I remember explaining to the front desk that my oncologist Dr. Mellott told me to come in. I waited for a while with sick people surrounding me. I was pretty uncomfortable. I was finally led to a curtained space where I was stuck with a needle and they put in an IV. I don’t remember a lot of what was going on other than I was very anxious and scared. I didn’t like the way I was feeling nor the fact that I was in the emergency room. I just kept thinking the worse every time someone came in and out of the space. The last time I was in the emergency room was with my husband in New York City which was one of the scariest moments. We got through it together so thank goodness he was there with me to keep me calm while I was the one laying in the bed this time.
The doctor came back informing me that my white blood cells were at a very low count and my immune system was at risk. My anxiety only continued to rise. After learning we would be staying the night in the hospital my husband called my sister who lives in Chicago to come to the emergency room to keep me company while he went home to get a bag of clothes for us. After my sister got to the hospital, Eric went home to get stuff for the night and I was wheeled through the underground tunnels of Northwestern to the Women’s Hospital Prentice. At this time I started getting tingles and feeling itchy. My head was tingling all over and all I could think about was that my hair was starting to fall out. I was freaking out that something was seriously wrong. I didn’t know what to do as it was just the nurse, my sister and I so I just laid there hoping it would go away.
When we got outside the room my sister looked at the nurse and asked if I was supposed to be red. I didn’t know that in addition to the tingles that I was also red all over. The nurse immediately started checking my body. She took me inside the room and gave me a Benadryl to help with the red and tingles. I continued to itch until another Benadryl was given. I would soon learn I was allergic to the drug Vancomycin that they gave me in the ER. I stayed in the hospital for 2 nights where they kept an eye on me. I had a few visits from my family while I was there and my husband stayed the night with me. During this time I started having bloody noses and sweating profusely, waking up in the hospital bed multiple times to have my gown changed as I was soaking wet. The bloody noses and night sweats became new symptoms of the chemotherapy. Yippee!
Check- I had all of these!
Due to the low white blood cell count after just my first chemotherapy, I was given Nulasta after every treatment. Unfortunately, they didn’t have the arm patch that they do now. I had to go back to the clinic the day after my treatment to get a shot of the Nulasta administered by the infusion RN. Luckily, the shot did it’s job and that was the only time I was admitted to the emergency room. It’s a scary thing and I’m grateful that I have my white blood cells! Be sure to take care while you are going through your chemotherapy especially around those who are sick. Your health is already compromised and can be put at more risk when your white blood cells are low and not able to fight like they usually do against other illnesses. If you have any questions please ask your medical team.