The return back to CT from Florida was uneventful and a shock on the system weather wise. Although the sun was shining on Easter Sunday when we woke up in CT it was a bit chilly to say the least. Looking back on my 16 days in Florida, I had it great and shouldn’t complain.
On Tuesday I went to the hospital at 8:00am for my weekly blood draw to make sure all was ok for chemo the following Thursday. I was to get just Taxol and possibly magnesium depending upon my mag counts. I hadn’t heard anything from the hospital on Tuesday or Wednesday, which is normal, and I hadn’t had a chemo treatment in 3 weeks so I was expecting all of my blood work to be stellar. NOT!
Mother Theresa, my mom named Theresa, brought me to my chemo appointment (she came home from Florida for the season after our visit) and we were both shocked when the nurse said that my combined white count from Tuesday’s result was too low to have chemo. I asked how that can be if I hadn’t had a chemo treatment in 3 weeks and she replied, “everyone is different, we will take your blood again now and send it “stat” and see if it has come up.”
Just for future knowledge/information, the Absolute Neutrophil Count, for my chemo, needs to be 1,000 or more in order for me to get the treatment. That Tuesday it came back as 862 so I was too low to get the treatment. The calculation for the ANC count is this: White Cell count multiplied by the Neutrophils. So if this number is under 1,000 (represented on my lab sheet as 1.0) then the patient is susceptible to infection and therefore it is too risky to infuse with the chemotherapy. So much to consider!
So, she accessed my port, drew a vile of blood and sent it to the lab while we waited patiently in the infusion room. She did tell me that my magnesium was 1.7, the highest it has been in years, so I wouldn’t need mag bags! I chalk it up to the Quinoa and daily dose of two bananas that I’ve been inhaling for the past few weeks. Thanks to everyone for helping me out on this one.
An hour later I was told my ANC was 1,068 (1.0) and I was hooked up to my bag of Taxol and left to drip for an hour. Almost rejected, but NOT.
