Network for Information

Kevin had a Neulasta injection today.

The information we got from the clinic previous to the injection was limited to a date and time on the schedule sheet with the entry "injections."

WTF. Cancer has so expanded my embrace of the occasionally satisfying expletive. WTF. Isn't he entitled to a little more information about what's being done to his body?

I waited until after his treatment this week before I called. Gave the benefit of the doubt--surely someone would sit with him and explain..."Now, on Thursday you're going to come in for....And the reason you do this is..."

Nope. Didn't happen.

I, of course, called then to find out more--what injections and why. Bugs the heck out of me that we have to run down information like this but, ok, this is how things are done. In any case, once we had the name of the drug it was easy to research it through our growing network of up to date information. The internet, a handful of friends and friends of friends who are nurses, radiologists, dieticians or have had recent personal experience with this cancer treatment.

Tip for the Day---Networking for information is your friend if you or someone you love is ever diagnosed with cancer. Don't be shy, don't be so polite you walk through it in dumb-struck silence and don't ever be afraid to ask until you get an understandable answer. Ask someone else if your first line of information (your own doctors office) turns out to suck at communication.

Kevin's chemotherapy is myelosuppressive. That means it kills some healthy blood cells as well as cancer cells and will eventually cause lowered blood counts. Back to the earlier explanation of chemotherapy not knowing the difference between cancer cells and healthy cells so it targets all rapidly dividing cells. (This is something I predict will change as research is showing promise of ways to target only the cancer cells.)

White blood cells (there are several kinds of white blood cells) help fight infection. Neulasta is a white cell booster that will help his immune system recover and lowers the chance of him getting an infection.

It's given 24 hours after chemotherapy is completed (for Kevin this means after the infusion pump comes off) and is usually given once a month. So he'll get an immune system boost after every 2 treatments (every complete cycle).

Neulasta doesn't come with a lot of baggage of its own. There are always some possibilities of severe reaction, but that's unusual. Some people have bone pain because it works within the bone marrow but it's usually minimal and manageable with Tylenol.

This is a big improvement over what chemotherapy patients experienced in years past and should increase the liklihood of Kevin staying relatively healthy through treatment.