Day 65
It seems so frustrating that treatment is going to be delayed for another week. Delay makes you doubt the treatment, outcome, and even your own body. Jackie sometimes blames herself that her blood cell counts are down due to her own body. Medically speaking, low cell counts are very normal. People tend not to believe medicine or reports though. Everyone has their own explanation of why your blood cells lower. Some people blame it on not enough meat, not enough sleep, stress, and even not enough Ensure (dietary supplement). The facts are, chemotherapy targets fast replicating cells such as cancer cells and bone marrow cells. Many white blood cells are produced in the bone marrow and therefore are attacked by chemotherapy regimen. That is most likely why counts will drop during therapy. But of course, nobody listens.
I found an interesting article talking about ABVD treatment during a neutropenic, or low white blood cell stage. As stated before, growth hormones taken in addition to Bleomycin may cause toxicity. The studied samples a group of Hodgkin’s patients who did no take any growth factors and continued them on ABVD without delaying any treatment while being in a neutropenic state. They concluded that only a minute percentage of patients suffered from neutropenic side effects and majority were able to continue treatment with great prognosis. Therefore, the study said ABVD has little effect on someone who is in a neutropenic state.
“http://annonc.oxfordjournals.org/cgi.../full/18/2/376”
This is a very informative article and brings new insight into our current predicament. We will be handing a copy of this article to the oncologist to ask him what he thinks. Also, Jackie decided she wanted another opinion with one of the specialist about her current treatment. Luckily, the new oncologist is in my current network. Thank God that I got the right insurance.