~ 15 months after all chemo/radio treatments, I am still struggling to have my while blood cells back to the normal range ~
The Booster Shots
After the first cycle of chemotherapy, my WBC dropped to below the normal range. Dr. Ma gave me an injection she called it the booster shot to boost my WBC. I had no idea how this thing worked and just took the shot.
I did a search much later about this booster shot.
Pegfilgrastim, sold under the brand name Neulasta, is a PEGylated form of the recombinant human granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (GCSF) analog filgrastim. It is said to serve to stimulate bone marrow for the production of white blood cells (neutrophils) to fight infection in patients undergoing chemotherapy.
This little shot cost me HK$10K. I always say these cancer treatments are burning bank notes. Somehow you have to be rich to handle a tumor. I was lucky that I had insurance to cover the spending.
For the following couple of days after the shot, I had bone pain that I had to take pain killers. Apparently, the shot pushed my bone marrow to produce WBC and hence the pain. That was a lot of hard work for my bone marrow.
There was another type of booster shot which I took a few times, Filgrastim. Dr. Ma called it the “short shot”. It was not so powerful as Pegfilgrastim. It takes 5 Filgrastim to have the same effect as 1 Pegfilgrastim. The good time is you can spread the shots over 5 days, which should give less or no bone pain after injection. It is slightly cheaper, cost HK$1,240 for one shot.
WBC Fluctuation
The bone pain was eased after a couple of days. The following week when I had my blood test, the WBC jumped from 3.59 to 20.91, the normal range being 4 to 10.8. Dr Ma was pleased. I was not sure how to feel about this result. I mean 20.91 was way out of range, it was not normal either. On top, I had to pay a lot of money to let this chemical going into my body to manipulate my blood, and, the result was only temporary.
Only in one week’s time my WBC count dropped back to 5. When I was about to start my 4th cycle, the WBC dropped to become very borderline at 4.3. Dr. Ma anticipated a further drop after I had the last chemo IV because the IV would weaken my body. She gave me the second booster shot right before I started the cycle. Sure it went up again like last time but as well dropped very quickly from 23 to 6 one week after. By this time, I was 10 days away from the completion of all the 4 cycles of chemotherapy.
Be Alert to Take The Shots
Cecilia was very concerned about me taking the booster too often. The injection was not the natural way to boost WBC. She experienced with her other patients who had taken a lot of these boosters to the point that the booster did not boost WBC anymore. More chemicals are staying in my body with no benefit bringing to me but rather making my body more toxic and required a much bigger effort to detox.
I was then very cautious about taking the booster shots. I expressed my view to Dr Ma to minimize taking the shots. She was persistent as she considered a good level of WBC was critical to protect me against possible infection especially during the time of chemo treatment. Whenever my WBC dropped or stayed low, she always proposed a shot. I bargained to skip the shot a few times. How? I just said let’s wait one more week, I will not go anywhere but just stay home resting to minimize my exposure.
Booster or No Booster
I have taken the booster shots a few more times, one regular shot right after radiotherapy started, which affected my bone marrow and hence my WBC dropped. I took a few smaller shots in March and April after I finished the radiotherapy treatment as my WBC continued to dropped. It was the side effect of radiotherapy. The last booster shot regular one was in May just before my surgery to remove the rectum.
The thing is we may not see the impact of these drugs at the time of taking it, but only at some time after. It was just over 15 months now as I am writing the post since I had my last booster shot. Today I am still struggling to get my WBC back to normal range. Last week I had my blood test, my WBC was only 2.61 still some effort to have it climbed back to 4 which is the lowest at the normal range.
