Re: Low plattet questions

I didn't mean to be rude steph but that answer was not much help and I'm
a nervous wreck.I have tried asking my onc. but honestly she has become
so busy overloaded with patients, meetings, seminars, etc. They got her
pic plastered in mags and on bilboards up and down I-95 (guess cancer is
big business) that she just throws knee jerk off the cuff answers at me
without checking my charts so I just don't trust her anymore. I'd think
if my marrow was pooping out on me that the red and white blood cells
would be tanking too but for now they are fine and why the plattlets are
crashing now when I haven't even had chemo in a month is also a mystery.
I've had 3 doses of neumega so far and the plattlets have only risen
from 66 to 75 while the white blood cells are going up for some reason..
The onc nurse says it usually takes at least 5 doses of neumega to get
them up and then the next round of chemo will send them crashng down
again back to the starting point or below. My neighbor reached a point
where they said she blew her bone marrow and could no longer get chemo.
She is now in hospice I don't want to get in that position by overtaxing
my marrow if it can be avoided without comprimising treatment
effectivness. By the same token I get chemo every two weeks I don't want
to have week one wasted with chemo and side effects only to have week
two which usually gives me some relief from the chemo wasted having to
drive 50 miles daily, sit in onc's office 2-3 hours for a shot every day
of the week either. then we are getting into quality of life issues with
no free me time. Plus The neumega shots are not agreeing with me, they
hit me like a ton of bricks. I go home and go straight to bed because
the shot fatigues me so bad so the whole day is shot plus it's giving me
a horrible headache. I'm trying to figure out why 1. only the plattlets
are being affected. 2. why they are giving more trouble off chemo than
on it and what steps I may can take to better the situation. examples:
1. staying off chemo a little longer since the CEA didn't jump too bad
in 30 days. 2. switching to an every 3 week chemo regimine rather than
two week one to allow more time for recovery. 3. dose reducing of chemo,
and if so which ones to reduce by how much ( 5FU, leucovorin,
oxiliplatin?) I understand that avastin needs a secondary drug to work
properly but which one. Most of my illls along this journey aside from
hand and foot neuropathy have been caused by 5FU, I've been told it is
the most destructive of them and that the oxi is the most effective. I
don't know that either of them is doing any good since the CEA was
climbing fairly fast when I was on them alone, it didn't start coming
down till the avastin was added. Chemo is an awful thing. The docs make
you feel like you cannot survive without it and you stay on this crap
right up till your deathbed thinking some 11th hour miracle will happen
and the horror stories about the side effects such as serious organ
damage, internal bleeding, heart failures, allergic reactions, secondary
cancers caused by chemo that are extremely hard to treat make you fear
it terribly. and you never hear a positive word from the docs, only that
"well this one may give you a few more months or it may kill you, what's
the difference you are gonna die anyway, stage 4s never live more than a
couple of years". So they get you very afraid of it and very afraid not
to take it and it drives me nuts.



Thu, Aug 17, 2006, 2:43am (EDT+4)
From: steph@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (Steph) wrote.

You marrow is getting tired

Well I kinda figured that genius, what are my options was the question I
was asking.
You're welcome.
Ask your onc, next time I won't bother




.