Hello Leukine: When Blood Counts Drop

On a Friday, following an unwelcome drop in my white blood cells count, I was introduced to the lovely, bone marrow stimulating Leukine. Indeed Leukine has some lovely side-effects: like you've been hit in the side of the arm with a baseball at the injection site. This lasted 3 days after the first injection. The next two I received were considerably less painful and long-lasting, the three shot regimen prompting me to switch my blood test appointments to Wednesdays to avoid another weekend lapse in treatment. (Tip #1)

Hopefully this will eliminate the need for the antibiotic I took in the meantime and continued for 7 days. Enough pills already! No fresh produce allowed, no restaurant meals, no close contact with people... if it weren't for the Leukine shots and the extra infections I got, I would hardly get out.

I almost cried when the nurse started describing the Leukine effects: flu/fever like chills and pains, and bone pain, especially in the sternum, that could feel like a cardiac arrest. I've always wondered what that felt like! I popped a sleeping pill and asked a friend to stay me that evening, in case it was more than I could bear. When I woke up, I found the pain to be mild and only periodic, which walking around a bit seemed to relieve. (Tip #2)

But my real disappointment was, after weeks of shear house-arrest from surgeries and my first chemotherapy dose, I couldn't safely be in public. Luckily for my own mental health I didn't listen, and had my own fun going "incognito" with a mask over my mouth and nose, kept my distance, and supplimented with enough obsessive compulsive hand-sanitizing to spur a street corner act starring a monkey that circles his ears and points at me. Whatever. By Wednesday the blood levels were back up, and I was ready to face the side-effects of the anti-fungal pill I took night before.

Tip #3: Don't be a dolt like me and risk getting sick from other people. I had the odd experience when I opted to use just a portable ionizer instead of a mask, of a guy breathing in my face from behind a counter and asking if it smelled like salsa. Of all the people in the room to receive this honor, what possessed him to test my ofactory skills? Some would call it "Bec-luck," and if you knew what that meant, I'm sure you'd agree... I am one Bec-lucky girl.
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/drug-information/DR600065