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Last chemo delayed due to low platelet count
Hello - I am new here.
I supposed to have my 6th and last round chemo (CarboTaxol) last Monday June 24, 2024. Due to my low platelet count, it was delayed to today July 2nd. Today I went to my cancer centre, my platelet hasn't improved at all. Therefore, they delayed my chemo again. I am so frustrated, I eat lot of protein, drink lot of water, sleep well and eat a lot of nutritious food (cooked oysters, liver, kiwi, berries etc.) still has no improvement. I will speak to my doctor tomorrow regarding this problem. Has anyone experience chemo was delayed for two weeks or so? I just need some comforting. I just want to finish my chemo :(
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Hello @lilibell and welcome to the site. I can hear the frustration in your post, Yes, some ladies have had their chemo delayed and am sure they will weigh in on that soon, I have not but that doesn't mean that I won't hear you out and stay with you along your journey. It can be incredibly frustrating waiting and knowing you are doing all the right things to get your bloodwork to where you need it but it doesn't work. How are you managing otherwise with symptoms etc?
Hey ladies anyone have some helpful tips or tricks for our friend @GloHo @melissa
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Good morning @Strongwoman!
I have some side effects (e.g., numbing feet) but manageable. I just spoke to my doctor (she spoke to an oncology pharmacist yesterday), since this is my last round of chemo, they will go ahead to give me the chemo next week. I also found out during the call I am a candidate for PARP Inhibitor (Olaparib) for my maintenance treatment. I am BRCA negative, HRD positive. I will do more research to prep the side effects for Olaparib.
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I hear you! I had some delays in my second round of chemo due to low platelets and neutrophils and there really is not much you can do about it. So glad to hear that they are going to move forward with your treatment despite your low platelet count. I do not think that they would proceed unless they felt comfortable with it.
For future reference
I believe the ideal platelet count is 1.5 and no lower than 1.0. Having said that, my Oncologist agreed to proceed with treatments when I was at 0.9 and that was indicated on my chart so that the chemo unit was aware of it and would move forward even when my count was at the low end. If I was even a bit lower than .9, the chemo unit would contact my Oncologist to see if we could still move forward. The decision to do so would be based on how low my platelet count was, what my other counts were at and how I was feeling overall.
Another option that has been employed is to decrease the drug dosage. I do not know if this is something that they would want to do in the first round, but I have experienced it in later treatments and have heard of others who have had their dosage reduced due to low counts and other side effects.
There is a platelet transfusion option but that was never offered to me and it is probably only used in very extreme cases.
Olaparib
Glad to hear that you are a candidate for Olaparib maintenance treatment. I was on Zejula (niraparib) and did not have any extreme side effects.
Please reach out with any questions you have, you are sure to get tips and advice from your Teal sisters on this site for whatever is on your mind.
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Thank you @GloHo for your insights! My platelet count was low before I have this disease (lower than 1.5, ~1.45). This was in my doctor's decision factor to moving forward with my last chemo next week.
I am worry the side effects of Olaparib, but one day as a time. Finish the last chemo first to start worry about it :)
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I was on 200 mg without any issues. They do a LOT of blood tests at the beginning to ensure the dosage is right for you and will use those tests and any other side effects you may have to determine dosage.
Tip: I live out of town from my cancer clinic so they sent a requisition to the LifeLabs here and I was able to get my blood tests done there. The only caveat is that it may take a little longer to get your results at LifeLabs vs. going into the cancer clinic blood unit. It was really handy for me since the blood tests were quite frequent at the beginning.
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