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2nd line Chemo

Hello everyone,
i was diagnosed with Stage 4 ovarian cancer in November 2019. I received 3 chemo treatments follow by a hysterectomy and 3 more treatments, the last in May 2020z Everything went well and I was feeling great until the late fall. After a few scans and 🩸 it was determined the cancer was back in thé peritoneum. I wasn’t sure what to do as doctors had suggested delaying chemo where it had been barely 6 months. After a 2nd consult, I opted for 6 rounds of chemo. I’m headed to my 3 treatment this week. I have been struggling to keep my neutrophil count up yet feel really good 🙏🏽.  Does anyone have any suggestions for thé wbc/neutrophil count? Thank you 

Comments

  • Hi @hfxshel
    Welcome to OVdialogue and our community.  So sorry to hear of your diagnosis and now recurrence.  But glad you're feeling well and getting appropriate treatment.  You don't mention what type your cancer is or what chemo you've received and are getting now so I can only talk to my own experience. But hoping that might help.

    I was diagnosed high grade serous epithelial stage 3C in early 2017.  For me, straight to surgery followed by 6 cycles of chemo...carboplatin and gemcitabine (the gem because I am allergic to paclitaxel).  No problems with my neutrofils until just about the end.  They were always low after treatment but by the time I was due for the next session they had recoved. But this time they didn't so they delayed my treatment a week or so and put me on daily shots of Neupogen for a week.  My neutrofils recovered and I proceeded to complete treatment.  I am now in my second recurrence and going through chemo again using the same drug mix on a 28 day cycle of Day 1 Carbo and Gem and then Day 8 Gem only and then two weeks of recovery time before the next cycle. This time, because Gem is very hard on the immune system and it's my second time on it, on Day 10 I get a shot of something called Lapelga to boost my neutrofils. Seems to work since my blood work on that front has been normal all the way through.  But dealing with neutrophil deficiency is something you need to talk to your oncology team about. Reason and treatment is different for each of us so one persons' experience might not have any relevance to you. 

    If you don't have it already, suggest you order the OCC booklet Still By Your Side.  It's a great guide to recurrence and may support answers to any questions your concerns you might have.  You can order it hard and soft copy at https://ovariancanada.org/Living-with-Ovarian-Cancer/Support-resources  And, of course, we are all here to offer our experience, and support anytime, including at our weekly live chat every Thursday at 1pm EST if you wish to join us. You need only sign in to OVD and then click on the topic: Teal Thursday to enter the chat at the appointed hour..  

    Good luck with your treatment. It's great that you're feeling well. I am too. Actually this time better than I have in years so looking forward to finishing this up in the next month and enjoying the spring and summer.  I hope the same for you.

    <3   
  • Thanks so much!