A Spork in the Road

I promised I would report back once I’d had a few Neulasta shots, for the edification of other Neulasta takers.

For those of you NOT contemplating medical solutions to boosting your white blood cell counts, this post may fall in the “too much information” category, although the physiological details aren’t too gory. But if you’re squeamish, wait for my next post, which will be about unicorns and fuzzy pink slippers.

And if you believe that, I have some real estate in southern Florida for you.

Anyhoo, here’s the skinny on the shots: the actual injection doesn’t sting as much as the Neupogen did, for me anyway, unless it’s administered really quickly (or your nurse is chatting and jiggles the needle a lot, which happens). It certainly doesn’t sting for as long after injection.

The Neupogen hit my bones pretty quickly and gave me twangs of bone pain. The Neulasta bone pain for me is not as sharp, not as intense, not as often. My hands do ache a bit from time to time — I’ll wonder if I bruised my hand, then realize it’s probably the bones.

Also, sometimes at night I can feel my bones. They feel thick, dense, active. If I close my eyes, I can imagine my limbs are thick like tree limbs and pulsing with energy. I never realized how vibrantly alive our bones are. “I can feel it in my bones” is a newly meaningful idiom to me.

The other significant side effect for me is hot flashes. The first few days after the injection, I get occasional hot flashes: I feel hot (not feverish, just hot) and my face flushes bright red, and I might break into a sweat. Then it goes away. I figure I’m just studying up for menopause. Boning up, if you will.

Neulasta seems to treat my gastrointestinal tract better than the Neupogen did. Last week’s distress was more caused, I believe, by ingesting too much apple cider and aloe vera juice, although I’m still experimenting to find which of those two culprits is more responsible.

And that’s about it. The great thing is that my immune system is holding steady against the onslaught of chemo, with my WBC peaking usually in the low 8’s one week after the shot and dipping down to the mid 5’s the second week. My cold is already 99% gone, just dealing with some mild residual sinus congestion, but that’s actually one of the faster recoveries I’ve had from a cold of this severity, so my immune system is obviously holding its own.

I know there are long-term effects to be concerned about with Neulasta, but honestly, right now I can’t even think about that. I’m focused on getting through chemo as powerfully and positively as possible, and then we can take stock of all the poisons I’ve ingested and how to deal with their effects down the road. But step one is to HAVE a “down the road,” so full steam ahead and hurrah for strong blood counts!