Febrile Neutropenia

Hi Jen - I was reading your post and it brought back my neutropenia experience.  I had 6 rounds of FEC starting 11th Jan this year and after 1st round was given Neulasta injection to have 24 hrs after chemo.                                    Every thing went well until my 6th and last on 1st May and we celebrated. On Mothers Day I felt off all day and by tea time, checked my temp - 38.2 and informed family I had to go to hospital.   Missed out on lovely tea my daughter had cooked because I knew I had to get there.                                                                  When i arrived, unknown to me, we had a locum and he was called in . Poor young nice looling Dr hadn't even unpacked his bag or eaten and I was his 1st case.  He knew exactely what had to be done and within 2 hrs, I was hooked up to my IV antibiotics. I spent 7 days in hospital - 3 in general area with shared bathroom and then 4 days isolation.  I live in a small country town in SA so not many in the hospital anyway.  To this day the nurses still talk about the nice young Dr from New Zealand.  Our normal GP does not fit this description  lol.                   Hope all goes well for you from here on .        Take care                                              Love Leanne  Xxx

Hi Jen - I was reading your post and it brought back my neutropenia experience.  I had 6 rounds of FEC starting 11th Jan this year and after 1st round was given Neulasta injection to have 24 hrs after chemo.                                    Every thing went well until my 6th and last on 1st May and we celebrated. On Mothers Day I felt off all day and by tea time, checked my temp - 38.2 and informed family I had to go to hospital.   Missed out on lovely tea my daughter had cooked because I knew I had to get there.                                                                  When i arrived, unknown to me, we had a locum and he was called in . Poor young nice looling Dr hadn't even unpacked his bag or eaten and I was his 1st case.  He knew exactely what had to be done and within 2 hrs, I was hooked up to my IV antibiotics. I spent 7 days in hospital - 3 in general area with shared bathroom and then 4 days isolation.  I live in a small country town in SA so not many in the hospital anyway.  To this day the nurses still talk about the nice young Dr from New Zealand.  Our normal GP does not fit this description  lol.                   Hope all goes well for you from here on .        Take care                                              Love Leanne  Xxx

Sorry you had to endure 3 bouts of this Linda...makes you wonder why some people get it and others don't hey....ah well, hopefully this will be my only one but will be wiser about the protocol if it happens again! I will at least know to mention about the neulasta injections to my oncologist....

Take care, Jen x

Sorry you had to endure 3 bouts of this Linda...makes you wonder why some people get it and others don't hey....ah well, hopefully this will be my only one but will be wiser about the protocol if it happens again! I will at least know to mention about the neulasta injections to my oncologist....

Take care, Jen x

Thanks Janey

So great to know I'm not the only one to have to deal with this problem!

Felt very frustrated by the whole situation...being in a small country town, stand in doctor had no experience of dealing with Neutropenia - when I went to the hospital the nurse rang him as Dr was on call...as I was not feeling unwell, just hot due to temp he told the nurses to give me a couple of panadol and send me home! She told him I needed blood test/cultures etc so he came in. Admitted me but I had no antibiotics until the following morning...8 hours later after he rang the regional hospital where my oncologist is! I am terrified of being so far away from specialist attention...this round has been really difficult for me...hope my next one will be easier to get through!

Hope all is going well with you Janey...and that your shoulder mis healing well!

Take care, Jen x

Thanks for the tip Deanne, I will mention this to the oncologist and hope I have a smooth run for round 3 next week! Gosh...that time comes around so quick hey?

Hope all is going great for you, Jen x

Wow Robyn! Last chemo Monday for you....fab! Hope you have a special celebration for it!

I've been feeling ok..had the usual mouth issue and bit more tired....But....my mood is definitely gone crazier this round and have felt emotional and frustrated! My 3rd chemo coming up next Tuesday & I feel like I haven't had a break since then last one! Feeling like a complete whinger......my poor family!

Ah well...all part of it I guess! 

Take care...Jen x

Hi Jen

I too had issues with neutropenia and high temps.  Ended up having three hospital stays, lasting from three days to seven. I remember being severely reprimanded one time, by my doctor, because I had waiting too long to get myself to hospital, my temp was going up and down and I took panadol,a definate no no. It can be quite serious, so make sure you keep an eye on your temp, but hopefully you will have no further problems.

I was also given the neulasta injections but they didn't seem to work for me, but certainly worth a try.

Hope all goes well from now on for you.

Take care

Linda