Neutropenia

Yay! They will probably go up quite quickly now. Take care and I hope no more hospital visits for you after this. xxx

They went up very slightly but they went up!! 

I also have a 1 year old at home that I miss very much! He sees me once a day at this stage 

Thanks again for letting me know your story @naomi.v! It's really helped me. I did finally get some good news unrelated to neutrophils but I don't have either of the gene mutations! Woo hoo!
i hope you get through the rest of your treatment very well and continue to kick cancer's butt xx

@ccasper The first time I stayed in for a whole week on IV antibiotics and they eventually allowed me to go home despite my low levels under the proviso that I didn't go in public, and took antibiotics at home for another week as 'protection' (which were awfully strong and gave me worse nausea than chemo!). To be honest I think they took pity on me because I have a 1 and a 3 year old and I was missing them terribly! The second time I was admitted, my neutrophils starting rising during my stay, and they were confident that things were improving so were happy to let me go home after 2 days (apparently once they start going up, they shoot up quite fast) - but again, I was sent home with the horrible antibiotics - though that time I was really pedantic about taking probiotics too (even while in hospital) and that made a big difference for my poor tummy!
My oncologist reduced my next chemo to 80% strength (she said she really hated to do it, but that it was preferable to get through it reduced, rather than have to cancel the AC altogether) and so far it's been much more tolerable (though it was only 6 days ago, so the real test will be next week when they take my bloods!).
I'm not sure if you're having Taxol after your AC, but they tell me that even for those of us who have had particularly low neutrophils that the Taxol doesn't have such an effect on the numbers so we've just got to get through our AC!
It really does wear you down, doesn't it?! Sending you lots of hugs xxx

Thank you @naomi.v for your reply. Makes me feel much better. The nurses also said the same thing to me about the chemo absolutely doing its job. How come you were in and out of hospital and didn't just stay the entire time? How did you go with the next lot of chemo? Thanks again. Hearing your story makes me realize I am not alone xx

Hi @ccasper! So sorry to hear you are going through this, I really feel for you!
After round 2 of dose dense AC, my neutrophils dropped to 0 - and stayed there for 5 long weeks with 2 hospital stays in isolation. I had the Neulasta injection but like you, my neutrophils had already dropped too low and it wasn't effective.
The most frustrating thing is that there is absolutely nothing you can do about low neutrophils, apart from being patient. I found that I felt terribly frustrated with my body, and then I got worried that there was something ELSE wrong with me... but eventually, in literally a matter of 3 days they went from being 0 to 4.6. So all I can say is, stay away from crowds and anyone who has even the slightest sniffle, and be kind to yourself. My breast care nurse gave me a nice way to think about it:
If the chemo is killing all your white blood cells and all your neutrophils, then it must be blitzing any cancer that's left behind too! That gave me something really positive to focus on (while I was feeling a bit down in the dumps about it all)!
Wishing you a speedy release from hospital and sending you good neutrophil vibes! Take care, Naomi x

Thinking of you and hoping you will be home soon. I was lucky enough to avoid a hospital visit. But I know many have not. Stay safe. Take care. Kath x

Thanks @Deanne
yes it's hit me a bit later than normal. I did have the injections too but they think I was becoming low before the last treatment and it may not have been very successful or worked properly. So I had a bit of a fever but I'm not showing many symptoms aside from a sore mouth. But I'll be in here until they come back up and get back on my journey again.

So sorry you are in hospital with this @ccasper. I had neutropenia with my 4th round of chemo (had 3x FEC, then 3x Docetaxel). I had a temp too so they put me in hospital on IV antibiotics for a couple of days. This was day 11 to 13 after 4th round. My levels recovered in time for next dose at day 21. However I was then given an injection a couple of days after next 2 chemos to help my neutrophils recover and not drop too low. I never had any more problems. Hope you are feeling better and your levels recover quickly. Sometimes they just need to delay chemo for a short while till the levels are ok again. Take care. xxx