Round 1 Follow-up

On Tuesday, I had to go back to the hospital for a shot of Neulasta, an immunity booster. Because the chemo tends to kill off all quickly dividing cells throughout the body, it affects the production of red and white blood cells as well. The white blood cells are the ones that fight infection and the Neulasta stimulates the production of a particularly important white blood cell for chemo patients. Originally the doctor had discussed my taking the shot home with me and giving it to myself on the day after chemo. The glitch, however, is that it is a $6,000 shot and insurance companies are not too keen on sending patients out with a prescription of that value. Although I could have had the prescription filled and taken it at home anyway, as I had planned to do, we discovered on Monday that it would have cost me a $3,700 a dose co-pay! So, it was without hesitation, and only some minor inconvenience and extra time that I decided to let the pros give me the shot in the treatment center. (In the arm, actually – at the treatment center!)

Thankfully, my side effects are pretty minimal. I am tired but not to the point of constantly lounging on the couch. Thankfully, the anti-nausea drugs are doing their work and I haven’t felt ill. Now that the Neulasta is kicking in, I am experiencing some bone ache, a fairly common side effect, for which I take Tylenol. So all in all, thus far, I’m doing pretty well with the once dreaded chemotherapy.

I also have great support at the moment. My trusty sidekick, Lydia, has been wonderful, and my brother, Robert, flew in yesterday afternoon to check in on me. He will be here for a few days and I hope to muster up the energy to show him a bit of this city, even if it’s only from the inside of the car. It’s great to have him here, although, of course, I wish I could have coaxed him to the land-locked Midwest under different circumstances!