My sister is going through colon cancer treatment right now. Among other drugs (given every other Tuesday) she wears the pump of 5 FU for 2 days & when they remove the pump she gets an injection that she was told helps to raise her white blood count. If you want me to find out what it is called, let me know. I would think if that was a possibility for your brother they would have mentioned that, but it never hurts to ask. I'm so sorry he had a problem and it had to be stopped. Keeping him in my prayers. Brenda

I'm so sorry to hear this. It's understandable that you should be upset. I hope that the medication will help so that he can continue his treatment. Sending prayers and good thoughts.

I am sorry, I don't know much about this, I am very sorry to hear. I am hoping the meditation will help, prayers to you all.

Hugs to you. Have the doctors said there is nothing further they can offer, then?

My husband had the a similar situation, he was also seeing a naturopath doctor and he was taking a product called TIM which helped with the blood cells.

They check my white blood count before every infusion, and in the past it has been low on two or three occasions and they will not continue the chemo. Usually mine would return to acceptable within a week and they would continue.

Something similar happened to my husband, he received the shots and then continued on with the chemo treatments. Once he finished the chemo his counts got so low it landed him in the hospital for two weeks where he received 10 platelet and 7 blood transfusions before they starting building back on their own. Hang in there! He is in our prayers.

Thanks all, for sharing your experiences! Brother is scheduled to have another round of chemo--apparently his brief 'vacation' was enough to raise his white cell count (or so they think--they're going to check on Wed).
Brenda, I am curious to know what medication your sister was/is injected with to raise her count. If Tom had this problem once it may return--they did give him something before he left for the monastery, but I have no idea what it was. Thanks!

I checked with my sister and she thinks it is neulasta. They didn't wait for her WBC to get low, as they knew the chemo/possibly amount she was getting would affect the WBC, so she'll get it each time she gets the pump removed - every other week. She said the cost of the shot is $5,000.00 each time, but she is a senior and between her medicare & retired work supplemental insurance it is paid 100%.

You can do a search under "injection given with chemo to raise WBC" and it'll probably pull up information about it. Like any drug it shows lots of possible side affects, but she hasn't had any problem with it & has received 7 so far. One after each treatment. Her treatment is some chemo drugs on a Tuesday & she leaves with a 5FU in the pump. When so goes back Thursday to have the pump removed is when she gets the injection.

But keep in mind I have no medical experience, so he can ask his Dr. and he may tell him why it wouldn't apply in his case - or if it would. Again, it is colon cancer that my sister has - not EC. Maybe you can get this information to him before his appointment tomorrow? I hope he finds he's able to get treatment again. My sister's had to be halted for several weeks, as she ended up with C-diff which they feel is gone now. Her treatment started back up last Tuesday ;-)

hello , we are in Paris, France. Last year when my husband had 5FU cisplatin he was routinely given a prescription for injections that raised white blood cells. turns out he didn't need them last year but once this year ( folfox and herceptin) he did. in france the injections are called granocyte. the chemo affects white blood cells, red blood cells and platelets. Sometimes they just wait and delay chemo for a week until things return to normal. it depends on the chemo treatment and the blood count prior to treatment what they do. all the best, danile