Gemzar and fever and low blood count – can anyone relate?
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Thank you everyone for responding. This is a wonderful site and I am so thankful to have each one of you praying and sending good thoughts. My dad’s white blood cell count was 400 when he was admitted. I understand this is low. He was extremely weak and he had a fever. His white blood count is now up over 1000 and he is feeling much better after getting antibiotics. He may be able to come home tomorrow if he doesn’t get a fever tonight and his cultures come back fine tomorrow.
On a positive note, this is his week off from Gemzar. Hopefully he can get some of his strength back before he has to start his second cycle of Gemzar.
I wish you happiness and better days!
Michael
Hello Michael – my sister is on Gem/Cis & complained recently of being really cold but had a raging temperature. I was told to get her to hospital to be checked out if her temperature exceeded 38C. She hasn’t had low white blood count but she gets very, very tired (she can fall asleep in the middle of a sentence – & then wake up & continue where she left off, with no knowledge of what’s happened in the meantime).
It all sounds to be part of the disease & I was told just to keep an eye on her symptoms. I send my very best wishes to you & your family.
Julia
Michael:
My sister had almost the identical treatment that you are describing. And she had a very similar experience. She got fevers and very severe joint aches after the Gemzar treatments. And her blood counts got really low, so that they had to postpone some of her treatments. So, it seems like these are just side effects that happen sometimes with that particular chemo.
Hi there, I can’t answer all of your questions. I can answer the one about the blood count though. My mom also has a low white blood cell count. Her doctor told us that the chemo kills the cancer cells, but it also attacks healthy cells, and as a result her white blood cell count is affected (this is because WBC and rapid growing cells)
Also about the appetite, my mom doesn’t have an appetite, and we are always trying to force her to eat something. She has already lost alot of weight because of this. If he is drinking boost then that’s great, my mom was drinking ensure, but she is so sick of it, she can’t drink it anymore.
Good luck, I wish you all the best
Hi Michael,
My Mom was prescribed a drug called Megace which is an appetite enhancer. It worked wonders for her.
Hugs,
pamHi Michael,
Good to hear from you again, although I am sorry that your dad is having a tough time right now. My dad never had chemo, but he went through a lot of the things that you talk about in your post. The chills and fatigue are 2 things that my dad had. He used to get the shakes every now and then and we do not know for certain why that happened. They just used to come out of nowhere and would last for a while and then just stop. And the fatigue is something that dad also had and he used to sleep quite a lot, especially through the day. My dad used to take a lot of naps pretty much all days and as Kris says, I guess that this is just something that you need to deal with. We spoke with his docs about this, but they couldn’t come up with any answers for the fatigue or what really can be done about it.
Best wishes to you and your dad,
Gavin
Gemzar does lower my blood count sometimes. In fact I had to delay chemo this week because of it. Try not to worry to much on that one. It is common. Make sure he stays away from sick people and use antibacterial gel. If he also has low platelets, he will need to make sure he isnt doing anything that can cause bruising or the possibility of getting cut since his blood will not clot as well.
Fever can be common also. It can be from an infection or just from “tumor fever”. I have had both. Many people get a fever after each chemo round. It is good they are going to check for an infection since his blood counts are off.
As to lack of appetite, talk to his doctor. There are drugs based on marijuana that can help with that.
As to fatigue…that is just something you have to deal with. Chemo is hard on the body. Plus your dad had a big surgery. His body needs to heal. I didnt have chemo after my surgery and I had fatigue for about 5 or 6 months after.
Hope that helps/.
KrisHello Michael, sorry dad is having such a hard time. I am not a doctor but blood infections go with the nature of this beast. Teddy never had chemo but he did have 2 infections. All the same symptoms you described. If there is an infection it could be causing a lot of the tiredness as well. I am sure you will be getting some more advise on here and the important thing is you are taking him to the hospital. Teddy takes B12 shots once a month as RX by his ONC. Please let us know what happens.
I haven’t posted in a while. My name is Michael (aka MVB70). My dad was diagnosed with CC back in October after he had surgery to remove part of his liver and his extrahepatic biliary tree along with a 2.5cm mass. He had 6 weeks of chemo (5 – FU constant pump) and radiation (5 days a week) which he tolerated very well. He started Gemzar 3 weeks ago and unfortunately he is not doing as well with this round of chemo. He is very fatigued and I just found out he has a fever and very low white blood count. He is on his way to the hospital now to be admitted.
I have a couple questions listed below and would greatly appreciate your input.
1. Has anyone had to deal with fever, chills, fatigue, and low white blood cells while on chemo? Is this common?
2. Does the fever (typically around 100.5 to 102.0) mean he has an infection?
3. Could the chemo cause the fever?
4. Any recommendations for fatigue? I’ve never seen my dad with little to no energy. He is a young 67 who always had pep. He is taking Boost. Is there anything else he can take?
5. Do B12 shots help? I am going to ask his oncologist if he should get B12 shots to help with fatigue.
6. Has anyone had to deal with Gemzar and how did it impact you? My dad has a port and getst the chemo through his port. He gets it 1 day a week for about 45 minutes. He goes 3 weeks on and 1 week off. He will repeat this for a total of 4 months.
7. My dad doesn’t have much of an appetite. My mom has to force him to eat. Any recommendations?Thank you in advance for your time, consideration, and input. I wish you all happiness and better days ahead.
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