jackl

So a few updates:

After follow up with Dr. Javle, my FIL’s bilirubin was not decreasing fast enough. It was still 3.8, and we weighed the risk/benefit of waiting vs starting treatment. Given the elevated Bili, we were no longer candidates for the abraxane clinical trial, so we started traditional gem/cis chemo on 11/15. Dr. Javle wanted to initiate treatments at MDA due to the elevated bilirubin. If things went well, we would likely continue treatment closer to us in Shreveport.

First treatment went fine, (aside from starting at 4 in the afternoon and not being done until past 1 am!), the week following was relatively uneventful. They made the trip to Shreveport for thanksgiving and everything was going well until thanksgiving night, around midnight, my FIL developed a fever. We brought him to our hospital here and admitted him with a severe neutropenia. His WBC count was 0.5. Long story short, he did well, aside from fever, no other complaints. Counts are back up and we are simply dealing with some kidney injury from the antibiotic. Hopefully home today.

A few questions for the group:
-Has any one else experience such low white blood cell counts?
-Do you get colony stimulating factors with treatment?
-does anybody have any bad experiences with neulasta? or nupogen?
-how often do you change biliary drains? and do you get admitted overnight when they are changed?

I hope everyone was able to have an enjoyable holiday. We have plenty to be thankful for and wish all dealing with this disease a happy holiday season.