[2020-12-02] Just part of the process
I'm scheduled to have my fourth chemotherapy treatment tomorrow, but that session is in jeopardy. The level of neutrophils—a type of white blood cell—in my system is too low. In fact, it's even lower than it was the last round.
In the previous round, my level of neutrophils was 1.1 two days before chemotherapy and 1.2 on the day of chemotherapy. This time, I'm starting at 0.7, but need to be at 1.0 by tomorrow morning or my chemotherapy will be delayed by a week. The normal range for neutrophils is 1.4 to 6.3.
The nurse who runs the gynecologic oncology centre at The Ottawa Hospital—a wonderful woman—gave me the option of postponing my chemo right away and waiting a week, or having another blood test first thing in the morning to see whether my neutrophil level has risen to 1.0. I opted to give it a shot. The worst thing that can happen is that I will have gone to the hospital for nothing, but I'd rather try.
The nurse reassured me that delays in treatment because of low white blood cell counts are normal.
I would love to be that person who simply powers through treatment with no delays and a textbook response to chemotherapy, but that may not be the case. It would be easy to see this as a setback. But I tell myself that each development is just part of the process and another turn of events in this chapter of my story.
