June 19, 2006

neupogen

The last week has been pretty amazing. A couple of my initial Hodgkin’s symptoms have gone away. I haven’t had any night sweats in a week, and the pain is gone from my knees and ankles. Also my energy levels have come up a lot. The only negative side-effect I’m dealing with is an ear infection, for which I’m taking anti-biotics. I’ve been feeling so much better that I’ve needed to remind myself that I’m still in the middle of the healing process - don’t take on too much, don’t assume I’m out of the woods already.

I had a meeting today with my oncologist, Dr Savage, that went quite well. Had bloodwork and a chest X-ray. Apparently the pineapple is shrinking, and the doctor was glad to hear that some of the symptoms were improving, and that I didn’t get nauseous from the chemo. On the other hand, my white blood cell count was a bit low (”It means the chemo is working” - Dr Savage), and so I’ve been prescribed the drug Neupogen (aka Neulasta).

This drug is supposed to improve my white blood cell count. It needs to be taken intravenously, once a day, so I’ll be going to the cancer agency in a week or so to learn how to give myself injections (!). Good thing I’m not afraid of needles. The rub with Neupogen is that it costs almost $1000 per cycle, and my extended-health plan maxes out at $1000/year, so I’ll need to look at other funding options, like BC Pharmacare. I’ll need to come up with some kind of strategy if this becomes a regular purchase - for now I’m just paying for it out of my pocket.

In other news, I spent a wonderful day on Gambier Island on the weekend, helping move 23 bales of straw for the staw bale/cob structure we’re building this summer (I cooked lunch for the group and just hung out, and left the bale hauling to others). Just finished an excellent Sci-fi adventure novel called The Traveler by John Twelve Hawks, an engrossing read that I finished in a couple days.

I’ve got round 2 of chemo tomorrow. Not really looking forward to it since I’m enjoying my newfound energy :) , but I’m in good spirits.


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posted: 9:46 pm

 

4 Responses to “neupogen”

  1. demosthenes
    June 20th, 2006 | 11:58 am

    You’re running a marathon of 120 days… don’t try to sprint.

  2. Brenda
    June 23rd, 2006 | 4:18 pm

    Hi Keith
    I’ve been checking out your website - very impressed. glad to here your starting to feel better. All our good thoughts and prayers are with you out here in the Wack. take care

    Brenda Law
    AKA Brenda Grennan

  3. Sandra
    June 24th, 2006 | 5:48 pm

    You probably already know about Fair Pharmcare, but here’s the link.

    http://www.health.gov.bc.ca/pharme/

    You’ll have to for out the first few thousand bucks yourself but after that, you’re covered. Keeps the bill from growing totally out of control.

    Hope chemo went OK this time, and I’m glad to hear you’re on the mend.

  4. Keith
    June 26th, 2006 | 9:26 am

    Thanks - that’s what I ended up doing - $2000 deductible, 70% off after that. Not perfect, but much better than nothing.