A Snag

Well, we’ve hit a snag. It might be a slightly expected snag, but a snag nonetheless.

On Wednesday, I got a call from the doctor’s office telling me that my white blood cell count was too low to have chemotherapy today. The nurse said this was “normal”. I knew it was a likely occurrence and I’ve heard from others who have battled cancer that they have experienced this. I do also remember my oncologist talking about it but I don’t think I quite remembered about it/really appreciated the significance of this until I got this call.

The path forward is that I’ll get injections of a drug daily (but only on weekdays…) that will stimulate white blood cell growth for anywhere from 2-5 days. Once that’s done, I’ll have to get more bloodwork done to confirm the counts have come up and then I’ll start chemotherapy again. It’s not entirely clear how long this will take or if I’ll be able to start treatment again next week.

The next step is, you guessed it, wait for insurance to approve the injections. I’ve also learned that insurance approvals tend to be location specific, so even though I’d be willing to drive to the City of Hope Duarte campus for a weekend injection that’s not a thing. Other interesting observations are that the approval was marked “emergency” and yet, 24 hours later, there still isn’t an approval. It seems our definitions of emergency are not quite consistent, so, I’m a little frustrated.

In the end, this will work out, and I’m very lucky to have good insurance that will pay for this, however, I am a “let’s go” and “what are we waiting for” type of person – waiting on bureaucracy is not my specialty. I am disappointed, I want to move as fast as we can through this process. I am working to remember and accept that this timeline is not something I can control and my job is to be flexible and patient as it changes.

The low white blood cell count does mean I’m quite immunocompromised. This means I’ve switched to N95 masks, am not going out much, and I’m generally avoiding people for a little while until we get on a routine with these injections. Apparently it also means I need to not eat blue cheese or brie and I have to carefully wash any raw fruits or veggies I want to eat. (You can tell by the order which one really makes me sad here….:)) The advice from the nurse was, if you can peel it, do. She also said to wash my hands frequently and use hand sanitizer when I can’t wash them with soap and water. (The pandemic prepared me well!)

She also encouraged me to eat more foods high in protein and move more. So I’m trying to re-invigorate the walking and eat more protein.

In general, I still feel great even though my white blood cell count is low. I do still tire a bit more easily than I used to, but that’s pretty much the constant major difference I’ve observed so far.

As always, thank you so much for your continued messages of support, prayers, positive thoughts, meals, rides, and everything each of you is doing to support us – we are so grateful and it all really helps! (I do read every comment!)