DAY 53 - I tried to make no bones, but…

1st April, 2011: Let me explain the title. Since the chemotherapy kills off not only the bad cells but also the good ones, it should be taken care of somehow. My blood is taken before each chemo in order to determine the level of my blood cells. Rather expectedly, the count of my white blood cells dropped. So, to shore up my immune system, something has to be done! My onc prescribed me a package of five injections for self-administration. These are supposed to stimulate the bone marrow to increase production of white blood cells, specifically neutrophils.  To be precise, I am being given “filgrastim” that is specifically a granulocyte colony-stimulating factor. My mind boggles at the way some cures are created these days. Wiki says that filgrastim is produced by recombinant DNA technology. The gene for human granulocyte colony-stimulating factor is inserted into the genetic material of Escherichia coli (bacterium that is commonly found in the lower intestine of warm-blooded organisms). The G-CSF then produced by E. coli  is only slightly different from G-CSF naturally made in humans. Pretty self-explaining, isn’t it? :)

But what about any side effects? I know, production of some blood cells sounds fairly innocuous. I was told to have it injected four days in a row, so I went to see my uncle at hospital whose nurse was kind enough to administer the shots. It was in the morning, so I went home. The next day was my second shot. As my dad was driving me home, I felt a weird pain in the small of my back. I said to myself that if that was the expected side effect, it was then gonna be a cakewalk. Sadly though, I was wrong. For the rest of the day, I remained in bed begging for painkillers which I declined in the morning, since the pain was only minor. I would describe the pain as racking and paralyzing. At the heart rate, I was getting pulses throughout my body that originated in around my pelvises. I was not able to utter a single sentence. I don’t mean to scare anybody who is going thru a similar treatment. But the idea of procuring some painkillers beforehand does not come amiss at all :) They helped me then. The second round didn’t but I am alive. The third day went normally, so did the fourth. I am getting the fifth one in two weeks. Can't wait :)