Yesterday was my second appointment with the Hep C clinic nurse, my first after starting treatment.
We started off the appointment going through the side effects. He prescribed hydrocortisone cream for my knee rash, which is already helping. He was also happy to give me some anti-memitics, in case the Boceprevir makes me sick.
After going through the side effects we had a look at my blood test results from the day before, and two weeks before. My neutrophil count fell through the floor in the last test, down to 0.41; severe neutropenia. We were both shocked. Last time I did the treatment my neutrophils stayed at around 1.3, which whilst low is fairly safe. Anything under 0.5 makes you very prone to bacterial infection. The nurse thought it might well be an anomaly in the test, but of course we don't know that, so have to assume it's accurate until the next set of blood tests are in.
This was a bit of a blow to be honest. It means that I'm going to be on a lower dose of interferon (to 135, from 180), which slightly reduces my chance of successful treatment. It's also a worry generally. Now every sniffle and graze is going to be a threat. I'd just waxed my legs that morning, which is sure way of getting spots - so now I smell of TCP. I even gargled with TCP that evening - disgusting: like washing your mouth out with soap.
On the up side, I don't have anaemia; my red blood cells have increased since I started treatment. Also, although I do need to be reasonably careful to avoid infection, from what I've found on the internet, interferon induced neutropenia doesn't seem to necessarily cause serious infections and problems: e.g. http://www.hcvadvocate.org/hepatitis/hepC/Neutropenia.html. Another plus, I told the nurse that I feel that getting my blood tests regularly will motivate me, as I see them as little milestones, and he took it on I think, so hopefully he will respond in future when I ask for my results.
The next blood tests are in two weeks, and then I need to call for the results the following day. If my neutrophils have returned to a safe level the nurse will increase my interferon again.
I've bought some 1000mg vitamin C with zinc pills, and will have one every day until the tests. I'm craving fruit, and hope that I crave fruit because my body needs the vitamin C, and that taking extra will support my white blood cell count. Fishwife logic, but there isn't really a downside.
Annoyingly, the hospital lost my starting viral load tests. Nothing can be done, apparently. The sample isn't recorded as having been received by the lab, so it's not just late, it's lost. I'll have to use my viral load from the prior year as my baseline count, which was about 146,000.
I came home with a huge box of medicine, bigger than a shoe box, with the Victrelis in. I start taking it on Friday...
No comments:
Post a Comment