Last Cisplatin Alimta postponed

[lucanus15]

Good evening good people, just a quick question please.

I was due my last round of chemo tomorrow and due to low white blood count in Friday's blood test it has been postponed til the following week all being well.

If normally they administer every three weeks, does it mean it's less effective if they skip a week? Does anyone happen to know?

Thanks in advance and all the best, Ellen

[Denzie]

Not at all. My Cisplatin/etopicide treatment was postponed 3 times. The first a week and my numbers came back up. Treatments 3&4 were postponed a week then I had blood transfusions to bring the numbers up before having the treatments.

That was 8.5+ years ago for stage 4 lung cancer.

[lucanus15 in reply to Denzie]

Hi Denzie, thanks ever so much for your reply. I'm so glad it was postponed as my body wasn't sulking as much as I'd imagine putting it through this but on Friday something was telling me my body really didn't want to do this Mondays treatment! Although it would have all been over tomorrow, I was so happy to get a weeks respite. I imagine you felt similar.

They gave me neulasta and filgrastim the day after the first round. I wonder why not this time then. Perhaps it's preferable to postpone it at this stage than to give a drug which itself can cause tumour growth. Maybe they give it in the beginning because it's important to get the chemo started.

All the best to you and thanks for being here and being able to help all of us xxx

[RoyCastleHelpline Partner Ask the Nurse Roy Castle]

Dear lucanus15

It is normal for the scheduled cycles of chemotherapy to be interrupted, usually due to side effects that are monitored through the blood, e.g white cell count going down. The normal 2-3 week break in between cycles allows the body time to recover, this is even more so if there is an extended break in the cycle and should not impact on the outcome, especially if you are on your last cycle.

This link from cancer research UK explains these breaks in the chemotherapy cycles: cancerresearchuk.org/about-...

If you wish to discuss anything you can call us on our Freephone nurse led helpline number on 0800 358 7200.

Kind regards

The Roy Castle Support Team