Wow, my last entry was a little dark. Let's change gears and poke fun at Neulasta, shall we?
"Pegfilgrastim (Neulasta) treatment can be used to stimulate bone marrow to produce more neutrophils to fight infection in patients undergoing chemotherapy." ~Wikipedia
Neulasta is a shot that my chemo nurse gives to me in my stomach the Saturday after each treatment. It doesn't hurt, the actual shot part. It's the afterwards that is super unfun. Basically, Neulasta forces my bone marrow to make white blood cells so that my immune system can fight infection. I've decided, after 9 of these injections, that my bone marrow doesn't like being told what to do.
Possible side effects ... there are two listed. One is bone or muscle pain. The other is injection site reaction. I've never had the latter side effect. But the first, oh geez. My back, like my spine bones, just aches. My hips and shoulder bones ache, too. My eyeball bone holes (occipital bones) hurt so badly when I yawn. Yes, my bones ache. And the best part of these bi-weekly shots? The $9200 bill that accompanies them.
But ... really, I'm grateful to be able to receive Neulasta. If I wasn't able to have them, I'd probably be infection-ridden and not at the very end of my treatments. So I will gladly lift my blouse two more times so I can finish my chemo like a champ.
Carry on,
~Kristin
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