[Becky]

I did tons of research prior to therapy. My onc was going to do Neulasta but said he would do Leukine without hesitation. I used Leukine after all cycles, including my 4 AC treatments and the Taxol treatments. Normally, Neulasta is not given after the last chemo (since you have all the time in the world to recover). But I got 7 daily injections of Leukine to re-boost the good stuff as my onc said that is why it is done.

It takes Leukine alittle longer to work than Neulasta/Neupogen to boost the neutrophils. My onc warned me that I may have to wait a couple of extra days and my dense dose therapy might be 2 weeks plus a couple of extra days (instead of just 2 weeks which was normal in my particular protocol) but that didn't happen to me. At the 2 week mark I was always ready to go. For my second treatment my onc told me my neutrophils were alittle low for treatment but my monocytes and lymphocytes were so high, he was going to go ahead with the treatment anyway. That was about the norm for me. The lymphocyte count being high is a great Leukine sign that perhaps you truly are self vaccinating and mine were astronomical (lymphocytes fight chronic infection or an infection you have regained (like if you already had the measles then get exposed again).

Any questions you have, just ask.