Blood Transfusion

Dear Friends,
After being NED for 9 months (this time) and on Herceptin only, my blood counts are lower than ever. Hgb 7.1, Hct 23.0, Rbc 3.39. I went to the clinic for Herceptin Friday and my onc wanted to send me to the hospital for a transfusion instead. I was visibly shaken so he let me post-pone it. My counts have never been this low. Even during all my different chemo combos-AC, Taxol/Herceptin, and Navelbine/Herceptin. The low counts explain a lot- I haven't really felt that great since Christmas-super tired, short of breath when I go upstairs, severe "charlie horses." I kept telling myself that of course I am tired, I have been fighting this @#$%^& disease for 6 years. But I guess at 38 years old I still shouldn't be getting short of breath going from my living room to my upstairs bedroom. I am really scared about the transfusion. I am probably being silly. After all we have been through why am I so scared? The doctor says first we need to get me transfused, I guess I can't aford to let my counts go any lower. And then we need to find out why they have dropped when I am not even on chemo. One possibility is that we have done permenant damage to my bone marrow. Has any one else experienced this? How low has your counts gone? Should I be so afraid of the transfusion?
Thanks,
Jerri

Jerri,
No, don't be afraid of the transfusions! I was dx last Aug and on AC txs my hbg went down to 8. I was so weak, couldn't walk across the room without getting short of breath. I cried when they said "you need blood", but am ok now and it did help perk me back up. I watched all the "red" going in the line and thought, this person is giving me energy and a part of their life! I had now problems at all. No reactions or anything. You will do fine and feel so much better.

Hi Jerri,

Have you ever tried Procrit or Neupogen shots? I had both of them when I was having chemo (A/C & Taxol). Procrit boots red cell counts, Neupogen boots white ones. My chemo was every 2 weeks for A/C and weekly for Taxol, thus 5 months altogether.

Felt tired & short of breath, too (live in 2-story also), but strangely enough, my clinic never offered me any transfusions. Perhaps they were aware that I'm needle-phobic! Ha :-) I could never dare give myself any shots, so my dear cousin Liz was kind enough to administer Neupogen for me at home. I was lucky enough to have Procrit at the clinic, since I was already coming there weekly for Taxol, anyway.

BEWARE: Procrit is expensive -- about $1,200 per shot! Check with your insurances!

Jerri,
I thought this chapter from the Merck Manual might be helpful; it discusses the different anemias and their causes... I have chronic low counts, not as low as yours but enough that it's a concern to me. I'm on Herceptin mono-therapy also, since August 2001, but have had this since first-line treatment in '99-2000.
Hugs,
Lolly

Guess, it depends on what one had for insurance. I heard the nurse in oncology tell a Medicare patient last week that it would cost her $3000.00 out of pocket if she wanted to have a procrit shot. She told the patient that her number was above Medicare guide line (needs to be 36 or higher). The patient then said, I will pay to have one and the nurse said, "no you don't want to pay $3000.00 do you"?. I thought the patient was going to have a heart attach!! I almost did and I never had one. Hugs, Sandy