Should I have a Procrit shot

Thank you Julie. My chemo is scheduled for Tue morning at 8:00am. It's a double dose one so I will be keeping my fingers crossed. They are planning on giving me extra fluids and a stronger dose of liquid Atovan during the infusion. Hopefully that will help. They are also planning on giving me extra fluids a few days later. Monday they will give me another blood test but say that they will still go ahead with the chemo Tue. I hope my levels will be up so that I do not have to get another shot.

Charlotte

{{{{Charlotte}}}}I hope there are no negative effects of the Procrit for you and that it helps boost your hemoglobin. Did they go ahead with the chemo for this week or will they wait to see the results next week before they go ahead? Julie

Just thought I would let everyone know that I went ahead and got the Procrit shot. I also let them know that I did not want another if my level rose above 10. I felt this was an appropriate compromise. It is so hard to make decisions sometimes. I seem to react differently to all kinds of medications. I can only hope that I react properly to this one.

Webs

The issue with Procrit has been the increased risk of heart problems in the patients whose RBC was over 12. All I can say is Dick gets a Procrit shot every week and has for several months. It is what keeps him from having transfusions. We think the Procrit is preferable to transfusions as everytime Dick had a transfusion it introduced new factors into his blood making it harder to crossmatch and get the appropriate blood.

I believe the new guidelines that Medicare issues stop the Procrit when someone reaches level 10 of hemoglobin. You probably don't want to get any lower in your blood count than you are now as this has happened suddenly for you and you are not used to the low blood count. It also contributes to your feeling of fatigue.

Taking the shot or the transfusion will help you continue to have the chemo when scheduled instead of having to wait until it comes back on its own. Talk to you as soon as I fix my computer glitch. This is coming to you courtesy of our server and sitting here at the desk is bothering me as the monitor is not adjustable and this angle is bad for my neck.
Take Care. Julie

I don't know Webs...i think some of the problems with this drug is over zealousness of some physicians in dosage and prescribing when hemoglobin is over l2.
-- Use the lowest dose of PROCRIT® that will gradually increase the hemoglobin (Hb) concentration to the lowest level sufficient to avoid the need for RBC transfusion.

-- Hemoglobin levels should not exceed 12 g/dL, and the rate of Hb increase should not exceed 1 g/dL in any two-week period

You're at a good place and they should know how to dose it and to monitor you. All of these drugs put you at some risk you know? You've been recovering at a pretty good pace since your last chemo bombardment..maybe it will be up even further next week before treatment?
I know when i was down to 9 after surgery they gave me one unit of blood and i went up to 11 and then my body took over and did the rest but i was not undergoing chemo so thats a big difference.
I don't know....ask the questions and make sure you're satisfied with the answers.........Pat

Seems like I had procrit shots a couple of times but still also had to have two blood transfusions during chemo. I would go ahead and have the shot, Webs. Since there has been so much said about it lately, I'm sure they will be extra careful on how it is administered and how often.

Take good care!
Sandy