A bug

When I was first starting chemo, Mike began to develop a cold. Now that I gave you chemo 101, you probably now know that me being around people with colds is an absolute no-no. This became a huge drawback, as most of my weeknights are spent cuddled up with Mike, my best buddy and my rock. This meant that Mike and I had to cut off our visits for a couple of days and, when we did decide to be around one another, we had to wear surgeon's masks around our faces, for fear of me catching his cold.

Last Wednesday, we finally thought he was over the cold and I happily made my way to his house, where I visited for the evening. As it turns out, the cold must have been in hibernation-mode, because the next day he was back to being sick once again. Sure enough, by Thursday evening I was feeling a little bit of a dry, scratchy throat. Oh no! Don't tell me I caught a cold already!!! Just my luck. I tried to pass it off as my imagination, but over the weekend every now and again I would feel that faint scratchiness lingering in the back of my throat.

My imagination began running wild. What will happen if I get a cold? Will I die? Will I become deathly ill? I began looking on the internet and discovered sites that warned of death in chemo patients who catch colds. As soon as Monday arrived, I made my way into the cancer unit at the hospital to tell them what was up.

I met with the nurse and explained that I had a very minor scratch in the back of my throat for the past 4 days, and I feared it may turn into a cold. She informed me that a cold is actually not as life-threatening as the internet portrayed-- it is just harder for me to fight it off with low white blood cell counts. She said it may stay longer and feel worse than normal, and may possibly delay my second treatment until I got better. Nonetheless, she contacted Dr. MacCormick and he directed her to order bloodwork from me (which was scheduled for that day anyway) to test my white blood cell count (these are the cells responsible for immune function and are supposed to be lowest from day 10-14 ... it was now day 11). He told her that if my blood counts were low, he would order me an antibiotic, but if not he would have me just watch it and come in if it got any worse.

I had the bloodwork done and, as it turns out, my bloodcounts were "not particularly low," but low enough that Dr. MacCormick would feel more comfortable if I were on an antibiotic. The antibiotic was ordered and is to be taken for one week.

This is one of the many trials and tribulations one must go through on chemotherapy. However, if you or someone you know is on chemo and you suspect they may have caught a cold, don't panic. The biggest thing you need to worry about is a fever, which is a sure sign of a bad infection. Anything else can be cured with a simple antibiotic or even less!