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White blood cells protect your body from invasion by harmful substances from outside (bad microbes, etc.). Chemotherapy drugs destroy not only cancer cells, but also healthy white blood cells that are necessary for fighting infections. As a result, your resistance to infection goes down. The normal range of white blood cell count for adults is approximately between 2,000 and 8,000 /ml.
The white blood cell count starts to decrease 2 to 3 days after the treatment, and comes to a nadir between 7 and 14 days. If your white blood cell count drops, you become more vulnerable to infections, and are more likely to suffer stomatitis, bronchitis, diarrhea, suppuration (formation or discharge of pus), and fever. If the count stays above 2,000 during the treatment, you will likely be safe from infections. However, since your overall physical condition also includes the risk of infection, your doctor or nurses may tell you a different value for your attention.
Table 1. Cares to take when your white blood cell count is low
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WBC: below 1,000 (in addition to the left-side points)
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Wash your hands before and after meals, after excretion, before and after going outside, etc. Wear a mask. |
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Refrain from going outside, and avoid crowds. If you continue working, shift your working hours. |
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Donft take long baths. You can wipe your body or take a shower instead, to save your energy. Keep the bathroom warm. |
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Be sure to brush teeth after meals to prevent infection. Use a soft toothbrush and brush gently so as not to scratch inside your mouth during the treatment period. |
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Gargle after you get up, before and after meals, and before you go to bed. |
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Eat digestible, well-boiled foods, as much as you can. Be careful with hot things or fish bones, so that you wonft burn or scratch inside your mouth. Try to wear gloves when you cook. |
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You may need injections of a drug to increase white blood cells. (If you have a fever, you may also need to take antibiotics.) |
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You can easily become infected when you are undergoing chemotherapy. This is because the carsinostatic also affect the bone marrow, resulting in fewer white blood cells and weaker physical resistance. White blood cells are a very important ingredient of blood and are necessary for fighting infections. If they decrease, you become more at risk of suffering infections inside your mouth, on your skin, in your lungs, rectum, urinary organs, reproductive system (sexual organs), or elsewhere. To identify your condition, your doctor will take your white blood cell count frequently. If it drops too much, s/he may diminish the amount of your anticancer drug, to provide you more resistance so that the treatment can continue. "Neutropenia" refers to the state where the count drops below the normal range.
If the doctor administers an anticancer drug that tends to cause extreme reduction of white blood cells, s/he may prescribe you an injection of a colony-stimulating factor (CSF), which promotes rapid recovery of white blood cells. G-CSF preparation (granulocyte CSF; filgrastim or lenograstim - genetical recombination), and M-CSF preparation (Leukoprol) are now commonly used in most types of chemotherapy. (Marilyn, J. D.,1998; Onishi, Kazuko., 1998)
The following notes will help you prevent infections, and find out early if you have been infected:
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