Hi Ryan, It is quite normal after chemotherapy for blood numbers to drop dramatically. Chemo kills rapidly developing cells such as cancer cells. Unfortunately it doesn’t discriminate and will also impact the body’s blood cell production…red, white and platelets.
Starting at about 7-10 days after the last day of chemo, there is period referred to as the nadir or neutropenia stage which lasts for several days. All the blood numbers will be low until the marrow is able to start regenerating new cells again. In the meantime there are infusions for platelets and red blood if needed. Your dad finished his round of chemo last Thursday so he may be entering that nadir stage if he isn’t already in it. The body generally recovers just in time for the next round of chemo. Your dad’s doctors will check his blood numbers before his next chemo. Sometimes the next session is delayed until numbers rebound. Also, if his white count doesn’t go up fast enough his doctor may suggest an injection of Nupogen which helps increase the production of white blood cells so that his infection risk is lower.

Losing weight is another ‘normal’ side effect of the cancer itself and the chemo. It can be alarming to lose that much weight so rapidly. I’m not a large person and I lost over 40 pounds the first 5 weeks. It was shocking when I got home and saw myself in the mirror.
If you can encourage your dad to eat…at this point, anything! My dietician of course was trying to push protein rich foods to help prevent muscle mass and provide nutrition. But chemo can really mess with a person’s appetite. So my dietician was pushing anything I could get down with calories. My husband would make me smoothies with Lactaid brand Ice Cream…the salted caramel. 😉. That had fat, calories, carbs…you name it! I couldn’t taste it but it went down well. Having no lactose helped keep my intestines happy. There are also protein shakes and juices on the market that are palatable.

Is your dad nauseated?