We've caught a cold: How do you manage a cold during chemo?

Posted by kerryfr @kerryfr, Jul 19 10:50am

My husband is stage 4, HS metastatic PC and is currently on darolutimide and has had one injection of Eligard. It's in his bones, and has a slightly reduced (but slowly recovering) WBC and neutrophils. He has caught my cold (I feel terrible). How serious is this? All I can see is that we need to watch for fever? Has anyone else out there managed through a cold?

Interested in more discussions like this? Go to the Prostate Cancer Support Group.

Colleen Young, Connect Director | @colleenyoung | 1 day ago

@kerryfr, this is such a good question. I hope that your husband's cold is a thing of the past by now. I added this topic to the Cancer: Managing Symptoms support group as well because I think responses from other members might help future patients and caregivers who have this same question.

You're right that fever is the main thing to monitor while on chemo. That can be dangerous. A cold is not usually associated with fever, but low white blood cells can make getting a fever easier when you're down and out.

How is your husband doing now? What did you learn about managing a cold while on chemo? What helped?