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Use of Neupogen (or similar) prior to minor surgery

Blood Cancers & Disorders | Last Active: Aug 3, 2021 | Replies (7)
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@rrivory

I love your little joke ... I'm going to use that one 🙂

Thanks so much for your insight. I didn't understand the difference between Neulastin and Neupogen, although Neulastin is not one that my hem/onc had mentioned. There are way more of those GSFs than I knew!

The surgery would be open surgery, but still considered out-patient. After much discussion and prayer, where I'm at right now is that I am going to wait. There is still an outside chance that my ANC could sneak up to 1.0 where the dr would be comfortable without the medication (at which point I'd jump on the surgery). I will be extra careful with my hernia not to do things that could make it worse. If things change with the hernia in the next year or so, I'm guessing my ANC won't be so low that we couldn't do the GSF at that point and still do the surgery. If they are, the hernia will be the least of my worries LOL. I trust that the Lord has this under his control and will guide me in the right direction.

Oh - and thanks for the heads up on the Claratin! I will keep that in mind if I ever have to start on those treatments. It's interesting to me that the Claratin helps with bone pain. One more thing to learn about!

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Replies to "I love your little joke ... I'm going to use that one :-) Thanks so much..."
Lori, Volunteer Mentor | @loribmt | Aug 3, 2021

It really would be much less worry if you could wait and see if your absolute neutrophils could reach at least 1.0. You’re so close and it would significantly cut your infection risk. I remember during the midpoint of chemo when my count was super low. I needed a very small incision made for a quick procedure but my doctor wouldn’t allow it until my count was back to at least 1.0. Then they jumped right on it!!

So your idea of waiting and just being extra cautious is really a good call. Relying on your gut instinct and your spiritual advisor can never hurt. 😉

Regarding the Claritin for the bone pain when taking Neulasta or Neupogen. Not everyone has it happen. But it’s thought that the bone pain caused by Neulasta is due to the effect Neulasta has on histamine, which induces inflammation and swelling in the bone marrow and results in pain.
Claritin is an antihistamine that blocks histamine, so it decreases the amount of inflammation and swelling in the bone marrow, reducing the pain.
And I have to say it really works!! But hopefully you won’t need to take that.
How often do you get bloodwork done to evaluate your MDS?

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