Hello @encb27, My heart goes out to you and your mom as she goes through these rounds of chemo. It’s rough to watch a loved one facing the side effects of these treatments and feeling helpless. The older we get the body tends to not process medications as quickly, so she may be having a harder time than someone younger. Encourage her to drink quite a bit of water daily. Room temperature water goes down easier. Aim for 64 + ounces per day to help flush the toxins.
The faintness you’re talking about could be from her drop in hemoglobin or blood pressure. How’s her blood pressure??

Going forward, your mom had 5 days of Vidaza chemo last week. This week you should see a decline in more of her blood numbers…red, white and platelets. So you’ll want to take her temperature daily because as white blood cells drop, so does her ability to fight infections. If her temperature hits 100.4 then she’ll need to call her hematologist for instructions. Usually at that point a patient is readmitted to the hospital for observation and possibly antibiotics.

Your mom will also continue to become weaker and exhausted as she reaches a neutropenic stage. That’s very normal. Because of the drop in her hemoglobin she may feel light headed and weak, so it’s a good idea to have a walker nearby when she gets up so that she feels a little steadier.
As the month progresses, her numbers should climb again having her feeling pretty well again…just in time for the next round.

How’s your mom’s appetite?