Hospitals & Hair Loss

One of the first things I was told in my pre-chemo informational meeting was that if I ever have a fever higher than 100.4 degrees – I have to call the doctor immediately. From Sunday night to Monday night, I had a constant fever of 100 degrees, without it going up or down. I continued to monitor it, hoping that it would stay that way. But on Monday night, my fever went up to 100.6 degrees. I did as I was told and called the doctor, and they told me to go to the emergency room and to pack a bag in case I was admitted to the hospital. What I didn’t expect was to spend 4 days admitted to the hospital for just a fever.

Turns out, because of the chemo and the nadir* period I was in, I got extremely neutropenic. Extreme neutropenia* is not a normal reaction to chemo. Even my doctor told me he had never seen counts as low as mine, especially in someone my age. As a comparison, below is typical counts vs. mine when I was admitted to the hospital:

Normal person counts: More than 1500

Normal Nadir period counts: Around 500

So, to put it simply, I had absolutely no immune system. Most likely, in my vulnerable state, I contracted some sort of virus that was causing the fevers. Being in the hospital was the safest place for me to be, because even without knowing exactly why I was spiking fevers, they were able to monitor it and give me a number of antibiotics to help combat it. I spent two days with on and off fevers, climbing all the way up to 103.0, but it broke on Wednesday morning and never came back up. I was given two shots of Nulasta during my stay, a medication to help boost my white blood cell count, but by Thursday my counts had gone from 40 to over 1000. Amazing what two little shots can do.

Around noon on Friday, I was finally released with a prescription for pill antibiotics and instructions to monitor my fever and continue to take precautions against infection. They never figured out what exactly was causing my fevers, but obviously whatever it was was fixed by the antibiotics they gave me. Overall when I was discharged, I felt pretty good, except for the exhaustion from not getting good sleep. Really, it’s impossible to get good sleep while staying in a hospital because the beds are uncomfortable, I didn’t have a comforter (which is necessary for me), and they come in to bother you every few hours at least. So, as soon as I was in my own bed, a five hour nap was in order.

In other news, my hair has officially started to fall out. I knew this day was coming, I prepared for it by buying hats and scarves and coming to terms with it emotionally, but you can’t prepare for the first time you see a big chunk of your hair fall out. Although this is a small price to pay in order to kick the cancer, it’s still hard to think about not having any hair.  My hair is a huge part of my identity, and it’s always been something I’m able to hide behind if I need to. But what I keep telling myself is it’ll grow back after chemo, and it might be fun to be bald for a little while. I won’t have to deal with bad hair days or taking the time to do my hair in the morning. I can try out fun scarves and have more time to do my makeup instead. As the rest of my hair falls out, my plan is to shave it when I can see my scalp. It’ll be emotional, but I think it’ll be a relief to have it be gone instead of waiting for all of it to fall off. Hopefully my bald head is not weird looking or lumpy!

 First signs of hair loss

*Nadir: Period of time (typically starts one week after chemotherapy, and ends a week later) where my white blood cell count is at an extreme low. This can open the door to any infection, bacteria, sickness, etc.

*Neutropenia: An abnormally low level of neutrophils (a common type of white blood cells important to fighting infections).