Adriamycin,Cytoxan, Taxol Treatment to begin next week

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  • joannstar
    joannstar Member Posts: 403 Member
    #22
    LVG said:

    You are all so awesome for
    You are all so awesome for providing with such great info as I go forth in this journey.
    I am forging ahead & it is my goal to hold my head up, use the very helpful tips I'm learning here and walk this chemo/healing path with as much grace as possible. I begin 8 treatments every other week, starting this Thursday. After the first one, I'll have it on Wednesday, in order to recuperate over the weekend.

    One day at a time towards our healing!!!

    LVG

    Good luck
    as you start this journey so many of us have walked!
    I decided to be as open about my breast cancer as I could be so that I could help others.
    I admit that I wasn't always as "graceful" as I could be, I found that I had absolutely no patiencem but I did the best I could. I had to stop beating myself up for being self-absorbed and accept that I was dealing with the most important aspect of my life, surviving, so I needed to be more gentle with myself and follow my gut as to what I could and could not do. I missed a lot of activities that I had wanted to go to, but it was necessary in order stay healthy. I did go to a major event over New Years and promptly caught a cold and had to go onto antibiotics in order to have my last chemo on 1/7.
    You'll make it I know. Keep us posted...
    Hugs,
    JoAnn
  • canjuncutie
    canjuncutie Member Posts: 131
    #23
    i made it thru
    First half no side effects the last one taxol i had side effects. my life has not really changed. work i finally found some . I was unemployed looking for work when i got otld guess what you have breast cancer stge 3.Feel free to pm me
  • monica811
    monica811 Member Posts: 10
    #24
    link between low red blood count and tissue expanders?
    Hello. I had a double mastectomy with tissue expanders. I am scheduled to begin the taxol phase of chemo tomorrow. However, my labs last week showed that my red count was down to 8.8. It has been dropping through the first four treatments. Just not that low. My iron is fine but do not know about B12. My friend works for my encologist and said that it is not common for your red count to drop like that. I am or WAS pretty healthy. She did recall two other cases of women around my age....47. i called her back the other day to find out if they had the same sort of surgery that I had. Well, they did. I am still suffering with some minor problems with my right expander...it is the alloderm that was used. Doc's say it will be ok, but it is sore and looks upset to me.

    I am just wondering if anyone else out there has had any similar issues. I have been a pretty good trooper through this whole thing, but this is really getting my down. have not been to the gym since I found out. Help.
  • LVG
    LVG Member Posts: 128
    #25
    The first thing I Was told
    The first thing I Was told when asking such a question, is that everyone tolerates treatments differently... Oh How True!!
    After recuperating from my lumpectomy, I had 4 treatments of A/C... Not too bad - had it's ups & downs. During this time, I felt very minimal nausea and just slept alot a couple to three days after giving myself the Nulesta shot - tired, drained feelings... Minimal leg pains. Really loss of appetite after 4th treatment. Now, I've had one of four Taxol - iuuugh! Treatment took nearly 3 hrs, felt awful during treatment and night of; even worst after Nulesta shot. Leg, back, wrist & shoulder pains. I couldn't believe it - lasted nearly 5 days. I hate meds so I only took Tylenol for 3 days, finally, I broke down and took Exedrin back and body for pain, which helped. Night sweats are like swimming in a darned pool - wow.
    Everyone is tolerating these treatments differently.
    I learned very early from this site to drink, drink, drink... And that advice meant alot and really helped.

    I wish you all - all the best and praying each treatment is easy for you.
    One day at a time, for sure.
  • ticugirl
    ticugirl Member Posts: 1
    #26
    mimix3 said:

    Same chemo, triple negative also
    Hi there:
    We have a lot of similarities. I will give you details of my recent journey. Then feel free to ask me specific questions.

    Diagnosed January 27, 2010.
    Fine needle biopsy - February, 2010.
    Met with medical oncologist and his team. Diagnosed with IDC, triple negative, large (11 cm mass in right breast). Muga scan and PET scan - February, 2010
    Outpatient surgery to have port implanted - February 24, 2010.
    First chemo treatment - February 25, 2010

    Note: I first took 4 rounds of Adriamycin and Cytoxan, dose dense - which means that I received treatments every 2 weeks, not every 3 weeks. I took my treatments on Thursdays (which worked great for my administrative type job). Each Friday (following treatment days on Thursdays), I returned to the Cancer Center and received a neulasta shot (to keep my white count high enough). I felt good on chemo treatment Thursdays and still felt good on Friday mornings. By Friday evenings, I began to feel "yucky". My worst day was Saturday, but, occasionally Sundays were bad, also.

    I always returned to work on the Monday following chemo treatment Thursdays. Therefore, during my 8 weeks of AC chemo, I only missed every other Thursday and Friday to receive chemo and have the neulasta shot.

    I had an array of the usual side effects from the AC, but, I was very fortunate. None were debilitating. I was given Emend for nausea (via IV during my chemo treatments and by mouth for 2 straight days following chemo). I credit Emend with my being able to tolerate the AC treatment with very little nausea.

    12 weeks of Taxol followed AC. No neulasta shots were given during Taxol treatments; neither did I have to continue taking Emend. Taxol was easier. I had some pretty bad problems with my nails and had problems sleeping - due to the other IV's given with Taxol (steroids, etc.) All in all, I realize now that I tolerated all the chemo better than the majority of patients. ....little or no nausea, no hospital admissions, no ER visits, no extra IV fluids, etc. were necessary. Food and fluids did taste bad most of the time, but, I got through it with just a little weight loss (5 pounds or so).

    After completion of chemo, I had a bilateral mastectomy in August. It wasn't fun, but, I was able to return to work full time in just over 3 weeks - althought I was very tired.

    I received 7 weeks of radiation in October and November. By then I was extremely fatigued. Radiation was more difficult for me (and I burned worse) than I had anticipated.

    I completed ALL treatments (since I am triple negative, I do not take any follow up medications, etc.) around Thanksgiving. I was burned badly from radiation and had to take off about a week to recover.

    As of the first of January, I am beginning to feel like my old self. My stamina and energy levels are close to what they use to be. I feel very fortunate. I have quarterly follow up visits with my surgeon, medical oncologist and radiation oncologist. Yes, those follow up visits are very stressful, but, I try very hard to live a normal life between the visits.

    It isn't fun - but, it IS doable. I refused to listen to horror stories. I don't read or ask about statistics. I made up my mind to do this in the classiest way possible. I wanted to be the poster child for "It CAN be done." I also wanted to be someone who others could come to and ask me how I did it.....how I got through it.

    Please feel free to ask me any specific questions. You have received some good advice from others who replied to you. My only additional comment would be to take the advice of your healthcare team and bring ANY concerns/problems to their attention immediately. You may get tired of hearing this.....but, you CAN do this.

    Thanx
    Thank you mimix for your post. I start my ACT tx on Thursday (Mar 24) and I'm scared. I opted not to get a port but I'm thinking I may need to. I'll call on Monday to ask about it. I don't have the best veins and they can only use my right arm. I do 4 rounds of A/C and 4 of Taxol. The tumors (2) were estrogen positive so I'll have to do Tamox afterwards. As tragic as this sounds I really don't want to live anymore. I'm 42, I've raised my only child and she can take care of herself, so I really wish God would just take me. I pray for this everyday. I keep on going and living my life but I really wish I was gone. I laugh at funny things, have lunch and conversations with my friends but I want to go. It would be so much easier. Mind you, I have no desire to do myself in. I just wish God would take care of it for me. I guess I'll just keep on living and maybe one day my prayers will be answered. Thanks again for your posting. All of the posts help me with what to expect even though everyone is different. Have a great weekend.
  • canoegirl
    canoegirl Member Posts: 169
    #27
    ticugirl said:

    Thanx
    Thank you mimix for your post. I start my ACT tx on Thursday (Mar 24) and I'm scared. I opted not to get a port but I'm thinking I may need to. I'll call on Monday to ask about it. I don't have the best veins and they can only use my right arm. I do 4 rounds of A/C and 4 of Taxol. The tumors (2) were estrogen positive so I'll have to do Tamox afterwards. As tragic as this sounds I really don't want to live anymore. I'm 42, I've raised my only child and she can take care of herself, so I really wish God would just take me. I pray for this everyday. I keep on going and living my life but I really wish I was gone. I laugh at funny things, have lunch and conversations with my friends but I want to go. It would be so much easier. Mind you, I have no desire to do myself in. I just wish God would take care of it for me. I guess I'll just keep on living and maybe one day my prayers will be answered. Thanks again for your posting. All of the posts help me with what to expect even though everyone is different. Have a great weekend.

    ticugirl
    I just typed a long response to you and then lost accidentaly lost it by hitting a wrong button on my laptop.

    Sooo....the short (sort of) version is, I'm praying for you and hope all goes well for you. Please try to find someone you trust to talk to. A couselor at chemo, a minister, or just posting on this board. I pray that you start to feel like you WANT to live and fight thru these next few months.

    I had ACT +Herceptin starting in March last year. Wasn't as bad as I feared it would be. I get nauseous easily and always have (Carsick, morning sickness, etc) and I had been warned that I would be more likely to feel neauseous on chemo. Sure enough, that was the side effect I got on AC. BUT I took the anti-nausea meds and they worked great. I usually felt fine the day after chemo and I gave myself the nuelasta shot at home so I was able to go to work that day. I did the dose dense chemo and the up side is that it goes by fairly quick. I followed chemo with 6 weeks of rads and just had my reconstruction surgery 5 weeks ago. Looking back the last 16 months seems like a blurr.

    BTW I recomend the port if you have bad veins. I got mine in the morning of my first chemo. Was terrified, but it turned out to not be a big deal. One of the worst parts for me was not knowing what to expect and thinking it would be worse than it really was.

    Take it day by day.
    Hugs,
    Marcy

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