Starting Taxol next Friday

mom62 said:

Taxol

Hi,

Taxol and Taxotere are from the same family but two different drugs.  Taxol is stronger than Taxotere at least that is how my nurse explained it.  In 2004 I did 4 A/C and 4 Taxol.  I had extreme joint and muscle pain, but I also have rhuemetoid arthritis.  I got numb toes and fingers but it did go away.  In 2009 I had a recurrance and did 8 rounds of Taxotere.  I had no problems at all with this drug.  I hope all goes weill for you.

Terry

 

Best of luck tomorrow with chemo.  Praying it will go well for you.  Post when you have some time to update us.

Hugs, Kylez

desertgirl947 said:

Taxol and me

Mid-July I had my 4th and final infusion of taxol (every other week) after having adriamycin and cytoxan the first half.

Instead of having a reaction during the infusion the first or second time, I did both the third and fourth times -- although prior to the fourth time, the med people did a few things to try to prevent it from happening . . . but it did.  I was fortunate both times to be able to resume the session after a small bag of a drug meant to offset the reaction. 

The taxol caused minimal neuropathy for me.  I still have a little bit of numbness, but only in my two little toes on the right.  I know of some who have worse problems; I think mine is minimal.  I did have peeling skin around my heels, the edges of my feet, and around my toes.  I kept track of that, using lotion on the areas because I did not want to develop cracks -- something a friend of mine had problems with.  I ended up with some dark, rough, dry skin around my right ankle; but that did not become anything major. 

I developed a pesky cough with the taxol.  The med people always knew it was me when they would hear a little bit of coughing going on, they knew it was me (there were four infusion rooms there) and that I was all right.  I also had a hard time taking deep breaths without coughing.  My lungs were clear, and so that was a good sign.  The problems, though, became worse twice -- the weekend before infusion 3 and the weekend before infusion 4.  I happened to be going to the office for bloodwork those two Fridays, as they preceded my Chemo Mondays.    What they had me do, which helped me within less than 24 hours were (1) take an OTC allergy pill, like Clariton; and the second time they added (2) musinex.  I really felt bad that last time.  My lungs were clear.  I had an awful cough, and I really could not take any deep breaths, which sometimes happens when you cough hard.  I had a temp.  Since Monday was to be my final chemo, we all were working for that to  happen.  So, they also gave me an antibiotic just to be on the safe side -- treat this as if it were a light case of pneumonia, although they did not think it was.  By the next day, I was feeling much better.   I did finish my chemo on time.

I had no more problems with the nasty coughing after that; I was pro-active on the days that this could have again happened, and I had no problems at all.  [In fact, my husband and I went away for a few days on a trip that had been planned in the spring.  I paced myself, but I did very well.]  By the first of August, the pesky cough was also gone.

Taxol can be rough, but we get through it.  You will too.

Best wishes.

Hoping you get thru this first treatment with no side effects.  Good luck!

Hugs, Debby

I just finished my 12 weekly Taxol treatmenus (and ironically started FEC the same day you started Taxol). I havery ray few side effects with Taxol.  - only hair loss and headaches.  really nothing else.  The good news is that the taxol virtually shrank both of my tumors (stage 2b) that they are not seen on last ultrasound and I am only halfway through chemo.  - now the another's another story- lots of side effects with that!   

good luck