Checkin in and a tiny vent

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  • Lou Ann M
    Lou Ann M Member Posts: 996 Member
    edited January 2017 #22
    Ice

    i was given ice booties to wear could have had the mittens but I didn't need them. I didn't know about them until after frontline treatment was over and I already had neuropathy in my feet,  it never got any worse so I do think it helped.  My cancer center has them and the change them out when they warm up

    Hugs and prayers, Lou Ann

  • MAbound
    MAbound Member Posts: 1,168 Member
    Helps

    I wore the hypothermia slippers and mittens starting with my second infusion when I was also switched from Taxol to Taxotere because of the neuropathy that caused. It didn't cure what I had, but it didn't get worse and using them for pain relief helped a lot in between. I don't know if how tolerable or effective just putting your feet and hands in ice would be, though. I got the mittens and slippers on Amazon. Not cheap, but the slippers were definitely worth it.

  • Red Corvette
    Red Corvette Member Posts: 114 Member
    edited January 2017 #24
    Ice

    Mrs. Red did ice hands and feet throughout chemo and had no nueropathy. She also used cold caps and never went bald. Theres a lot of info on icing in other threads that you may want to check as well as online that you check. It's not the most pleasant thing but we thought it worked great for us.

    Red

     

     

     

  • Kamushka
    Kamushka Member Posts: 22
    edited February 2017 #25
    bluesmama said:

    I cut my hair again

    So I got that military GI Jane cut at a nice barber. It was hard to keep back the tears. I was a nervous wreck. I even told the poor girl cutting my hair that it was going to fall out in a few weeks so have fun with it. Every day I seem to find something to have anxiety over. And I've even pushed away one of my dearest friends recently and now she won't respond. I've been misbehaving left and right. The carbo-taxol to me is being confronted with the idea that there's a chance that it spread. And then I get all weepy and sad about missing people already if I'm gone. Especially my nieces, family and few dear besties. One thing I've found myself doing over the past couple of days is making an effort to communicate what I need from people and not being afraid of being vulnerable. 

    As for the needles, my arms have been pricked so many times I've lost count. The chemo infusion nurses have been great. It's the bloodwork nurses that could use some help at my location. One in particular is such a nervous pricker that she calls someone else to do it after she fails a few times. I try to grin and bear it but it annoys me to no end when I see her pick my name. 

    I've tried to ask for a port but it's not worth the risk according to my doctor since I'm only getting 4 infusions. I have very few accessible veins so they've used the same one for the last two. My vein gets tired towards the end so make sure you ask for heat packs!

    Question - have any of you stuck your hands and feet in ice during the Taxol part? Are you happy with the results? I'm going to try to do it. 

    Ice

    I had excruciating and debilitating pain with chemo numbers 1,2,and 3 .....was told it was just my body's reaction to chemo and to increase duration of steroids. But only hydrocodone gave me relief to sleep somewhat.  I received taxol and carboplatin together once every three weeks and my sessions last seven to eight hours. After chemotherapy #4 and the neuropathy becoming so prominent in the hands and feet (and that is not always reversible) they reduced the taxol to 80% and I put my toes on ice packs and held ice packs on my fingertips during the three-hour  taxol drip.....seemed to help.  I also had a port before chemo started however I have had much trouble with it.....they can't always get it to work without a myriad of heparin and me contorting into positions my body hasn't seen since high school! Porter,....the name I've given him should have probably been called Waldo since we are always looking for him. The surgeon evidently implanted him too deep in my chest and too close to the center but they usually find him somewhere under the collarbone. By the time they finish messing with Porter and resterilizing and freezing him....the next several days cause my chest and arm to hurt. Because I keloid the scar tissue makes it harder to locate. I have had sonograms and a port study with dye contrast and xrays to make sure Porter hasn't flipped over ...luckily for me that hasn't happened. I have my last chemo in February and as soon as I start radiation in March the oncologist said it can come out. If, God forbid, I ever need another one...I will have a longer discussion with whoever inserts it .....and I thought I had done my due diligence before but this time I have experience.

  • Lou Ann M
    Lou Ann M Member Posts: 996 Member
    Kamushka said:

    Ice

    I had excruciating and debilitating pain with chemo numbers 1,2,and 3 .....was told it was just my body's reaction to chemo and to increase duration of steroids. But only hydrocodone gave me relief to sleep somewhat.  I received taxol and carboplatin together once every three weeks and my sessions last seven to eight hours. After chemotherapy #4 and the neuropathy becoming so prominent in the hands and feet (and that is not always reversible) they reduced the taxol to 80% and I put my toes on ice packs and held ice packs on my fingertips during the three-hour  taxol drip.....seemed to help.  I also had a port before chemo started however I have had much trouble with it.....they can't always get it to work without a myriad of heparin and me contorting into positions my body hasn't seen since high school! Porter,....the name I've given him should have probably been called Waldo since we are always looking for him. The surgeon evidently implanted him too deep in my chest and too close to the center but they usually find him somewhere under the collarbone. By the time they finish messing with Porter and resterilizing and freezing him....the next several days cause my chest and arm to hurt. Because I keloid the scar tissue makes it harder to locate. I have had sonograms and a port study with dye contrast and xrays to make sure Porter hasn't flipped over ...luckily for me that hasn't happened. I have my last chemo in February and as soon as I start radiation in March the oncologist said it can come out. If, God forbid, I ever need another one...I will have a longer discussion with whoever inserts it .....and I thought I had done my due diligence before but this time I have experience.

    Port

    I also have a port that is hard to access.  It is a replacement port because I stupidly had the first removed when I was finished with frontline and everyone said it was ok to,do.  Well  now this one is tipped because of scar tissue from the old one.  I have had it for3 years now and it works fine although quite a few people have trouble accessing it.  Only Three people can get in easily and they are all phlebotomists.  My port is well known in the.infusion,room and only, a few nurses still try to do it.themself. The rest just call Justin. It is so painful when they stick you over and over trying to get the needle in the right spot.  In other words "I,feel your pain"

    Hugs and prayers Lou Ann

  • Nellasing
    Nellasing Member Posts: 528 Member
    edited February 2017 #27
    Kamushka said:

    Ice

    I had excruciating and debilitating pain with chemo numbers 1,2,and 3 .....was told it was just my body's reaction to chemo and to increase duration of steroids. But only hydrocodone gave me relief to sleep somewhat.  I received taxol and carboplatin together once every three weeks and my sessions last seven to eight hours. After chemotherapy #4 and the neuropathy becoming so prominent in the hands and feet (and that is not always reversible) they reduced the taxol to 80% and I put my toes on ice packs and held ice packs on my fingertips during the three-hour  taxol drip.....seemed to help.  I also had a port before chemo started however I have had much trouble with it.....they can't always get it to work without a myriad of heparin and me contorting into positions my body hasn't seen since high school! Porter,....the name I've given him should have probably been called Waldo since we are always looking for him. The surgeon evidently implanted him too deep in my chest and too close to the center but they usually find him somewhere under the collarbone. By the time they finish messing with Porter and resterilizing and freezing him....the next several days cause my chest and arm to hurt. Because I keloid the scar tissue makes it harder to locate. I have had sonograms and a port study with dye contrast and xrays to make sure Porter hasn't flipped over ...luckily for me that hasn't happened. I have my last chemo in February and as soon as I start radiation in March the oncologist said it can come out. If, God forbid, I ever need another one...I will have a longer discussion with whoever inserts it .....and I thought I had done my due diligence before but this time I have experience.

    Kamushka

    SO glad you only have one more to go!!!  So sorry you are suffering like that- we are all so different and you just never know.  I hope and pray your last one goes smoothly.  (((HUGS)))

    PS I love that you named it Porter ;)  and ha, ha on Waldo- you have a great sense of humor and I'm sure that's why you are doing so well <3<3