taotere and cytoxan

madsters1

Hi all, Looks like my time has come. After MUCH fighting and running, I will begin 4 cycles, every 3 weeks of Taxotere and Cytoxan next week. The medical community has their "take" on it by way of observing patients. Can some of you who actually walked this road plese share with me the realities? I am 48, in pretty good shape physically (not so much emotionally), I still have children at home, 8 & 11. The 11 year old has special needs, Tourettes and severe ADHD. How am I REALLY going to feel?

GMcD

Hi. Your cocktail is
Hi. Your cocktail is exactly want mine was. I finished chemo a yr and a half ago. I can only tell you of my own experience as we are all different. I was 57 at the time and raising my two granddaughters, ages 10 and 8. My experience was not as bad as I feared, I was never nauseated, took the anti-nausea meds as instructed and my biggest side effect issue was diarrhea that would hit like clockwork on day 4. I was tired for a few days but could function. Do you have some help with your children at all? As most of our pink sisters will tell you, chemo is not a walk in the park but very doable. I wish you all the best and hope you will come here for any and all questions while taking treatment. There was no question to small or "stupid". Take care.

Penny67

My experience
I was put on the taxotere/cytoxan once every 3 weeks regimen. I had my first dose on a Wednesday. I ate a decent breakfast and brought along a bag lunch with some snacks. The total time for theinfusion was about 3 hours (which included the steroids, iv flushes). I felt fine that day although my stomach made some very stange sloshy sounds. I attributed it to all the meds kind of mixing together. I ate a very light dinner of chicken noodle soup and a couple crackers before I went to bed. I also took the antinausea meds around the clock for the first 3 days, even though I never felt nauseous. The nurses told me that its better to be proactive than to try to stop it once its started.

Thursday and Friday I felt a little tired, never sick, just not my normal self. By Saturday I was very fatigued and pretty much was on the couch or in bed resting and sleeping. That lasted for maybe a day or two and then I was feeling somewhat like myself. I did have problems sleeping for the first 3-4 nights-I mean awake until 6am and that was due to the steroids that they gave me during chemo and had to take orally for the next 1 1/2 days. I did have some mouth sores about 10 days after the forst chemo. I did the salt water rinse but I didn't do it 4 times/day like they recommended. I also got an infection from an ingrown toenail of all things and had a fever for about a week and had to be put on 2 pretty potent antibiotics which did the trick. My white count did not come back up so I did get the neulasta shot to stimulate my marrow to make the white blood cells. I did not have any bone or body aches at all. I took a claritin pill the day of the shot and for 3 days after as instructed by my nurse. Don't know why claritin stops the aches but it did for me.

I went to my 2nd chemo (on a Wednesday)thinking that it would go pretty smoothly since my first round gave me no problems (the actual infusion). About 8 minutes into it I had a severe allergic reaction (flushed face, difficulty breathing) and they had to immediately stop the taxotere and shoot me up with benadryl, steroids and something else. In about 5 minutes I was back to normal but that ended my 2nd chemo infusion. I was only able to receive the cytoxan. I felt rotten all day Saturday, which I attribute to the drugs they pumped into me to reverse the allergic reaction, but by Sunday afternoon I felt great and since have felt like my old self prior to the start of chemo. I have my energy back and have not felt like I needed an afternoon nap. I go Nov. 2 for my 3rd treatment and am not sure what I will be given as the dr. won't give me taxotere again because my reaction was so quick and severe. I am a bit nervous to be put on different chemo drugs.

I did lose my hair on day 15 of my first chemo round, but I still have my eyebrows and eyelashes so I am thankful. The eyebrows have thinned a bit but I am probably the only one that notices.

I am 44 (was in good shape until the double mastectomy put me out of commission for a while) and my kids are 16, 14 and 11 so they are in school all day. My husband pretty much does everything around the house and with the kids so I sould concentrate on resting and getting my energy back after the treatments. I know I am very fortunate. I would have needed help if my kids were not in school full time, but everyone is different. Sometimes when you have to do something your body adapts. Emotionally the first 2 months of my diagnosis were very emotionally draining and I found myself crying a lot (never in front of my kids). I think that was due to the fear of the unknown and all the tests that they put me through (ct scans, mri, pet scan) to see if the cancer had spread. Luckily it appears that even though it was in 2 lymph nodes on the left side where the tumor was, that it hasn't spread beyond that point. My diagnosis was IDC, 9 nodes removed on theleft side with 2 positive for cancer, Stage II, grade 1 (slow growing).

Chemo is not a walk in the park but it is tolerable especially if it means it will knock out any cancer cells floating around in my body. Good luck with your treatment and I will pray that things go well for you.

cubanatex

Taxotere & Cytoxan
I had my first treatment Oct 12th. I had three days of severe diarrhea and then labs showed blood had dipped too low, so had a Neulasta shot. They took my vitals and I had fever so I was admitted to the hospital for four days. I got out this past Monday. I have been unable to eat much due to everything tasting bad. I must say 13 years ago I underwent four treatments of Adriamycin and did not have any problems at all. I thought it was my age ( I am 58 now, and 45 back then). However, I think its just how my body reacted to these drugs. I am going for my second treatment this coming week and am somewhat apprehensive,

GrandmaJ

Cytoxan and taxotere
Had 5 treatment 27 months ago. First chemo, then lumpectomy, then radiation. Chemo was not as bad as I had imagined. The anti-nausea drugs worked well and I was never nauseated. I did, however develop different reactions, once diarrhea, once thrush, once a fever, along with fatigue three days after the chemo. Of course hair loss too. But I continued to work and only missed the day of chemo and the day after and I was 65 yrs old at the time.

Emotionally, however, I needed the help of a psychiatrist and am still on Lexapro. This is a wonderful place to get all the information and support you need. Good luck.

Judy