Starting 12 weeks of Taxol tomorrow...getting nervous!

jessiesmom1 said:

Starting Taxol
I had 4 rounds of A/C and then 12 rounds of Taxotere. I personally found the Taxotere rounds to be FAR more difficult than the A/C rounds. I did well with the A/C if I do say so myself. Most (but not all) chemo patients have less difficulty with Taxol/Taxotere. My oncologist was somewhat surprised. In general the side effects are cumulative. There may be more and they might last longer with each successive round. Fatigue is a given. I also vomited and had diarrhea on a daily basis. I absolutely lost the desire to eat and ended up losing 40 pounds. There is something to say about being overweight to start with. My eyes watered virtually 24/7 except when I was sleeping. It has been 20 months since my last chemo and they are still watering. It seems that the Taxotere has damaged my tear ducts. The Taxane class drugs are known for damaging your fingernails and toenails. I lost 8 fingernails and 2 toenails - that is after they became ridged and discolored. They eventually came back in normally and look fine now.

With all that being said, you should know that I never once had to completely skip a round of chemo. I had to postpone 2 rounds by a couple of days to be given IV fluids instead of the chemo infusion. My blood counts never got so low that I had to be given a transfusion or skip a round. I was determined to get it over with as soon as I possibly could. Even my kids (17 and 19 at the time) knew the countdown - 9 of 12, 10 of 12, 11 of 12, DONE!

It is perfectly normal to be nervous. This is a big event. You ARE starting chemo over again, but you WILL get through this and you will post about your success right here. My husband is a chemo survivor himself (colon cancer) so he kind of knew what to expect but my experience with chemo was quite different from his. I think he got tired of the side effects and caregiving so I also tried to keep things to myself sometimes. It is OVER though. Hopefully forever.

IRENE

Taxol was tough
Hi,
Your story sounds so silmiliar to mine! I sailed through the A/C, had a two week break and then started 12 weekly treatments of the taxotere/taxol, I was told by my doctor and 3 different women I had met with who went through the same course of treatment that I would feel better than when I was on the A/C......not the case just like you. I felt progressively worse... I ended up with fluid around my heart, fluid around my lungs, infiltrations in my lungs and my eyes where flowing like niagra falls! I had to have the plural wall of each lung drained (700cc's of fluid was taken out of each side) I had a bronchoscopy, and the fluid from my right lung came back atypical and reactive, which led to a pet scan, that was clear thank god! The fluid around my heart took care of itself (thank god again!) all the while dragging myself to radiation everyday.....unlike you I had gained weight from chemo even though I was basically just drinking protein drinks and water by the end of chemo. It came off fairly quickly, only to be put on prednisone for 3 mos.....I ended up having to have artificial tear ducts put in, they are called jones tubes. My eyes are 50%better but one of the tubes needs adjusting as it will shift randomly and cause pain. I was told by the eye specialist maybe if I had come sooner when they first started to water to have the tear ducts irrigated I could have avoided this. I have since passed this on to my oncologist, and a friend who is going through the 12 taxols now. My lungs are almost there. I have a new problem now, my oncologist put me on anastrozole as the 5 year hormone therapy regimen. I have been on it for two months and I feel awful.... Weak, tired, bone pain....I thought it may be the after affects from being done with the prednisone but when I looked it up, it is side effects from the anastrozole....I can't wait for my next visit to my oncologist to see if I have any options. He felt this drug was more effective than tamoxifen....I can't seem to catch a break and return to a semi normal existence! I still have pain from my surgery that was almost one year ago (left mastectomy with tram flap reconstruction) I opted for reconstruction at the same time because I wasn't supposed to have radiation, after the surgery is when they discovered more lympnodes....luckily I didn't have any scarring from radiation! That is one thing that did go my way!

chemo anxiety
I had 6 rounds of Taxotere, Carboplatin & Hercpetin. I had the Herceptin every week for 17 weeks then switched to Herceptin every 3 weeks for a full year of it. YAY!! Completely finished on April 19th!

At any rate, I developed what I called Thursdayphobia - my infusion day was Thursday. I would get so anxious each and every Thursday - even when I was only having Herceptin which was not so bad at all that I couldn't sleep, I was just tied up in knots and SOO anxious. My GP had given me a prescription for Xanax, as an anti-anxiety drug. Once my sister and husband convinced me it was really meant to prevent the horrible anxiety I was experiencing I started taking one on Wednesday nights - sometimes Tuesday nights too!! - and amazingly enough I was able to sleep and feel rested before chemo-cocktails. I suggest you might want to look into something like that yourself! Chemo is the pits - and I hear from some people they had no problems with chemo - WHAT!!!!?????

Good luck - fight like a girl.

Melanie

PS - I do not call myself a "cancer survivor" (or as a social worker wanted to impress upon a group of us a "cancer thriver" - that sounds stupid to me!)-- I am a warrior princess. Hope you will be one too!!

Jobi said:

Hanging in there...
Hi, ladies,

Thanks again for the well wishes. I have been okay. Pelvis and back pain are what I have experienced the most, but I am staying in good spirits as much as possible, but it is hard. Wish I could sleep!

Will keep you posted.

Dorene

Sorry you are still in pain
Sorry you are still in pain Dorene. Happy to know that your spirits are up! Wishing you a good nights sleep soon!


Keep us updated,


Sue

Wife with breast cancer
Dorene,
My wife also has breast cancer, she just finished a/c and is starting taxol in 2 days, she is an oncology nurse and is still working full time, I know its hard to talk to your family about this horrible disease, but in my opinion your family is your best support, If my wife kept me out of the loop I would be terribly worried, even more then I am now, I feel this is a family crisis and we will fight this together, We wish you the best, this too shall pass. Keep the faith.