Taxotere, Carboplatin and Herceptin
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Ya Ya: So happy for you! Congrats and do the all done dance!
Well, I made it through the first treatment with no drama. Am now pretty anxious that side effects may appear soon. Took Zofran at the clinic and then took one when I was finished. Don't want that to get ahead of me. Any advice on how many days to continue with the anti-nausea drugs? I also have Compazine to take in between the Zofran if necessary. Not sure what to really eat either. Bland I guess? It was a long day 6 1/2 hours, but my husband stayed with me so the time passed with someone special there to take care of me. I did the icing, so hope that helped. They give you so much info when you are leaving, especially about the chance of a fever with the first dosing of Herceptin. I think I will be sleeping with the thermometer in my mouth all night...well, let's hope I do sleep tonight...those steroids did a number on me last night. My DH said we were at the chemo clinic longer for more hours than I slept last night! He is right. Thanks to all for the encouragement and help in getting through today. By the way, I apologized to my hair when the Taxotere went in...LOL!
RacerDeb: Much luck and hugs coming your way for your appointment tomorrow. Be sure to let us know how you do. We will stray strong and get through this together since we are starting a day apart. Know I will be thinking all positive thoughts for you as you begin this part of your journey!
Linda
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I am from Canada and here we get frozen gloves in treatment room, did not use frozen socks. did well other than my last treatment when three toes became extremely sore and red, nail lifted on one toe, but did not loose it. Deffinatly use frozen glove, peas or whatever else works
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I am from Canada and here we get frozen gloves in treatment room, did not use frozen socks. did well other than my last treatment when three toes became extremely sore and red, nail lifted on one toe, but did not loose it. Deffinatly use frozen glove, peas or whatever else works
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linnyhopp - I was advised 3 days on the anti-nausea drugs, unless you have problems then I would guess your MO would advise continuing until you are not having any nausea. Be aware that Zofran may give you a headache, if you develop one it may be from that. Excellent that you iced, and apologized to your hair - so cute! You may find that days 3-5 you feel icky, but it should pass. I am hoping that you actually feel relieved that you have one under your belt even though you are probably nervous about the next few days.
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Special K ~ Thanks for the anti-nausea medication timeline. I guess I will try the 3 day thing for sure! I do feel relieved to be 16.6667% finished with the chemo part...not that I am counting or anything. I am going to take off of work this week for sure to just relax and see what happens and how I feel. I have plenty of sick time, so figure I will spoil myself. School is closed next week, so I will be super-lazy by the time the third week in between rolls around. Oh well, my girlfriends keep telling me that it should be all about me right now...maybe I will give that a try...ha! ha! Will check in here to see how everyone is doing and post an update on the LACK of SE's...how's that for a positive attitude?
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linny - Keep drinking fluids and eat small meals, whatever works. For some reason with the first treatment I really liked McD's fish sandwich. Never eat them execept then. Cottage cheese was great. I took promethazine for several days. Some women don't have nausea!0
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linny - really push the fluids and try to eat protein, but pretty much you need to eat whatever you can tolerate or seems appealing, right? Are you getting Neulasta tomorrow?
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Omaz ~ Just couldn't figure out what to eat for dinner, husband had Mexican...no way would I have even dared to eat that, looked great, but not taking any chances...so, I had a PB&J sandwich. It sounded good and peanut butter is protein, so what the heck! I am so hoping for the no nausea thing. Am hoping by taking the meds, I may never have it or know if I do...sound reasonable?
Special K ~ I am really drinking (and tinkling a lot). I keep trying to think of proteins that sound good as I know it would be the best thing to eat, but am uninspired about what to choose. Omaz's suggestion of cottage cheese is great and I will try that tomorrow. My MO did not mention Neulasta. I asked the nurse today, but she said they don't usually do that. Makes me wonder why or why not I am not taking it. By the way...in your picture you look amazingly similar to one of the former principals I worked for. She is still a wonderful friend so that is a true compliment to you...you are truly SPECIAL for all the info you share.
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linny - not all oncs automatically use Neulasta. Yours may wait to see if you need it. They should be drawing blood and running a CBC (complete blood count) periodically and if your WBC (white blood count) falls they may elect to give it to you then. The upside is that it is one less med (and an expensive one) to take and eliminates the possibility of bone pain if you don't need the drug. Thank for the compliment too!
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linnyhopp, I hope you don't get choked on the thermometer. You're going to think this sounds strange, but when I had Big D and was eating the Brat diet, I had a hankering for the toddler food, chicken sticks that come in a jar. So I sent my DH to the store for it. He came home with the meat sticks with turkey in it and I asked him if he would take it back and get chicken sticks. He did and it made me soooo happy. It was the best meal I ever had. It's protein and easy to digest. It's worth a try. Yum
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Special K ~ Yes, I am required to have bloodwork done the day before each scheduled chemo and I guess if the counts aren't good, they will prescribe it then. I am very thankful to have good insurance, but I can see where they would want to avoid paying for a very expensive medication unless absolutely necessary...it's the nature of the beast.
GrandmaV~ I am so chuckling at your "best meal." We are both blessed to have husbands who try to make this journey easier on us. I just HAD to have a danish on the way home from treatment...figured I deserved it since I was such a good girl at chemo today! Besides, I thought with taste changes coming my way, I may not enjoy it as much later! I ate it in the car!
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You both reminded me that after a couple of outpatient skin revision surgeries late last year prior to starting chemo I made my DH drive through the Starbucks on the way home. I am semi-concious in the passenger seat but really needed some COFFEE apparently!
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Be careful with the Compazine, I ended up being allergic to it, but it took 3 treatments to work out what it was I was allergic too!! I have found that with each tx I needed nausea meds a bit longer so just take them until you feel ok again. I had nausea but never threw up, at least not from the chemo. I still don't really understand why tx is so different across the country. I only get steroids the day of tx, which actually is quite nice, I don't get any extra at all. But I do get the nasty Neulasta! However, my WBC have stayed within the normal range all thru so that is good.
Have a good night tonight everyone. This is my 'good' week, final tx next Tuesday, then onto Rads and of course Herceptin continues forever!
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My husband just shakes his head and does whatever I want. I'm trying not to take advantage, but it's so tempting. Right now, my wish is his command. I told him he was spoiling me and after my treatments are over, I'm going to expect it to continue. Our 37th anniversary was last tuesday and I didn't feel like doing anything, so we have a date for next March sometime.
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Grimbol ~ Thanks for the advice on the compazine. I am going to try and stick with only one medication if possible. Just wondering when/if the nausea will start. I am kind of afraid of going to sleep (if that ever happens) and then waking up sick as a dog! Wondering how and when it has hit some of you guys?
GrandmaV ~ Our 38th (can't believe it) anniversary falls on Thanksgiving Day this year so we will not even have to think about going anywhere, but hoping I am well enough to go to our family get-together. Have already told the family that anything I contribute will be "store bought" this year. They are so supportive they couldn't care less, but you know how it is, you just want to be a small part of what is going on. But getting out of cooking this year is not a bad thing if you ask me!
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linnyhopp, I set my alarm the first 3 days for every 6 hours so I could take the anti nausea meds in the night. I didn't want to wake up sick either.
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I had Emend and Aloxi as IV premeds. I only took the Zophran orally after the first chemo. The Phenergan worked best for me. The nice thing for me was the Phenergan made me sleepy, so I slept the first couple days after chemo. The one side effect I noticed was when I did take the anti nausea meds the constipation was worse.
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linnyhopp I took the Emmend but never took any other anti nausea drugs. I never needed them. There are a few of us that manged not to get nausea… but I did have my share of nausea with general anesthesia and the one time I took 1/2 a pill of a narcotic. Good thing I didnt' need any of the narcotics as well.0
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linnyhop - This was my mainstay dinner - boneless, skinless chicken thighs in a heavy pan on the stove with lite soy sauce and pepper. Get it bubbling then turn to low (so it just bubbles lazily) and cook covered for 1.5 hours turning the chicken occasionally. Makes a sauce that is wonderful on mashed potatos or rice.0
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Omaz You're making me hungry and it's not even 10 am here:) I'm getting my Herceptin infusion at the moment (only 4 more to go after today!!!) I think I may drive straight to the grocery store from here...
All: sounds like many people had trouble with compazine. I had no trouble at all with it and it was the only anti-nausea med I used. I took it for approx 2 1/2 days after the infusion just to be certain I never had break-through nausea. As sewingnut mentioned, I always had constipation during that first week so it could have been because of the compazine (maybe the steroids too?) but I found that using Metamucil those first few days worked well. For me the biggest problem by far was the terrible diarrhea/cramping from day 6-10. Nothing ever stopped it and I reverted to a liquid/soft diet to cope with it every cycle. The MO said that Tax is very hard on the GI tract and some people have a worse time with it than others.
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Yes, I am not impressed with how it has affected my GI tract, that does't need any encouragement to act up at the best of times! I am swinging between C and D constantly, such fun. I found I would wake up in the night at about the time I was due a pill without any alarm. I was getting Emend by the 3rd tx then Zofran to help and I needed everything I could get but it all worked ok. Fortunately I tolerate meds well (except apparently Compazine) so I could take the pain meds without adding to the nausea. the nausea pills don't help with C though, but I'd rather have to take something to help that than risk throwing up.
3rd tx I got realy bad heart burn/acid reflux, but only on that one (so far).
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Hi ladies, I have a pickle. I just had my FSH 10 days ago and it was 60, from 127 in August. I had a PAP 5 days ago and everything was fine. I started pilates 5 days ago and I have had light spotting of brown blood and now 4 days later it's like the start of my period and now bright red. Anyone else experience this wonkiness? I am away and cannot get to my regular doc until the 1st. I have no pain , I thought an FSH of 60 was menopause. Is this warranting a trip to the ER?
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nmoss1000, can you call your doctor for advice?
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Hi grandmav, I called and he said since he could not see me go to the emergency room. I have an appt on the 1st for ultra sound, bloodwork etc.
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That's a hard decision. You know your body better than any one else. I know I had a period last April after 2 years of no period and I didn't go to the doctor, but that was before I was dealing with all this cancer stuff. I might have made a different decision had I already been diagnosed. I really don't know. I just chalked it up to my ovaries having a last hoorah.
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Just talked to onc he said probably a period, no pain so no alarm. He said i can hold off until1st
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That's great news. Enjoy your day.
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Thanks to all for the advice on the anti-nausea meds. I didn't have a problem during the night...if you can say that falling asleep at 3 a.m.was the night, that is! I read and tossed and turned then finally fell asleep. Woke up and felt OK, but sort of starting to feel puny. Stomach ache that may be from irregularity due to drugs. I have a reddish face today...is that normal from these drugs? I see "skin changes" are listed on my paperwork given yesterday, but no specifics on what that means. Hoping to take a nap and sleep off some of this ickiness. I guess tomorrow is the day I may expect to be hit with SE's big time? Not sure, but hoping it doesn't get too bad. I did eat some Cheerios...tasted OK for now. OMAZ ~ thanks for the recipe. I will be trying it (with chicken breasts) sometime soon. Sounds delish! Take care and to all of you have an awesome day...I will be checking in regularly today as I am not going anywhere but home sweet home today!
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Linny - Steroid red face! I had it too, it will go away by tomorrow.0
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Omaz ~ Thanks for the info. I e-mailed my doctor but figured I would hear from someone on here first! Going to take a nap and try to make up for not sleeping last night! Maybe I can sleep off the hot, red face! Have a great day!
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