Taxotere, Carboplatin and Herceptin
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Hi! everyone. I went for my 3tx today and doc appointment. I bragged I had not had any nausea really but just heartburn but I had it last night. I think I ate something that did not agree with me. I usually get sick on the 4th day after the TCH poison. I would like to get it over with on Friday and Sat.
I had to take 5 days of Neopengen and It guess my insure has something to do with me having a nurse give it because I could do it myself. It is not doing the thing it is supposed to so I get Nuelasta today and a blood transfusion since the 2 shots for bring up my red blood cells is not working and I break out on my arms too but he has never seen that happen before. I am a strange duck I guess.My doc said after the next 3 TC I would go over and get started on radiation and take the Herceptin along with it every 3 weeks but I am hoping for a short visit in the waiting room. I would like to go back to work. The radiation doc said they would schedule the appointment and no special treatments. I may find another radiation doc I think! My daughter is off work so I am recruiting her to take me and the 18 year old is the only one that has not had to take me since he works all day and goes to school nights. I burned part of his breakfast this morning but he never complains
Well I best get really for my blood transfusion. I have given plenty but only got some in 1985 and I had surgery so I really don't remember much and they said it would take about 4 hours but I am not sure if it includes shot and paper work. I guess I will see.
goods days to all!
Caroly
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Carolyn,
I usually take zantac on a regular basis along with a stool softener (dulcolax) starting the night of chemo. I stop the zantac after about 3 days, so far the heartburn has stayed away now that I take it. But last night I had a rare can of soda and after that I had the worst gas pains in my stomach! It must have been the soda! I guess I can't drink it.
Sorry you have to have a transfusion! That sucks. Do you know what your counts were? I have a had a shot of neuslasta the day after chemo since the beginning. (Luckily!) I've had just slight anemia. It would be nice if they would've started you on that right away.
Good luck today.
Donalee
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Aly and Shel: The new pictures are really cute! I need to post one - I'll have one of my children show me how - it always makes them feel superior when I need to turn to them for help with technology. Aly, hope your crash isn't too bad - mine got worse for the last two, but I think that was the anemia getting worse. I know what you mean about sweet stuff tasting especially weird - candy still tastes funky to me, which is not a bad thing, I guess.
Bethany: The grandbaby is adorable! I cracked up that you and she will be trying out the same hairdos.
Brenda: Good to see you're back on track! I hope all goes well for you this time and the wound continues to heal.
I got my last fill yesterday - YAY! Exchange surgery set for Oct. 14.
Gotta go do bloodwork today since I didn't want Arancept or a transfusion for the anemia. I'm going to visualize healthy blood today!
I agree with Shel - I do NOT envy those of you who have to stick yourself. Don't know if I could do that. I had to go back the day after chemo for the Neulasta, but I combined it with a trip to the PS and it's not that far for me.
Everybody have a great day -
Sue
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Wow you guys have onc's that come in while your in the chair? I only see mine in the office. She is nice though. Aly that is good advice on the extra liter. I think what I did wrong was beings it has been awhile from my first treatment (surgery) I had forgotten what I should have been doing. One was to eat light meals and not greasy, spicy or sweet, and the water issue. Today I am on the tiny verge of nausea, but zofran is keeping it in check for the most part. I haven't ate, but the senna/colace and milk of mag is keeping the stools a movin and I know that is a big part of the nausea is from constipation. What did the Newlasta do to you last time? I just could not bring myself to put that needle in last night and my husband, who is usually a rock for me, whimped out too so with tears a streaming I put it back in the fridge. I will call and probably go in and have them do it. I feel like such a whimp compared to all of you other campers that find the strength to do it. How has the Neupogen helped? Donalee that is awful how the 9-5 onc treated you. Maybe someday they will be like rax and end up sitting in that chair then they will know. Well really tired so going to go lay down. Chat later...cyber hugs to you all
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Sue, thanks for the nice words. I'm waiting to see what happens this afternoon since Thursday afternoon was when I crashed before. Don't feel so well (of course) at the moment.
Brenda, you really need to get the Neulasta. That is what is going to keep your body producing white blood cells and fighting infection throughout this. Can you go back in to the doctor and have them do it for you? It's really important, I think particularly for you. I know it's creepy having to stick yourself with a needle but they're so thin I promise it doesn't hurt a bunch. You are not a wimp! It's a really hard thing to do! When I had to have anti coagulant injections in my belly twice a day, I wasn't able to do them myself after the 3rd one. My husband had to do them for me. When I had Neulasta I just had severe bone pain, likely because the large "all at once" dose of it affected my Fibromyalgia. I'm having a much better time getting Neupogen over 5 days but it does mean at home injections for me, unless I want to drive 25 minutes to the hospital every day, which I do not.
) I think getting a smaller piece of the Neupogen at a time keeps me from getting the severe pain I had last time. That's how it's helped me. I hope you feel better. Don't feel bad about yourself OK? This is REALLY hard stuff to have to go through and you've suffered through some nasty extra stuff as well that you weren't expecting!! You are just as strong as the rest of us so keep your chin up!! Eat something if you can. Keeping small meals in your tummy will really help with the nausea.
Hugs,
Aly.
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Brenda - I agree with Aly - you can do the Neulasta! Once you do it the first time, you won't think twice. It's really painless. I just pinch some skin and fat/muscle on my abdomen about 1.5 inches from my belly button, swap with alcohol, then stick the needle in pretty fast (it's very thin); the liquid does not hurt when it goes in.
Gina
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To quote Popeye: "I can stand alls I can stands, and I can't stands no more!" My runny eyes are driving me batty! Yesterday, I got to the point where I couldn't even read. And when I can't read, it's like telling Michael Phelps he can't swim. So I called the doctor's office and talked them into prescribing eye drops. They said it probably wouldn't work, but I have to try something!
Saw my general surgeon today, and he told me that under no circumstances would anyone do my foob job any less than 3 months after my last poisoning. So since I have the 3Day in November and go skiing in January, I'm going to have to wait. That came as a bit of a blow. I just want everything to be over with so badly! And then he told me that I'll have to have another MRI of the unaffected side before the surgery. What if they find "something" that survived the chemo? I know it's a horrible thought. But it's hard not to think it. I think they'll have to give me Versed or something to get me in that MRI machine again. I had Viet Nam flashbacks in there, and I never went to Viet Nam. I came out of there white as a sheet and trembling! The good news from the surgeon is that he'll do my belly button. So if I have the PS on the foobs and the GS on the belly button, the whole thing will go faster. And it's all outpatient, too.
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Shelby, I've been thinking about your eyes. Did the doctor check to see if your tear ducts are blocked by scar tissue from the Taxotere? I imagine you hate to think about dealing with another type of issue and surgeon but wondering should you perhaps go see an Opthamologist to see if treatment might be needed? -- if your eyes are not draining properly into your nose.
Your Viet Nam flashback cracked me up. I just read an interesting article you guys might relate to:
Having Cancer, and Finding a Personality
By RUTH PENNEBAKER
Published: August 11, 2008They say cancer changes you. They may be right. When I found out I had breast cancer 12 years ago, I became a comedian.
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Not the kind anyone paid to see. Just the kind who lurked around hospital corridors and examination rooms offering offbeat opinions, wiseacre remarks, outrageous commentary.
To my oncologist - a short, brisk woman who informed me my tumor had been "fairly aggressive" - I complained about the title of the pamphlet she had given me, "Chemotherapy and You." I said I'd prefer it if the title were "Chemotherapy and Somebody Else."
I complained, too, about the little marketing-friendly write-up that listed her family and her hobbies. The family was fine. But hobbies? I didn't want a doctor who had time for hobbies. I wanted her to spend all her waking hours focusing on curing cancer, particularly the type indicated on my own nasty little pathology report.
To everyone else, especially the people wearing white coats and carrying big needles, I announced I was writing a book about cancer. I tried to look rabidly litigious whenever I spoke.
In the midst of all this - the comebacks, the wisecracks, the flapping mouth - I had a dim idea of what I was doing. I wanted to be someone, a recognizable personality, a full-blooded, memorable human being, and not just a cancer patient. I had already lost the person I used to be, that healthy, energetic 45-year-old woman. I wasn't capable of losing more.
Other friends had their own spins on claiming individuality in the cancer world. One, a psychiatrist, questioned every medical decision that was made. Another, never timid to begin with, terrorized the technicians. "You get one chance to stick me and find a vein," she told them. "If you can't do that, find me somebody who can."
I also took comfort from Anatole Broyard's beautifully written, intermittently hilarious account of his own cancer treatments in "Intoxicated by My Illness," published in 1992, two years after his death from prostate cancer. Mr. Broyard, a book critic and editor at The New York Times, had fired a prominent surgeon because he hadn't liked the way the man wore a cap in the operating room. It looked, he wrote, "like a condom stuck on his head."
The way Mr. Broyard saw it, : "A critical illness is like a great permission, an authorization or absolving. It's all right for a threatened man to be romantic, even crazy, if he feels like it. All your life you think you have to hold back your craziness, but when you're sick you can let it go in all its garish colors."
Yes! That's what I was experiencing, too. Those garish colors, that craziness and freedom, that painfully stark clarity about what was important and what was not. It was as if, I sometimes felt, I had lived my life half asleep. But now, now, I was wide awake.
As my treatments wore on, though - the catheter in my chest, the chemotherapy, the anti-nausea drugs, the baldness, the fatigue, the radiation - my high spirits and sense of clarity began to wane. One night at a play, I noticed a woman across the room. She was attractive, middle-age, vibrant. Completely unlike me, as I had become over the past few months. I huddled in my seat, feeling spent and empty and old.
The last time I visited my oncologist after my treatments were over, I felt lost. The image that kept recurring in my mind was that someone with a gigantic pair of tweezers had picked me up, shaken me and tossed me back down. Now what?
"I feel as if I want to ask you," I told my oncologist, "how to live."
She told me I could live as I had before - working, taking care of kids, exercising, traveling, enjoying life. Anything, really. I could lead a normal life.
As I left her office, I realized how completely I'd lost myself over the past several months. I needed to be reminded who I was.
Can you tell me who I am now? I never asked my oncologist that question. Probably she would have thought I was joking, the way I always was.
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Bethany0 -
Hi everybody.I had tx #4 today.Onco was a little concerned about my blood pressure, it has been creeping up a little each week. I told her I think it is the way I have been eating(any thing I want, mostly bad for me foods)I have gained 27 lbs since 06/19..I am supposed to go to my primary dr to start med to lower blood pressure. No, I don't want to! Maybe I will try to eat better. I'll try! I have Crohn's Disease and was on a special diet,but the steroids have put me in remission so I have been eating everything I was't allowed to have.Too much of a good thing.Why does the food that is bad for us taste so good?
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Shel, I had the same problems in the MRI tube. The first one was awful and I came out in so much pain and I had a panic attack in there and the whole bit. Then I had to go back for a second one (bolstered by anti anxiety meds and Percocet for pain) so I could have an MRI guided biopsy of the second spot the first MRI had identified as suspicious (turned out to be benign, thank God). I did ask my onc on Monday about how we would know if the chemo had worked and whether I could have mammograms every 6 months because I'm paranoid. She reminded me that I had a normal (on the left side, anyway) MRI 5 months ago and am due for a follow up in a month. She said it's *extremely* rare to have anything nasty develop a year, or even two years after a normal MRI, particularly after undergoing chemo. I don't know if that helps you, but that's what she told me.
Bethany, thanks for the post. I really enjoyed it a lot.
)Aly.
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Bethany,
I loved that! It is everything we're going through. I've wondered lately what it will feel like to have a "normal" life again. How it will feel to have "natural" energy not drug induced energy! It will be a different life after chemo and rads for sure!
Donalee
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Aly;
Thanks for the encouragement. I'll try to remember that.
Bethany;
I'm going to try the prescription eye drops today. We'll see if that works. The nurse really doesn't think there's anything out of the ordinary (for chemo) going on. I have really bad dry eye usually, so maybe I just have more jacked-up tear ducts than the average person. Thanks for the funny article.
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Shell I have the teary eyes too, but it is from depression feeling so bad for so long. I just sit and bawled today. I still am very nauseated, day 3 now. Constipation gone, but now diarrhea to deal with. Can't hardly make myself eat or drink, but am sipping a little at a time, and a bite here and there. I feel better after a nap,but can sleep only so long. On Imodium AD so hope it will slow it down. It smells so bad dummping this bag that I want to puke! I cannot believer anything I put in my mouth could possibly come out that smelly.
Aly and Gina I had my neighbor who is a retired RN come down the next day and give me the shot. Geesh it didn't hurt at all, and I got them in the hospital but psychology I just couldn't get past it.
Bethany a great write by Pennebaker...Thanks for sharing. Well gang going to go lay down, feel like crap today. It will pass in time....it will pass in time
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Anyone here ever get prescribed Taxotere and cytoxan? I can't find that combo anywhere but that's what my MD is ordering. 4 - 6 rounds with 3 week intervals. He said it is the most well-tolerated combo and it is recommended as the latest as of 12/07. I'm confused.
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Some folks in the infusion suite at my hospital are getting the Taxotere and Cytoxan combo but I'm not sure why. Every doc seems to have a different opinion on what they're using.
Brenda, I'm SO glad to hear that you got your Neulasta and that it didn't hurt. It is hard to self inject I have to agree with that. I'd never make a good diabetic.
Aly.
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According to my drug sheets, Cytoxan = Cyclophosphamide = Procytox. Just more names for the same thing. Taxotere = Docetaxel. I'm on those two (CT) for 4 cycles of 3 weeks each. Just had Tx#3 on Tuesday. I'll have Herceptin for a year (3 week intervals), and that started Tuesday too. I'll have radiation starting sometime in early October (20 sessions). A lot of oncs. prescribe TC as it has less cardio-toxicity. That's particularly important for those of us getting Herceptin (which is also cardiotoxic, but reversible).
Gina
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Brenda,
My heart really goes out to you having to deal with a colostomy bag and the pain you must have been having from the GI surgery -- when you already feel so queasy and awful. I can hardly stand to be in the bathroom with myself so I can only imagine how horrendously tiresome it must be for you to have to take care of this. I think I'd cry all day long too. And, talk about not feeling like yourself. I just can't imagine how hard this is for you. I am so so sorry and you are in my prayers. I hope you have the family and friends who remember, and are around, to help you out with food, laundry, errands,and encouragement. How far do you live from Austin? I wish I could help. Love and hugs, Bethany
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Brenda,
I'm sending you a great big hug!!!((((((((((((((((((((((((((
)))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))!!! Wish I could do more!! I'm so sorry you are going through this! Hope you're feeling a little better each day!Donalee
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Good morning to all. I am at least sitting up and moving around some. This last week has been a little stressful. I got Nuelasta on Thursday and my blood transfusion after having my poison on Wed. I feel achy but no worse than with the Neupogen which was a pain to have to drive to get it. On Sat & Sun. of that week I had to go way out to another clinic but at least the traffic was not as bad as it could have been on a week day. I am not seeing very good after the TCH so someone has to take me on those times. My daughter took me for the blood transfusion the other day. I wish I could do most of this for myself. I hate having to rely on others but they say they don't mind.
I was told they would probably have to keep up the blood transfusions instead of the Aranesp since it is so expensive for Aranesp but then it does make me break out on my arms too so I am not sure why he decided to to do whole blood. I thought because the shot was not helping.I think maybe my anemia needed more. I am trying to eat some but really dread tomorrow since that is when I get so sick.
Brenda I too will be thinking about you. My son in law had colon cancer and it was really difficult for him just being 27. No one really knows what all a person goes through if they have not had to do this. My work called after I got home from the transfusion wanting to know about a note from the doc on when I can come back. I thought we did this but it must have been from the surgeon saying I could go back. I got that taken care of, wonder what else is going to crop up? I guess they are putting me down to go back Dec. 15 and I really hope I can. I should be able to since the TCH will be through by then and I will have the herceptin and radiation. I will get the Herceptin every 3rd week and the radiation every day. There goes my gasoline savings.
I think I will go get something to eat again. It seems like if I nibble I feel better but I have lost a couple of pounds again. I just waver about 2 pounds but I guess that is from being since and then feeling better and eating then here comes the poison again. have a good weekend everyone!
Carolyn
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Well camp buddies I do feel some better today. The nausea has calmed down some and has left my throat to my stomach. The diarrhea has stopped so can keep the fluids in. Still very weak and if I'm up to much the topsie turvey tummy kicks up so I try and lie still. Carolyn glad your better. I haven't seen to much on the Neuasta, but like the flu aches. Thank you Bethany for saying such caring words. It is bad, but I just watched a piece on St. Jude with children going through what we are and my heart just breaks. I have had my childhood running barefoot through the wet grass, I have had a good life and to see these babies having to con tin with what we are just breaks my heart. Now those are the REAL hero's. When I think I have it bad I just need to picture them. Looks like 3 days of bad nausea for me and I'm sure the rest is just around the corner, but I do think I can face anything but the nausea. hard to eat and I do force some down. I'm loosing some too on the weight end. Last chemo I was in surgery so didn't have a time line until this time on how long my down days would be. Just wanted to let you know I think I am past the worst of it. Thank all of you for being there....
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Hello Ladies, this is my first posting. I wish I had read your comments before my first treatment on 8/15/08, I was so under prepared. I want to thank you all for the laughter, tears, knowledge but especially hope you have provided these last few days. I did okay day 1-4 then the constipation and nausea set in and all the colace, sennekot and zofran in the world did nothing!!! I had no appetite and did not push enough fluids. I now have a new game plan for # 2 set for 9/5/08. I am on taxotere, carboplatin and herceptin every 3 weeks x 6 cycles, then herceptin till next august. I look forward to learning and sharing my experiences with you all over the next few months. You are all an inspiration to me and I love the humor. Wishing you all a quiet weekend. Maryanne
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Hi Maryanne, Glad you found us so we can hopefully share some ideas that may help ease the side effects -- hugely key to what I've learned here on this website is that I'm not alone.
Where do you live? My next treatment is 9/2 so we'll be tracking together and if you have any questions, please ask. Bethany in Austin, TX.
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Hey Bethany, I live in Chester Springs,Pa, outside of Philadelphia, close to Valley Forge. I look forward to comparing notes. Maryanne
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Hi Maryanne and welcome to the club no one wants to be a member of. This really is a great bunch of ladies that are so supportive and a good place to run when you think you are all alone. I live in California. Better tonight, outside of being very tired. I did get some cod down with one french fry for dinner (first food in 3 days so to speak) Can't wait until night and Ambien so I can just crash out. A sweet breast cancer suvivor came over today and brought me flowers, ginger snaps and some things that she liked while she was on chemo and thought I would. I thought when she left that she has went through this and has came back to reach out to another new sister just going through it and when I am finished I will look to do the same. Somehow seems right to give back. Hope you all have a good weekend. Chat soon....cyber hug
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Welcome Maryanne,
I have the same number of treatments as you. I started mine on June 2 so I have only 2 left. Yea!!!!! My 5th is on Wednesday of this week. The biggest problem I have had is the bowel issues and that seems true of almost everyone. (Oh besides the sewer mouth!) I started out taking metamucil everyday. Now instead, I take dulcolax, 3 every morning and try to walk almost everyday. That really helps get things going. Then of course everything seems to switch to the runs (how the hell do you spell Diahrea????I know there's and h in there somewhere!hahahaha) I live in Pa also, way across the other side in Erie.
Carolyn, sounds like you feeling better! These trips to the treatment centers are a real pain. I start rads in Oct. Thank God I only have to go about 10 minutes from my house! Its going to be a pain to go everyday! Oh well, after it's done we'll probably all be bored with no appointments to go to all the time! hahaha!
Big hugs to everyone!
Donalee
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I am having my first treatment this Wednesday, I will be receiving taxotere, carboplatin & herceptin every 3 weeks x 6 cycles. I am very nervous about this. I just wish I knew how to prepare myself for this journey. The thought of being sick is the thing I am most scared of. I have always been generally healthy thus not much experience with illness except as the caregiver. Totally different perspective.
Greetings to everyone!
Mary Jo
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Dear Mary Jo,
There is a wealth of information for managing side effects of the treatment -- constipation, diarrhea, sore mouth, hair loss, aches, fatigue.....please look back through this thread and also one named
ANYONE STARTING TCH IN JULY....it will be good to see from the beginning how some of us headed off constipation after learning from the 1st treatment. Reading back through the posts of stuff that we figured out as we went might give you a head start. And, it might be good to start a thread also asking for people who are starting TCH in August/September so you can have some discussion with people who are tracking with you. It's very encouraging and comforting -- it helps so much to come here and vent and to express your concern for others. Sorry you're here but glad you posted. Bethany
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OH, by the way, I'm an official member of the hemroid club! (i'm sure I spelled it wrong ugh!) Anyone want to be Pres. or VP?
Donalee
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Donalee;
I'll run for Prez of the Hemorrhoid (correct spelling) club, since (1) most people who know me find me to be a huge pain in the tuchis, (2) I'm swollen and turn red when irritated, and (3) tend to bleed easily when huge chunks of #@!* poke me too hard. Not only do I have much in common with the lowly Pile, but as a long-time sufferer (through five full-term pregnancies), I bring to the table (or should I say the toilet) many tried-and-true ways of coping with the little buggers. The main thing you want to do is keep the, uh, waste matter, soft and easy to pass. Keep up the fiber, water, and stool softener. Ice packs applied to the, uh, affected region and elevating the legs (since they're merely displaced varicose veins) will help, as well as good ol' Prep H, etc. And rest assured, if you're close to your next treatment, good ol' Decadron (which is anti-inflammatory) will bring 'em down. I know--I had a flare-up myself before tx 4--probably from having my head stuck up there too much of the time:)
Another good thing to remember is that your nether regions are composed of mucus membranes like your nose and your mouth. So if your lips and mouth are blistery, and your nose bleeds, your heinie probably needs a little tender loving care as well.
So who wants to be my running mate?
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OK. I'll be Sargeant at Arms. Just thought I might mention a tip that I was given after the birth of my first 9 1/2 pound baby. If you can just gently try to tuck any protruding little buggers back inside, with your fingertip wrapped in a PreparationH towlette that can help a bit. B
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