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Anyone on just Taxotere and Cytoxan?

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  • lanihardage
    lanihardage Member Posts: 92
    edited September 2008

    Hi, Unique. #2 was better for me than #1, and #3 better than 2, so you never know! For constipation I take a stool softener twice a day. Some people use Senecot, but that was too harsh for me. It morphs into diarrhea too easily.

  • AMANN
    AMANN Member Posts: 63
    edited September 2008

    Hello, about the early menopause, Well on my first tx I had a period right on clock work too. But the second, third and 4th haven't seen it at all. I am 43 y.o. My Onc said it's still no guarantee it won't come back later, but if it stays away for at least a year, then most likely it won't come back. My cousin was 38 when she went through chemo. It's been 10 years for her and still no period. So I guess we'll have to wait and see :)

  • unique
    unique Member Posts: 209
    edited September 2008

    Hi Lani ~

    My son takes Miralax, would this work for me too? I am not constipated but am having these little balls though. Maybe stave off something with a little Miralax? 

  • dlb823
    dlb823 Member Posts: 2,701
    edited September 2008

    Hi, all ~  I see we have a busy little board this morning! 

    Annie... Sounds like you're doing so great!  I remember your first posts here, and am so glad to see that tx #1 went well for you, and to hear you sounding so much more relaxed about the whole thing!  

    Gina... Which brand of wigs have you found so comfortable?  (I can't say that about the freebee I got at the ACS Look Good class.)   I happily reverted to scarves this past week.  My favorites are from a company called Anokhi, which I learned about on the August 08 chemo board:  www.anokhiusa.com/  

    Lashon... Sorry about that painful arm.  Editing to say... at first, I agreed w/Lani that you may be having a local reaction to the Neulasta, but I just went back and re-read your post.  Seems like a local reaction would have been more immediate.  Has your arm been hurting for a week, or has it just started?  Does it feel like it's deep aching in the bone?  If so, that's what Neulasta causes, and it may just be coincidental that you're getting it now in that arm.  Does Claritin, Tylenol or Ibuprofen (w/onc's approval) help the pain?

    Gail...  So sorry about your constant headaches.  That sounds miserable.  I wonder if anyone here has any specific suggestions for that?  Otherwise, I think I PM'd you about that massage therapist.  Maybe that would help.  The difference for me between tx #2 & #3 is like night & day. I was able to get over to Temecula (85 miles away) yesterday for the first time in 2 months to take care of my mall antique space (cleaning, rearranging etc.) with the help of DH, and am not wiped out today.  Hopefully, you will have a similar rebounding experience with #3.   Deanna

  • Gina_M
    Gina_M Member Posts: 108
    edited September 2008

    Hi Deanna -

    I bought one online (Paula Young was the website - you can google it; the wig was a Rachel Welch wig) and two from a wig place here.  The important thing was to get a "monofilament" wig (called a "mono") which looks so much better because it has a section from the front (underneath of course) over the whole crown that makes it look like the hair is coming out of your scalp and allows you to part it any which way.  I have 2 synthetic wigs and 1 human hair.  I like the synthetics better becuase they are easier to care for and no styling is needed.  It is good to try on the wig before you buy (I didn't for the online one and it was still okay, but I had the hairdresser trim it for me), and also to have it styled when it's on your head (most wigs come with too much hair and it needs to be thinned out, with bangs cut right for you etc.).  The wigs I have each have small adjustible straps inside to make them looser or tighter.  There are also these "comfort bands" you can buy that go around your head and keep the wig from touching your scalp - I haven't needed mine at all, but I've heard they're really useful if you have a sensitive scalp or if it's hot where you live.  I love the wigs - no more bad hair days and real quick showers in the morning!  I'll probably be wearing them for quite a while, as I have read that Herceptin reduces the rate of hair regrowth after chemo and I'll be getting that for the next year.  (My sister was so impressed with the wig idea that she bought one to wear over her hair when she's on business trips and doesn't have enough time to fix hers properly.

    Gina

  • SueG
    SueG Member Posts: 4
    edited September 2008

    Hi everyone

    It is such a comfort to have you all along on this journey.

    Annie: yes we can hold each other's hand - you are just ahead of me on the path.

    Elizabeth: seems like we too will be strolling (crawling?!) along together too.

    My first treatment is Wed. Oct 1.  so long as the Onctotype DX results are not delayed. 

    Lani, I listened hard when you said that the anticipation of it all was worse.  I am a feisty, but realistic woman so I am trying to balance my fears. 

    I am a 55 year old British ex-pat who has been living in Toronto, Canada since the 1970's (came for 6 months and stayed).  Life has given me lots of highs - including two amazing healthy kids aged 17 and 20, a pretty solid 27-years-and-holding marriage and an amazing set of friends.  It has also dealt a few lows - a previous br. ca. in 1994, a malignant melanoma in 1999 and the death of both my parents from cancer, but I figure I will harness all that I have learned from both the highs and lows as well as my disgustingly wicked sense of humour to give this returning foe a run for its money.  For everything else I will turn to my health care team, my higher power, piles of DVDs and all of you.

    Thanks

    Sue

  • lanihardage
    lanihardage Member Posts: 92
    edited September 2008

    Unique, hard to say what will work for you. Everyone's gut seems to respond differently to taxotere.

    Great attitude, Sue. I think you will be relieved on Wednesday.

  • dcgirl
    dcgirl Member Posts: 22
    edited September 2008

    Hi all,

    Re menopause/chemopause, I'm 40 and was just finishing my period when I had TC#1 - haven't seen it since.  I've been having hot flashes (almost exclusively at night) since TC#2.  My onco nurse said it probably won't come back right away if it does come back - that it could be several months.  She said if it does come back it will probably be "a gusher" - and told me a story about some patient whose came back like this and was sure she was hemorraging.  Yuck!  I'm having awful visions of being in the middle of teaching some big lecture and - boom - it's back.  Time will tell!

     LaShon, with respect to your ovaries, you might want to ask your doctor about ovarian ablation as an alternative to removing them.  This is where you are given medicine (I believe it is an injection) to stop your ovaries from functioning.  They therefore do not produce estrogen, giving the same result as removing the ovaries.  The benefit of ablation as I understand it is that it is reversible.  Once you stop the treatments, the function resumes.  Of course your doctor may have some reason for preferring to remove them, but you might ask about this.  The board for younger women with breast cancer might also have discussion about this as I'm sure the issue of being able to have children must be a topic for conversation there as well.  Best wishes to you - stay strong, you're doing great.

    Today is 11 weeks down, 1 to go - then chemo will officially be over!  I have my pre-op appointment with my PS today for my expander/implant exchange, which is in 2 weeks.  Has anyone else been confused by the implant size thing?  My plastic surgeon is wonderful but I still have no sense how these implants are going to look.  The measurements of what I was before, versus the expanders, versus the implants don't correlate particularly, and given that the implants go under the chest muscle it seems it would be hard to compare.  Anyway, he's great so I'm not too worried.  It's funny - don't know if anyone else has been like this, but I was *obsessive* on the details of chemo - I did tons of research about which one, what side effects, Neulasta or not, etc.  I've driven my oncologist crazy I'm sure.  The reconstruction stuff I've hardly given a thought to - I guess as compared to potentially life-saving differences, it just doesn't matter as much to me.  On the other hand, this will be my new body, so maybe I should pay more attention...

    Hope everyone has an easy, side effect-free week.

    dcgirl

  • unique
    unique Member Posts: 209
    edited September 2008

    Sue,

    I have had some ups and downs in my life as well and was SO WORRIED I wouldn't be able to handle the next thing. But it seems we do learn from things we've gone through and I'm doing all right. And guess what gals? I suddenly feel SO MUCH BETTER. Took a long nap today and let my 10 y.o. play video games. When I woke up I felt the spaciness and the fluish feeling ease up quite a bit. I am on TC#1, Day 4. First two days I felt fine, last two I have felt really crappy.

  • mollykitten
    mollykitten Member Posts: 4
    edited September 2008

    To otter, dlb823, and everyone else who responded,

    Thank you for helping.  :)

    According to my onc nurse, the fatigue and bone pain are direct side effects of the chemo drugs killing off any rapidly dividing cells. This includes both my red and white blood cells. When both are low, it can make a person very tired, and less resistant to fighting off infection. This would explain the fatigue. She also stated that because bone marrow is made up of cells, it too is affected by chemo drugs as the chemo drugs kill any existing cells at a rapid rate making the marrow weak. Unfortunately the side effects of this can be joint pain and/or bone pain, and it can be severe, like in my case. The side effects of treatment can start to show up about a week or so after treatment. For some people it can be sooner; obviously for me the side effects  showed up sooner (about 2-3 days after treatment. ) 

    My onc, stated I would only need to get a shot of neulasta if I  was going to chemo every 2 weeks; I am going every three weeks (my next appointment is Oct 8th.)

    My doc did prescribe me both Tylenol codeine #3 and also Vicodin for when the bone pain is at its worst. Don't worry dlb 823, I was not shy about asking for something to help me feel better as there was NO WAY I was going to put up with that kind of discomfort! I also take Claritin every day for allergies, so hopefully it is already helping me with pain.      

    The good news is that I noticed these side effects started to lessen about 8 days after my initial treatment, and that each day the fatigue, and bone pain have gotten better. Today, I have almost no fatigue, and the bone pain is much better.

    BTW Otter, I agree with you, I don't know how anyone could work FT while going through chemo. I know I couldn't do it.  

    There are still some days where I can't believe any of this is happening!!!!

    We will see what my next treatment will have in store for me.

    I'll make sure to let everyone know how I am doing.

    Thanks again everyone for the help.

    Josie : )

  • Imasurvivor
    Imasurvivor Member Posts: 31
    edited October 2008

    Quick note that my second TC appears to be going well.  On day 3 and feeling pretty good today.  Hope everyone else is faring as well.

  • otter
    otter Member Posts: 757
    edited September 2008

    Hi, all--Just stopping by to check up on you and make sure y'all are getting lots of sleep and eating tasty snacks (pudding, ice cream, popsicles, applesauce, etc.). 

    Isn't it interesting that there is no common pattern to all the SE's from Taxotere/Cytoxan?  Some of us have more GI problems (some have constipation; others have diarrhea; a few have severe indigestion).  Some of us have bad aches and pains, no whether we got Neulasta or not; others have hardly any pain at all.

    The hair loss is another interesting issue.  I was one who lost all my hair on TC.  Even those last few stragglers that hung on to the very end finally fell out after tx #4.  I didn't have any re-growth until about 7 wks after my last chemo tx, and it has been a very slow process since then.  I'm 16-1/2 wks past chemo, and my hair is maybe 1/2 inch long.  It's the color of a mouse (mostly dark gray).  My natural color is (was?) a rich brown with red highlights.  I realize that I may never see that brown/red hair again.  Heck, at this rate, I may never see chin-length hair again.  I did start on Arimidex (an AI) 3 wks after my last chemo, so that is probably contributing to the slow growth rate.

    There is life after chemo, though.  I have no chemo SE's left over at all, except for the hair thing.  As far as I can tell, everything is back to "normal".... well, except maybe my energy level.  If you can do it, keep up with some sort of exercise routine during chemo.  I didn't, and I do tire more easily.  It's a muscular tiredness, though--not like that dragging tiredness you feel during chemo.

    Hugs to all...

    otter 

  • slortiz
    slortiz Member Posts: 142
    edited September 2008

    Schedule for Week of September 29th:

    Monday, 9/29-BonnieLee (#3 of ?), Lili46 (# 2 of 4),

    Tuesday, 9/30-robichson (#2 of 4),

    Wednesday, 10/1-IndyHusband (#4 of 4), WantToBeNed (#4 of 4), birdsong (# 4 of 6),

    SueG (#1 of 4),

    Thursday, 10/2- nurseKim (#4 of 6), oldlady (#2 of 4), tattered_tata (#2 of 4),

    Friday, 10/3-TX66 (#4 of 4), donotcallmesue (#3 of 4), Nannie96 (#2 of 4),

    Congrats to those of you finishing up this week:  IndyHusband, WantToBeNed and TX66!!!!

    A special thought for SueG, who will be starting T-C on Wednesday.  Hope everone has a really good week while they kick cancer's butt!!

  • Margaret1102
    Margaret1102 Member Posts: 25
    edited September 2008

    Please add me, Sandra.  I am on today, too, for Tx #2 of 4.  Thanks.

    Good luck to everyone!Meg

  • kat70
    kat70 Member Posts: 3
    edited September 2008

    I'm 37 and just started TC on the 19th. On day 7, I had spotting between my periods. My periods have been pretty regular, so I'm freaking out a bit about the spotting. I was wondering if this is just a side effect of the chemo. Anyone experienced similar problem?

  • DesertRider
    DesertRider Member Posts: 37
    edited September 2008

    Good luck today Margaret! I hope things go well in the next few days. Drinking a lot is sure a key so do that - and know we are here. It helps me so much to know I'm not alone in experiencing the things we have to do to get well.

    Gail 

  • slortiz
    slortiz Member Posts: 142
    edited September 2008

    Meg--Sorry I missed you. I did have you down but missed it somehow. Hope it went well!

    kat70--Please let me know your schedule so I can post it???

    Thanks,

    Sandra

  • rseaw22
    rseaw22 Member Posts: 59
    edited September 2008

    day 5 of first treatment - not sure if I'm imagining that I ache less or getting used to it.  I am hungry, which seems like a good sign - just trying to figure out what to eat.  Neulasta didn't cause any prob for me other than a couple of times my teeth felt too big for my mouth.  The constipation switched to diarhea, but is ok - the achiness is exhausting though.  I wish there was a better option than tylenol, which doesn't seem to touch it.  It does give me a whole new level of appreciation for the elderly - aching sucks.  My mouth tastes horrendous - grosses me out.  I'm nervous about mouth sores, so have been doing the baking soda/salt rinse regularly - but would love "that clean feeling". :)   Best to all. Ruth

  • Nannie96
    Nannie96 Member Posts: 21
    edited September 2008

    Well, I am back on line after 7 days in the hospital post tx 1.....days 1/2 were great....day 3 I bottomed out...coulnd't eat, diarrhea, fever...went back to the center, got a bag of fluids, went home, had more fever, couldn't eat, etc.  so they put me in Friday after tx 1 and I got home 7 days later nuepegen shots, 2 bags of red blodd cells....and I actually feel good today..  In the midst of all this, hair began coming out on day 12 in hosp., so my hair dresser met me at her shop yesterday and we buzzed.  I was never so sick of hair in my life.   Cute caps and wigs will have to do.   Just keep thinking that if the chemo is kicking the cancer as hard as it kicked me, then I am good to go.  Have decided to take a leave of absence from school  until Jan. and chemo is over.   I don't want to do this over.....they are delaying my chemo 2 till Oct. 10 and proactive with neupegen shots, so all is well.......Hugs to all  Nannie

  • slortiz
    slortiz Member Posts: 142
    edited September 2008

    Nannie,

    So sorry to hear about the rough time you are having. I know you had hoped to keep teaching, but clearly that's not in the cards if  the chemo is knocking your blood counts down so.

    I've made note of your changed schedule. Let's hope the next treatment goes better. Have they discussed lowering the dosage a little?

    Rest up!

    Sandra

  • peeps1111
    peeps1111 Member Posts: 70
    edited September 2008

    Nannie96:

    Wow, so sorry to hear of your terrible ordeal.  Hope the next round is much, much better for you.  Chemo is certainly a strange thing.  I am on day 13 and was feeling good over the wkend, then today tin mouth again and nausea, back to the Zophran for the day.

    Peeps

  • sherry38
    sherry38 Member Posts: 25
    edited September 2008

    Hi all, I finished my TC on Sept 16.  Up until last week I didn't have any side effects that were intolerable.  But, now (2 weeks after the final treatment) my eyes won't stop watering.  Did anyone else have this problem and if so, did it go away on its own eventually??  The Onc Nurse is telling me it doesn't go away? 

    I also am having a little urine leakage problem - mostly when I stand up.  Please tell me this goes away?  I just started thinking about getting life back to normal and then these things start!!!  GRRRR

    I have my radiation sim tomorrow and am not looking forward to that either.  6 & 1/2 weeks seems so excessive to me! 

  • dlb823
    dlb823 Member Posts: 2,701
    edited September 2008

    Nannie...  So sorry to hear you had such a rough time of it, but it sounds like your onc is on top of your situation going forward.  My local onc told me that when he started practicing many years ago, out of 35 patients, he'd have 25 in the hospital at any one time.  Can you imagine?!  Today, with a much larger practice, it's more like 1 a week.  So hopefully with adding Neupegen, that won't happen to you again.  But it sounds like you have a great attitude and haven't let it get you down, which is so important.  We will all have to send you extra good thoughts & prayers on October 10.  We certainly don't want you to go through that again!!!     Deanna 

  • kat70
    kat70 Member Posts: 3
    edited September 2008

    Sandra,

    Here's my schedule: 9/19, 10/10, 10/31, 11/21.

     Thanks

  • Gina_M
    Gina_M Member Posts: 108
    edited September 2008

    kat70 - I noticed no one has responded to you yet.  Unfortunately I can't help - I'm 60 and went through menopause 20 years ago.  However, if you go to the top of the message board page and click on the search box, put in "period spotting" and you will see some posts about that.  Don't put in any dates and it will go back over time.  Good luck!

    Gina

  • kat70
    kat70 Member Posts: 3
    edited September 2008

    thanks Gina! I'll do that.

  • peeps1111
    peeps1111 Member Posts: 70
    edited September 2008

    Sherry38:

    Did you see the news section about the study of a shorter course of radiation being just as effective?  The radiation oncologists will probably still use the longer course as "the standard of care"  until more and more years of tests are done but I just might go for the shorter course after my chemo if the radiation oncologist agrees. After all, it's my body and if I want to take a "chance", I will do it.  They take years to change the "standard of care" it seems even if something better comes along.  That's just my opinion.

    Peeps

  • sherry38
    sherry38 Member Posts: 25
    edited September 2008

    Peeps, I have heard about the shorter course, but I think I am too far along for that - I have already had my surgery.  Isn't the shorter course the brachytherapy where they have to insert the "balloon " in your breast?

    Let me know if there is something other than that because I would opt for a shorter course : )

  • sherry38
    sherry38 Member Posts: 25
    edited September 2008

    Kat 70 - I am 38, I also had the spotting.  Seemed to get worse after exertion.  I never did have a "real" period just the annoying spotting.  It went away after the 3rd tx - for me.

  • Wink
    Wink Member Posts: 476
    edited September 2008

    Hey Sandra,

    Please add me to the list; I will be getting #2 of 4 T/C Oct 2 (every 3 weeks).

    DonnaWink

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