Anyone on just Taxotere and Cytoxan?
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Snowbird, glad your first treatment was all right. I had different symptoms each round but none were too bad. Most report similar symptoms getting lesser with each tx.
Firni, Holtbolt and all ~ if you read back on this Board, you'll see the oncs are all over the place on 4 vs. 6. The study that gave us TC was TC vs. AC and that was with 4 tx's. I think TAC is 6? Well anyway there's no guide so they are going on personality and instinct. 6 may be overtreatment, or not. Trust your oncologist to guide you.
I'm glad the hair thing is giving people hope. There's a Hair Board on here - I am spending more time on the Rads, Lymphedema (I don't have any yet, hopefully never), and Hair boards right now, but I want to check back in so you guys have a touchstone!
You can do this!
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hi ladies!
i just had my 1st round of TC last week (i'll be getting a total of 6 rounds every 3 weeks)
i was very queasy and tired last week and now i feel a little tired, but my bones ache. i'm getting ready for my hair to fall out-i bought a couple of wigs and i'm looking for other head wear.
i'm so nervous when i wash my hair in the shower. i'm just envisioning all my hair falling out when i'm lathering the shampoo.
what was it like when your hair started to fall out?
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hockeymom14: I understand about feeling like a wimp. My first round hit me hard and I wondered what was wrong with me because everyone else was reporting feeling so much better. I was seriously reconsidering the whole ordeal. I'm day 4 of round 2 and this one is much better. I'm not sure if its because many report rounds 2 and 3 are better, or because we cut my steroids in 1/2 this time. Don't even care : ) Just happy this round is so much easier so far. This time we prophylaxed against thrush, so I'm not dealing with that from the decadron, learned my blood pressure bottoms out, so stopped my blood pressure meds, and as I said cut the steroids in 1/2. I know most usually do better with more then less steroids, but for me the weakness they left me with was less tolerable then the muscle aches so it was a good trade. Here's hoping you and your onc can adjust some of your meds and next round treats you better too. Everyone is different, and it just hits some of us a lot harder then others, and remember, even with those differences a lot of people report rnds 2 and 3 are easier.
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Hi Nikki, I was envisioning my hair falling out like Charlie Brown's Christmas tree dropping its needles. But it doesn't work that way. You'll know it's coming when your scalp starts to tingle and kind of hurt. Then you'll start getting large strands of hair that come out in your hands. It might start out in the shower but you won't get big bald spots every time hair comes out. If you leave it alone to just fall out, it will be many single hairs at a time. But I think most of us were so fascinated and just kept pulling it out until we shaved it off. Mine was gone in two days. My onc nurse told me that I might not lose it until after the 2nd tx but mine came out on day 12 of the 1st Tx. I still have a fine covering of fuzz, but Unique said the last of hers came out on the last Tx, so maybe that will go too later on.
Unique, thanks for hanging out here and keeping spirits up. It's always good to have a mentor.
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Firni and Nikki ~
I think everyone experiences a different thing with the hair. My onc told me few lose their eyebrows and eyelashes with TC, so you shouldn't have trouble with that. I think some of the other gals had uneven loss, so they were bald on the sides or just on the top, or hair did tend to come out in patches. What I experienced was just a thinning out throughout treatment, and in fact lost more hair after getting my last round, as the chemo was still working in my body.
I've also gotten hair back evenly too, which is sooooooo nice. It's short, but thick and there.
I'll hang out with you gals! You are just as wonderful a bunch as the group I did chemo with. And I'm waiting for my next treatment - radiation. I am worrying about that now :@*
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P.S. - Some funky things did happen with my brows and lashes a week or two after my last treatment, in that the brows thinned out a bit and the lashes kinda poked me in the eye. I think they were thinner but I'm not sure so it wasn't a problem! After about a week the brows were back pretty well ...
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I have dreams every night about my hair coming out. I'm really worried it will start coming out while I'm at work(teaching high school) and I say something I shouldn't say. I'm at day 11 right now and I am having a tingly scalp. I have my head shaving and wig styling appt. on Fri. While I don't want to lose all my hair before that day, I would like to know that its on its out before I get my head shaved. This whole ordeal is stressing me about as much as the 1st chemo.
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Hi Misty,
My fills were started about 9 weeks after my mast and 5 weeks after the revision surgery. Chemo and fills have been happening at the same time. I've had no problems, and am now within 1-2 fills of being done and have one more Tx. The fills are done through a port -- the PS has a "finder" that he runs across/above the scar until it locates the port and then he pokes through and fills with saline solution. I've never felt the poke because of the numbness. The more recent fills have been uncomfortable because of pressure, but not too bad. Once I had some muscle spasms that were awful, but it was just a bad day for me. I had a fill today and it was basically a non-event. Good luck with your fills when then start.
DH buzzed my hair just before TX#2 because the hair falling out was making me crazy. I don't mind being bald as much as I had expected, but am looking forward to having hair again one day.
Take care.
Bonnie
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I just went through my first round of these two. The first two days were rough and got better as the week went. Then around the 6th day my body just started hurting all over. This is my second time around with BC. I had it 4 1/2 years ago and was diagnosed in November.
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About hair loss! I hear different things about losing your hair when on Taxotere and Cytoxan. Some say you will lose it and some say it may just thin out. What should I expect?
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Hi Ladies,
I am having major shedding over the last few days which is day #20 post 1st tx but it is coming out in clumps in the back but if I comb thru the side or top I get a lot of static electricity and less shedding but the crown tingles and hurts all the time but seems to be shedding the least. I have big plans for tomorrow after chemo, stop to the wig store and my best friend will be coming after work to shave it because I want to get a good wash because my scalp seems to be irritated, flaking and such, scared but ready. I am trying to do this all tomorrow because I get the nuelasta shot on wed and last time bone pain was horrible, who can recom a Rx that works. I will ask my onc for it, sic son at home and I need to be able to walk around the house and assist him with some care, my oldest is home for one more week from the Navy so I figure this is the perfect time to try out something stronger so I can see how much I need to bee comfortable but not so doped I can't care for him also.
Good health to all.
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Question: did anyone write down how much Taxotere and how much Cytoxan..they were given on any given treatment? How many milligrams? Just trying to compare...
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I lost about 90-95% of my hair. As to the amount on TC, I think it is based on weight.
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Hey hotbolt! I'll have to look it up for you, nowhere near that record at the moment, but I have my dosages. I'm on TCx6 dd, first tx 1/29.
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I just had cycle #3 of T/C today. I should have looked to see how much. I'll check next time!
I have 6 rounds total....so 3 more times. HALF WAY DONE TODAY!!!! woo hoo!
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Thanks girls... during TX #1 I had my mom write down exactly what drugs and how much they gave me but her note says 1,000 mg of Cytoxin and 120 mg of Taxotere. I'm wondering about that number on the Taxotere... wondering if she missed a zero or is that about right. Anybody who can confirm that is within the range, that would be great...
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Holtbolt,
I asked the same thing on another thread about dosage of Taxotere. I had my first on the 29th and it read 158mg. I believe my onc. is shooting for dose dense treatments every 2 weeks. He usually likes to load his patients up the first time to see how they react, so I'm wondering if this was considering a large dose or note. I'll ask him on Friday cause I am curious. I just had one really bad day and it wasn't until Day 5! I think the steroids just kept me going for the 4 days after treatment, I felt so good, and I thought maybe I didn't get enough of the drug! I even came in to work the last 2 days.
Sue
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Hi hotbolt,
I pulled out my last statement for my chemo treatment.I believe it is based on weight but mine says 100 mg of Cytoxan and 20 mg of Taxotere. That sounds awfully low to me. Maybe that is why I am getting so very little side effects. I am interested in what others are getting now.
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Maybe my Taxotete mg is higher cause that's the only drug I am getting. Most are getting it with the Carboplatin or Cytoxan ....? just a thought. Also I would think it might have something to do with the actual pathology, nodes, grade, size, etc.
Ladies - on the hair. I have been there already. Started chemo in September and 17 days from first treatment it was 90% gone. Now I am getting ready to shed again case I started chemo up again, and just in time for it to start to grow back nicely:-( I thought I was going to have a much harder time than I did at first. I was especially worried about how my 2 year old would react to my bald head, but she was just fine! The worst part of loosing my hair was when it started to come out in clumps around day 14, it just grossed me out. So hubby shaved it to a crew cut and it made my scalp feel so much better cause it was getting a little uncomfortable as it gets ready to fall out; the scalp gets tingly and actually hurts a bit. I think the best thing, if you are into wigs, and want to feel and look as normal as you can, is to get a good wig with a monofiliament cap. It has a realistic part on the top and you can part it on the left or right, and change it up from day to day. I treat my wig like regular hair, I can pull it in a pony tail, pin it up, clip it, etc. If you visit my blog, on my home page, you'll see pics of me with my real hair, then with my wig. A good wig is the key to feeling good!! Also, I have to say some days it's real nice to just jump in the shower, get out and dry, and throw the wig on, it definitely saves some time blowing drying and styling!
Keep strong!Sue
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Hi All, Dosages are weight based. cytoxan 400-1800mg /m2 (30-50 mg/kilogram) I get 600mg/m2 which equals 1116mg. taxotere 60-100mg/m2 I get 75mg/m2 or 139mg. I am getting in mid-range dose becasue of my tumor size, stage, node neg. I think I'm getting 6 cycles (rather than four) because of the Grade (3), the OncotypeDX (29) and treatment goal of "disease free survival" -- but I still need to ask for sure why six.
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Thank you Kt57 & susan13... okay... so my dosage of taxotere is sort of in range then at 120 mg (and cytoxan at 1,000 mg is also), that's good to know... I thought mom wrote it down wrong and the taxotere number was supposed to be 1200 or something.... what do I know about it....okay, thank you. My onco said 4 rounds but we can discuss doing 6 if I'm doing well... I guess we'll see...
I started spotting a little and now they want to do labs to see if my platelets are low... has this happened to anyone?
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Hi all,
I finished 4 rounds of TC on Nov. 10 and 30 radiation treatments on Jan. 20. I thought I'd check in to see how everyone is doing and comment on hair issues. I shaved my head about 17 days after my first treatment as it was falling out in huge clumps and I couldn't take it anymore. My hair is coming in nicely now (it looks a lot like Unique's) but what I didn't expect was that I would lose my eyelashes and eyebrows after finishing chemo. Eight weeks after I finished, both the brows and lashes disappeared! What a cruel joke on me! My eyebrows came back in quickly, in about 1 1/2 weeks, but I still only have about 4 visible eyelashes. I read on another post that this can happen and sometimes you lose them again until they get back in synch. My fingernails also were the victims of chemo after I finished...about 3 weeks after my last treatment they started changing color and were sore. I didn't lose them though and they are growing quickly now. Gradually we heal.
Hang in there ladies. You'll get through it. Your hair will grow, your taste buds will return, and life will return to some form of normal again.
Lili
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Guess what? I notice that my lower lashes are gone. I have uppers and eyebrows, but the lowers are AWOL. They were itchy for a couple days and then I kept feeling like I had something in my eye.
I look okay though. Lower lashes aren't essential I guess.
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I am at day 16 post TX 1 out of 6. My hair started falling out yesterday. Pull on a clump and I would pull out 50-100 strands. Today in the shower it was coming out worse. Then more when I blew it dry and brushed it. I think I could make a very nice wig for a 16 inch doll out of what has fallen out today. At this point I am planning on cutting it short this weekend not shaving it but maybe I will change my mind by then. I have not picked up my wig yet. I was in the hospital with neutropenia over the weekend and that kind of threw everything off this week and I forgot to make an appointment. SE have been pretty minor for me other than the neutropenia which was not something I really felt- I felt feverish and like I had a cold. I did have a very low fever so they had me come in for a blood count and than admitted me since I was critical low.
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Hey girls - I went for the head shave today and was actually glad to go. I am day 17 after round #1. My hair, too, was falling out in handfulls, so I was ready. My wig looks awesome and I feel like myself again. Next Tues. I go for round #2 of 4. I am getting headaches that are waking me up every night, and I can't seem to get rid of them. Anyone else experiencing that?
Hang in there everyone!!!
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I am 11 days out of my 4th TC dose. I am wondering how you adjusted to your TC regimine. I expected lots of bad side effects---especially the nial thing. But, honest to God, the strongest side effect was a 3 or 4-day "slump" following the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th doses. Just indescribable weakness. As of the 11th day of my 4th dose, I am experienceing a bit of an "itchy" feeling on my palms. Need to read up on that. But, I am hoping you were able to rally from your first dose experience. How are you now?
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I'm going to shave head in an hour.....hair coming our in clumps....day 17 after first treatment!! Wearing a scarf right now....as i couldn;t bring myself to brush my hair today.....this is what I was trying to avoid...I think I waited 2 days too long!!!!
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Alo, I think you'll be relieved once the shaving is done and you can put that behind you. Do you have a wig yet?
Annie and Lili, I heard that one can lose their lashes and brows several times after the last treatment. Kind of like that chemo doesn't quite want to let go.
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hockeymom - my last TX the nurse asked me if I was getting headaches. I didn't realize they were related to chemo until she asked. She ended up slowing down the Cytoxan infusion (from 30 minutes to 60 minutes) and believe it or not, no headaches this time around, and none of that sinus tingling. So maybe mention it when you go in on Tuesday.
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My treatments were also the cytoxin and taxotere. I was wondering if anyone has ever heard of this; my onc scheduled 4 treatments, when i went in for my 4th treatment and was SO excited (ALMOST done) he told me he had made an error based on my wieght and height, said that for the first 2 treatments he only gave me 50% of the dosage that I needed. He told me I will need to have a 5th treatment to make up for the first 2 at 50%. I can't even tell you the horror I felt. I lost faith in him and was so discouraged. I called ACS to ask their opinion and they were bewildered!
I don't know if I should be scared, or ? I had my first mammogram and it was clear, so i am trying to be positive. So has anyone ever heard of that????
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