Weekly Taxol group
Comments
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Susie, my hair looks the same as yours ... a nice peach fuzz and I am delighted
a few stray “long” hairs, but it’s definitely coming in. Family thinks it’s starting to “thicken” out a bit too. (Taxol #8 for me as well.)Starting to really yearn for that finish line, at least as far as chemo goes. I miss having the social life I had ... we are at our cottage this weekend with all our friends to close up and do fall yard cleanup. I can’t do a lot of the work (heart rate gets super high with too much exertion), and they’re all still out having fun and I’m here in bed... wide awake, but done. Four more weeks .........
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Hi taco and Beauz - I’m going to stop on taxol 9 with my MO permission. He worried about my neuropathy and he said I have enough chemo also. At first I thought he said stop on 10 but he confirmed will be 9. I just had my #8 today, next week will be my last. Then I will go on to radiation.
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Hi Jen,
After you rest up you can join them tomorrow. I know this is a lonely road, but we will get back to normal life soon. I envy you can go up to the mountains and have energy to work also. 💪💪💪💪
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For those worried about how the neuropathy will resolve, I stopped chemo after 6 treatments two weeks ago due to neuropathy.
A few days ago, I noticed a marked improvement. It’s still not gone, but it seems to have stopped being actually painful. Now, instead of feeling asleep and dead and swollen and thumping and climbing up my legs etc, it’s back to mostly bothering a few toes along with some dead feeling areas on the soles of my feet. So still not normal, but definitely manageable. I think now that the pain is subsiding, I’m realizing just how much that pain inhibited me. I’m normally pretty active, but when your feet don’t feel like your feet, walking isn’t a joy. This morning I actually woke up and thought about maybe hiking today!
I’m still afraid I stopped chemo too soon and I’ll end up dying because of it, but the MO pointed out that I had low risk to begin with and I certainly got some benefit from the 6 treatments I did complete and the truth is BC is a tricky monster that doesn’t follow the rules anyway. All my doctors said the risk didn’t outweigh the benefit for me, so now I’ve got to try to put the fear of death behind me. Easier said than done I’m afraid, but that’s my next task. Well, that and radiation and the rest of the year of herceptin..
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All my hair never feel out on AC and I still have that molting chick look after 5 Taxols. My bottom eyelashes are very thin, but top hanging on. Eyebrows thin, but nothing a pencil doesn't fix.
I felt horrible on AC and pretty well on Taxol, but I think I have more of the sick look unfortunately. Paler, missing lashes, tired / sigh. I just think it is because the journey is so long and as my dad likes to say "They're poisoning you!" Anyone else who said that would get on my nerves, but he's the best!
Keep on keepin' on ladies - we got this!
You all keep me sane
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Susie, your head of hair could be my head of hair!
It's nice to see the regrowth, isn't it? Are your eye lashes and brows returning as well?0 -
Brightness- I feel the same way as you do when MO told me I can stop on #9, he said I do have enough to kill what cancer I had. And I have enough chemo. I really hope he is right also. So I have one more chemo to do.
Still no hair but I’m patiently waiting hopefully by Christmas I can see some of them growing,
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Hello everyone ---- I was wondering if you all have had bone pain while on taxol and if so is just localized to one place or all over? I started experiencing some neuropathy as well this week my MO said we will watch it closely and maybe have to cut my dose if it gets worse. Will be getting taxol #6 on Tues. Have a great day
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kmajor-- I had bone pain with Taxol (but not with AC which astounded my MO staff) for a few days. It usually jumped around between knees and ankles. I took Aleve to minimize the pain. I was told to take 2 Aleve with food twice a day but don't like taking pain meds so only took 1 pill with food twice a day. For me, the bone pain was worse early on with Taxol.... later Taxols didn't seem to be as painful
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Brightness- I am glad to hear your symptoms of neuropathy have eased in the past two weeks. Hope you keep improving.
PauletTeK- It is comforting to know you are thinking of me. Hope you have minimum SEs this round. Now that my neutrophils count has been consistently below 2 for the past ten weeks, I start to wonder how long it will take for the count to bounce back. Apparently, from a thread in Stage III forum, WBC can stay low for years in some cases. um……
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Beauz - that’s not good that your wbc stay at 2 for that long period of time, can they give you shot to boost it up? At least you don’t have to worry about infection. I know some place have frozen bone soup, maybe you can give it a try,
Kam, I have some mild bone pains from my knees and muscles pains also. It’s so mild I don’t even tak pain killer, I use L- glutamine powder for my muscles.
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HersheyKiss....it's exciting to see my hair coming back. I only have 4 more doses of Taxol remaining! My eyebrows are not coming back yet but my eyelashes Are! I can use mascara again! Now they are not very long, they are about half the length they were before but it's work in progress. I talked to my MO and he said I could start biotin if I wanted to. I may do it because my fingernails have those ridges. That might help them grow out faster. Let me know how you're doing!
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Susie, I want to talk to my MO this week about biotin. My fingernails are fine, but I have ZERO eyebrows. Perhaps biotin will jump start them to action. My eyelashes are coming in black as coal. That is a pleasant and unexpected surprise. They were light to medium brown before. I'm embracing the change. Happy Sunday!
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I will check on biotin with my MO possible I can get my hair growing again.
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I’m still floating on a cloud knowing that my chemo is over! But I sure would like to shake off the lingering side effects. I understand it can take months to see improvement in the neuropathy, if at all. And I know it will take awhile to build up strength again, especially with radiation coming up. But I sure expected a faster turnaround on my mouth issues. Funny, but I seem to be the only one here complaining about the bad taste in my mouth. I’m so tired of all my food tasting off! Does anyone know how long I can expect this to heal? It’s so frustrating!
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msrobin - my taste buds changed also, with taxol I turned to sweet which I hate to do. However I have appetite on chemo day and days 2,then days 6-7 are good also. How are you doing with your fatigue? I’m getting so tired, I need afternoon nap everyday.
Fingertips and feet are getting numb also, one more chemofor me to go.
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Beauz - I did 8 Taxol before stopping in late March because of very painful neuropathy. My labs were generally "normal" those 8 weeks but my hands and feet were swollen and painful enough to require narcoses, especially to sleep . My MO had given me gaberpentin (sp?) and my neurologist increased the dose but it did little. I recovered quite quickly after I stopped the Taxol. My MO seemed rather flippant when she suggested I quit. I don't know what the magic number of Taxol really is (I'm not certain that anyone knows) but so far I haven't looked back on that decision. I'm triple positive so I still have 3 months of herceptin and probably forever with AI's but I have resumed all the pre-cancer activities that I want to. My "starting chemo in Feb." group has a private Facebook page and I know that I am very fortunate that my cancer was discovered so early. I know from them that Taxol really is "chemo lite" and I admire all who can complete their recommended treatment regime. I am 71 and I know I have made different "quality of life" decisions than younger women might as far as treatment is concerned. Good luck to you on your journey. I'm glad you found this site.
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Taco- thank you for your reply. I am glad that you recovered well from your neuropathy. I am happy for you that you are in peace with your decisions. My MO said that neuropathy can change dramatically worse with each taxol treatment. Wow, I would love to live to your age, 71. It seems such a big number for me at the moment. I have to reach 60 first. May you have many more happy years to come!
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Hi all - I was looking at my latest bloodwork to look at my WBC, which is 1.4 and noticed that my liver numbers are elevated, which neither the Dr or nurse mentioned. I guess them not saying anything means they aren't concerned, but of course I am! I will admit that after abstaining from all alcohol since like July, I have had a couple beers and even a martini on Taxol. Probably won't do that again.
Anyone else have elevated liver enzymes?
Always something to obsess about
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I think quite a few people have mentioned elevated liver enzymes. Mine have gone up into the 90s and neither my doc or nurses are concerned. I remember early on in the September group while we were on AC someones went over 100 but I do not remember if her doc was concerned.
I am so jealous of all the folks who are done or get to finish early. I have 4 more and it seems endless. On the bright side, no symptoms have worsened in the last 2 treatments.0 -
VL -I always watch my wbc I didn’t pay attention to my liver enzymes but I remember I asked my MO once. I don’t drink any alcohol but it doesn’t mean it won’t elevated.
Travel you are blessed that you don’t have neuropathy 4 more for the bell !
Beauz - how are you doing ? 71 seems to be a far away number for me also and I’m 61 already. I only live one day at a time now.
Hope everyone have a good day no SE.
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Thanks travelhound - I still have 7 Taxol left. I'm ready for it to be over too
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Paulette I find it so odd that you are drawn to sweets when that’s the very thing I can’t tolerate! Even water doesn’t taste good yet. I’m hoping by Thanksgiving that my tastebuds will cooperate. My fatigue isn’t bad right now, because I’m sleeping SO much better. On AC, I napped nearly every day.
Travelhound Only 4 left, you can make it if you grit your teeth and hang on!
VL22, your WBC is quite low, I struggled with numbers like that. Doc ordered Granix injections and that got me back to normal. I haven’t touched alcohol through this whole journey because it simply sounds awful on my weak stomach.
Taco1946 According to my MO the magic number is 80% of your planned treatments. But I’m sure other docs would disagree. I’ve been on gabapentin for years and it did nothing for my chemo neuropathy. As rough as Taxol was on me, I’d still say it was chemo lite compared to the AC I started with.
Susie and HersheyKiss my hair began to return after Taxol #6. It’s just white peach fuzz and slow to fill in. Trust me, I still look totally bald. I can see a few eyebrow and eyelash hairs, but no one else could see them. I also noticed soft white face hair coming in. I started my journey with AC so I lost all my hair early on.
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Msrobin - I hate to eat so much sweet because I have to watch my sugar, when I was on AC I loves salt. It is so weird. I can’t wait to get my taste buds back to normal. I can’t eat anything spicy now and I do love to have some spices on my food.
Hope everyone have a good Monday.
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Paulette - I see others here have also received the Granix shot. My MO hasn't mentioned it at all. In fact, he told me before if numbers are off, I will have to skip a week. Obviously, I didn't rather not. However, he may be looking at low WBC together with other "off" numbers
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VL crossed my fingers my WBC has been stable. How’s yours?
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Hello all, I have done 8 weeks of Taxol. I have to postpone this week because counts were too low. Is it common to skip a week? Any tips to get blood counts up? Also I am getting progressively more tired. At first I felt great compared to AC but after 8 treatments I am tired all the time. No energy!! Anyone elso get progressively more fatigued?? I'm starting to notice changes in my nails and everytime I blow my nose it's blood. Any tips? The good news is only 4 more left and done in time for Christmas!
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Nifer, ref your nose question: while on Taxol I found my sinuses really dried out. I used Ayr Gel applied inside my nose using a QTip followed by Ocean saline spray helped my nose feel not so dried out
Fatigue- yep. But the more you take walks, the better you will feel.
Nails - I iced all during Taxol but by #10, they had purple spots under the nails and nail beds were painful. My last Taxol was 8/16/17. Purple color is growing out, nail beds are not as sore. Nurse told me to soak fingers in 1:1 ratio of water and white vinegar to prevent infections. I have not lost any nails to date and my fingernails are as strong as they ever were
Other than my fingernails, I think 2 months out, I feel almost normal. Hair growing back, eye brows and lashes returned
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Nifer I think DodgersGirl answered all your questions, I do not blow my nose anymore and I also use humidifier in my bedroom that really helps. People eat livers to get the red blood counts up have you try that? I need to soak my nails as 1:1,I learned 1:4.
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Nifer-if you read through past 2 pages or so, you will see lots of low counts, delays , fatigue, bloody noses and tips. I have had three delays with 7 taxol treatments done, including 2 delays in a row after #4. After my 2nd delay, my MO reduced my dosage by 15%. I am eating chicken livers for my RBC and fatigue. I also take walks regularly. I have had very low neutrophils counts for past ten weeks. Take it easy. You are not alone.
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