Weekly Taxol group
Comments
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jrominger--do you know what Nat's premeds will be? I got Pepcid every week (along with the typical Benadryl, steroid, and Zofran). I think people who have tended toward acid reflux/heartburn pre-BC might have an issue on Taxol, but I've never really had it.
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jrominger, I received pepcid as a premed and had no issues until this week (post Taxol). I've had heartburn everyday but find tums does the trick. Make sure Nat drinks plenty of water. Also icing should help prevent or lessen neuropathy.
Best wishes that she makes it through with minimal to no SEs.
🤗
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Yay Laurencl!!! I hope the time till surgery passes quickly and surgery goes wonderfully!!
I hope all you ladies, and guys have a wonderful week and keep up the battle to kick cancer's ass!!🥊🥊
~Katie💗
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my heartburn mostly was during Ac but notduring Taxol. Only twice I had strong acid reflux during Taxol and twice that coincided with a little morning coffee , which I stoped during Ac. I decided do not drink coffee until the end of Taxol . Besides that two events i did not heartburn or acid reflux with Taxol. I hope herceptin will not have the same effect while drinking coffee.
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jrominger - I get Pepcid (steroid and benedryl) with my taxol treatments. I think they usually give something for acid reflux/indigestion. I also take a gaviscon at night. NP said that’s ok to do. The first infusion they run really slow to check for reactions. I hope everything goes well for Nat!! And you!
I drink ice water during my treatment and ice hands and feet during taxol portion.
Good luck with the carboplatin HappyAnyway!!
I had my 7th infusion. The 6th Taxol. So far it doesn’t look like my MO is adding back in the skipped taxol.
But we shall see. Now I’m on the steroid high. I can do anything and everything! I’m superwoman!! Contemplating housecleaning but not too seriously0 -
such great info. Thank you all!! Not sure what her pre meds will be other than benedryl I’ll know more Monday. Nat has hardly ever had much acid reflux. So hopefully not much now. We will continue to drink lots of water and for sure do the icing!! I’ll do most of the icing as we’ve been told that she may be snoozing because of the benedryl! You are all so kind and helpful to the lone dude on this site. THANK YOU for your kindness!! I’ll get my best friend/wife through this nonsense come hell or high water. Praying feveryone here multiple times per day!!
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Awesome thank you dogmomrunner!!!
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jrominger, I received my first 9 Benadryl in capsule form. I had no issues. They changed to IV and it did make me drowsy but worse it delayed the effect of the steroid so I couldn't sleep. Some of the women here have had almost a restless leg syndrome from the Benadryl IV. See how Nat's 1st treatment goes and remember you can always request a change. I was able to switch back to Benadryl in capsule form.
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jrominger - I am one of those that got the muscle twitches or spasms. My NP did not switch me to the benedryl capsules. Instead they slowed down the rate of delivery of the benedryl. And that helped a lot. I still get a bit of it but nowhere as bad as it was. Last week I tried to use benedryl (capsule) at home to balance out the steroid so I could sleep and the muscle spasms came back. I think it's the interaction of the steroid and benedryl, for me they don't work well together
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I’ve had quite a bit of acid reflux/heartburn with the Taxol. I’m taking Pepcid twice a day, but it’s not helping much. I have an email in to the nurse to see if I’ve got some other options. I’m being given all my premeds (Benadryl, Pepcid and Decadron) as capsules about 30 minutes before they start the infusion, so mostly I’m a little sleepy during the tx but no other SEs from those. Unfortunately I get really nasty-tempered on steroids, but that doesn’t seem to hit until the late evening/early morning. Just my poor DH has to deal with me, then.
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DogMomRunner, sorry. I didn't realize you had an issue with the Benadryl capsules.
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Dawn - that's ok. I think I have restless leg syndrome or maybe I'm just twitchy.
The steroids just seem to ramp that up0 -
Margun and palmetto, thinking of you today for your Taxol.
DogMomRunner, yes, it's twisted that I'm excited about carbo. Lol How much our lives have changed in such a brief period of time. Hope you are feeling well since your last infusion.
Laurencl, congratulations on finishing Taxol!
Notdefined, your nails are looking good. I hope your energy returns soon and your fingers feel better.
Jrominger, thank you for your prayers. I'm sending them Nat's way! Only three more days for her, that's great.
LaCombattante, thank you! How are you feeling today?
Thank you for your support, everyone. Thanks for sharing information, too.
I'm heading in for my first Carboplatin and fourth Taxol!
Best to all!
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Thank you HappyAnyway and LaCombattante for the taxol well wishes! And right back at you, HappyAnyway, for the carbo and #4! Do you ever just step back and look at your life now and think about what a WARRIOR you are? I do constantly. Not only about myself, but for all of you as well. Your strength and resilience inspires me and I pray for you all daily.
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Hello beautiful ladies and gentlemen! I am checking in. The last week has been harder than normal, but I think it is because I allowed it. I was super tired, and I had family come over everyday (voluntarily) to help me with meals and cleaning, so it was easy to be lazy. I let myself be tired if that makes sense? So, I don't think the fatigue was much different from week 11. Today is the first day that I had the energy to finish getting ready after I took a bath. Normally, I have to sit in my bathrobe for several minutes until I could gather the energy to get dressed, brush teeth, and get make up on.
The hot flashes seem to be increasing for me, but that may just be a hormonal thing? My fingers no longer feel like they have glue on them (thankfully!). The tips are still a little numb, but it's definitely tolerable. I can still type and put eyeliner on
Yesterday one of my toes felt like it had a rubber-band around it, but this morning that sensation is gone. I am able to walk okay, but the numbness seemed to be worse on the top of my foot.Chemo brain is starting to subside a little. Today is the first day I felt this clear headed in a while Although, I should hold off on stating that until the end of the day. I think a lot of it is psychological as I am convincing myself that it is downhill from here.
I did not go in to the office all week, but will be heading in this morning. I feel up to it, and am actually excited
Hope you are doing okay with SE. Looking forward to seeing you all cross this finish line!
Edited to add gentlemen. Sorry!
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Thank you everyone again for the great advice. We’ll see how Monday goes and then just get the next 11 done!! We r heading to Sedona to visit our grandkids. Glorious!! Praying for everyone in the chair today. Happyanyway please let us know about the carboplatin goes.
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Yes, palmetto, I feel like a badass. I agree, all of us are. I remember feeling naive regarding bc when I first registered on this site. I was so impressed (and still am) with the veterans on BCO. The deeper I am in treatment (and the more I learn), the more accomplished I feel. Of course, I have my bad days, but overall I am fortunate that my SE aren't worse.
Notdefined, chemo brain and hot flashes, ugh! I can relate. Hopefully you will get stronger every day.
Jrominger, hey buddy! Enjoy your time with your grandkids!
Taxol and carbo went well. No adverse reaction. I wore the cold socks for an hour and forty five minutes. My feet were cool, not cold at the end. If treatment was, longer, I believe I would have had to switch out the cold packs. I used one large cold pack on my hands this time. I was more comfortable with it. I thought I would come home with Neulasta, but was told that I will only have it every third infusion. I was told counts are generally lowest three weeks after carbo.
So far, so good. I'll update if anything changes.
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Congrats Laurencl!!! Great job!
notdefined--I am feeling less fatigue, not exactly leaps and bounds of energy but moving in the right direction. I am having considerable muscle soreness. I don't know if it's from my daughter and I doing some cleaning out of the basement over the weekend, or related to my recovering. It's not awful but it's there. I figure I must be feeling better when my main concerns are my hair/eyebrows/eyelashes and not actual "symptoms"! It will improve in time. I think it took about 11-12 days before I really noted some improvement.
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jrominger-I edited my post, as my introduction was not all inclusive! Hope you enjoy your trip to Sedona!
loiswb-thanks for sharing. I didn't take Claritin throughout Taxol, because I felt like it was just another thing my liver had to deal with. Now that I am done, I have been taking it, and the aches have gone away. Hope that it means you are just getting stronger!
HappyAnyway-Glad that it went smooth!
Got home from work, and I'm feeling good still. Hope you all enjoy your weekend.
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loiswb and notdefined - take it easy super women! Remember that even though you are far from delicate flowers, you have been through some serious stuff. Be good to yourselves.
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Thank you for the reminder DogMomRunner! Going through this really has me appreciating the little things. Like using an electric toothbrush again. I gave it up when I read on these forums that gums & teeth are really sensitive during chemo. I probably could have used it throughout chemo, but I didn't want to push my luck. My teeth were so happy today when I broke it back in.
Like Loiswb, I really just want my hair, eyebrows and eyelashes back! Even just getting back those eyelashes and eyebrows would feel tremendous!
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Hello Taxol teammates! 1 week post Taxol and so far, so good. I did have my H&P today which went fine. It was so weird not to have blood work done and be out in an hour. I missed my steroid high though. I had no idea how much energy it had given me till today. I met a bunch of friends for dinner and hadn't seen them since pre chemo. I was excited till time to go and then just exhausted. It turned out to be a good night but this week has been hard. I've been so fatigued. All my normal side effects are still present. I have intestinal distress every morning, tingling in my toes and just really tired all of the time. BS told me to exercise daily till surgery but I haven't at all this week but hoping by week's end to start.
HappyAnyway, I can't believe I'm happy you're on another chemo drug but I pray it helps you!
To everyone still going through Taxol, I hope your side effects are minimal to none and to all have a great weekend
🤗🤗
Dawn
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Let me say that I am looking hot tonight. Not in the sexy way. In the my face is red from steroids way.
I noticed that my my eyebrows and lashes are thinning. Not too bad with makeup, but still.
I go everywhere bare headed. I try to play it off as edgy (as long as my port isn't exposed). Not sure how to do that if I (more than likely when) loose my brows and lashes. Guess I'll have to deal when the time comes. I'm trying to view it as a rite of passage.
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I have posted 2 pictures. 1 from June 6 and the other July 17. My hair is extremely short. Lucky if it's a 1/4 inch but it's filling in. It's mainly white with some dark hairs coming in near my temples. The top of my head is still spotty but I'm hoping others see the difference in less than 6 weeks0 -
HappyAnyway, I thought losing my hair was bad but losing my lashes was awful. Not everyone knows I have cancer. I wear my wig daily and it had bangs so my brow loss isn't as noticeable. Losing my lashes let's everyone know I have cancer and that's hard for me. I tried self adhesive lashes tonight and I was struggling. They looked terrible. DH offered to help and somehow managed to make them look better but I still felt self conscious. I'm hoping they return soon
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DawnS1962, your hair looks awesome! Definitely an inspiration.
How sweet of your husband to help you with your eye lashes. Made me smile.
Thank you for your prayers. Praying for you, too.
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Wow Dawn! You have so much hair!! I am jealous! Mine still looks like the before picture. I am patiently (not really) waiting for it to come in.
I agree with the lashes. Having those back will give me some sense of myself back. Falsies are such a pain especially when there are no lashes to guide them on when to stay out of my eyeball.
Edited to add that I hope that your fatigue subsides quickly. Today was the first day I felt energy to do stuff.
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For those moving on to H or H+P, I always felt a little off after tx, and several months in started feeling *really* off, to the point where I had a tough time driving home. I got it in my head I needed to increase my protein. I really pushed it during Taxol but had cut back. I started having red meat the two nights before tx and it helped a lot.
Re: lashes, I had short ones by the time mine came out. I don’t think the mascara made much difference (although I used it anyway) but eyeliner really helped. And I hope you already know your eye hair will go through several cycles of thinning after it comes back. The chemo resets all of the hairs to the same shed cycle, so about every four months you’ll likely notice thinning, although it’ll get less noticeable every time. I’m coming up on a year PFC and my only complaint is I feel my eyelashes are still not as long as they used to be. I’m using a serum and I get that in the grand scheme of things this is pretty minor but along with having poodle hair I’m a little annoyed by it.
I guess I should update on head hair. I stopped wearing caps/bandannas at 12 weeks. After that baby white hair something else will grow in. I had pretty severe chemo curl that was driving me nuts so I kept buzzing it off. I last cut it to about 1/2” in early March. It’s now 2.5” and the curl has relaxed a little but I am nowhere near looking like myself. I had a big hair appt a few weeks that I was really looking forward to to lighten it up but got sent home because it wasn’t yet long enough to get foil and she said an all-over color would have brought out red. That was pretty disappointing. Anyway—I made another appt for late August so I’m (im)patiently waiting for that.
Sending best wishes for minimal SEs to all those in active treatment!!
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Wow Dawn, hair is looking good. Mine is not that long and thinner on top. I miss lashes BAD! I keep the brows drawn on 24/7. Hope all this stuff comes back for all of us SOON
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Ingerp- thank you for this info about herceptin. Soon I will finish taxol and it is good to know what expect with herceptin which I will get I guess after my surgery. I hope however herceptin was easier than taxol. After taxol infusion I was so sleepy that it was impossible to drive. After protein increase coule you drive after herceptin?besides the driving issues after transfusion any other se with herceptin? I hope not much fatigue because I really want go back to work full time.
How long it took until you could drive after lumpectomy? I think after a lot of discussion with my docs I am going towards lumpectomy.
II have some interesting info on Goldilocks surgery which could be an alternative for big breasted women. Did anyone here heard about that?
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