Cytoxan Taxotere Chemo Ladies- February/March 2013
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I'm five weeks out from surgery and will start. TC chemo on October 14. Four rounds, three weeks apart. If we stay on track I will be done by the end of the year.
I know the SEs are different for each one of us. I am curious if anyone has been able to work a demanding professional services job the last week after the first chemo (ie days 14-21). I am hoping to attend an important, decision making meeting that third week, and that will necessitate air travel. I can cope with losing my hair during that time (I will probably buzz it off at the first sign of hair loss). but wonder if I will be able to keep the diahhera and constipation in check.
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Tommytoo - I'm trying to work through chemo. My job is pretty demanding (I manage software engineers) but It's desk job, no need to travel. My infusion is on Wednesday, and get Neulasta shot on Thursday. SEs usually starts on Friday evening, get worse on weekend. I had fever and bad bone pains, but other SEs were manageable, so I only took off the day of infusion. SEs after the second infusion were worse than the first one. So I decided to take a week off for each chemo. I'm back to work since Day 8. I have two more rounds to go and I am hoping to keep working through it.
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Is there anyone just having the Cytoxan and Taxotere Chemo? I have been reading through this thread but it seems most are taking different treatments. I start the TC chemo on Wednesday and was hoping to find personal experiences with just these 2 drugs.
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snoke1337 -
I am just doing Taxotere/Cytoxan, for 6 rounds (completed 4 so far). I have chemo on Wednesdays, too, and I am usually feeling okay until Friday evening. I then spend most of Saturday and Sunday sleeping, and then start to perk back up Sunday evening.
My first treatment caused a lot of stomach cramps and diarrhea, but that hasn't really been a problem on subsequent rounds. Now my SEs are just an overall feeling of tiredness, plus minor neuralgia in fingers and toes - it was worse originally, but I am on Cymbalta as well as L-Glutamine, and they seem to be helping some. I do have some constipation, but it's mostly under control with stool softeners.
Hope that helps!
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Snoke, I think most, if not all, of us are on Cytoxan and Taxotere. I am, no Nuelasta.
I had my first infusion 9/23. The dex taken the day before treatment made me hyper... similar to the "nesting" that happened before I had my babies. During the infusions, let the nurses know if you have any problems ASAP. One of the meds burned my veins; they stopped the infusion, changed the dilution, then restarted. Take the anti-nausea meds around the clock as you MO recommends. My MO also instructed to gargle with salt water 4 times a day to avoid mouth infection/sores. I felt okay the two days after chemo, then I was exhausted and nauseous for about 3 days. I had trouble sleeping, so the MO prescribed a med that is making a huge difference. (You need sleep to stay strong and recover.) Chemo brain and the meds made it difficult for me to think... a "fuzzy" brain feeling. Your most vulnerable to infection days 7-11, so I am avoiding public places like the grocery store and mall on those days.
I don't know what else you want to know about. Let me know if you have any particular concerns.
Poppy
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Snoke - I'm one of the outliers because i had to have a second, different chemo after surgery, but I think if you'll read back through the pages Poppy's right. Most everyone on this thread is on Cytoxan & Taxotere.
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love catching up with my special group!!!! I am on day 10 after first infusion.
Tommy too I had mine on Friday morning. Saturday fine ...shot then. Sunday felt like a truck ran over me....Monday worked, Tuesday only made it until 2 pm due to horrific bone/ muscle pain and came home
Wednesday lasted till 3:30...Thursday and Friday fine. I've had minimal bouts of diarrhea , thanks to these ladies no nausea as I took Meds as directed. Like hockey cat it was the shot that did me in. Yes to claritan and aleve in fact up until today. Weekend, today felt good I had left over hydrocodone from lumpectomy or I would have called MO
Bad hair, are you loving the new place? Have you thought about doing a fundraiser on FB to help with expenses short term? I am helping a friend with brain cancer and we have raised 4$K. So far. Local resources? Some will help with rent, groceries, etc. I was so so happy to hear it worked out
Mulligan I don't have tingling...BUT the past four days the bottom of my feet..both (soles) were FULL of pain. My nurse thinks it was the shot....a little better today so I am hoping
Kris, nausea any better?
Poppy, how are you holding up?
So my big decision .....call now for Saturday appointment to cut all hair and have stylist shape wig? I am shedding some....others? I know some are cold capping. I don't want to wait until the last minute....but holding out hope which is utterly ridiculous I know. First labs good last Friday
Hugs, prayers. And love to all on this journey. Thanks for being there
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Snoke, I had my BMX on 8/4/14 and I have had 3 of 4 rounds of TC and have had very little SEs. I have a different SE each round. I have chemo on Thursday, shot on Friday on my lunch hour, laze on the weekend and back to work on Monday. I have had bone pain with this round, but nothing else. Make sure you take your medicines and drink, drink, drink. I made sure and took my Zofran every 6 hours for at least one week after chemo and that seemed to work for me, as I haven't had a lot of nausea with any of my rounds. These ladies are amazing and you will learn a lot from them. Ask away!!!!!
Poppy, I was also told to avoid public places, especially food buffets, Walmart and large crowds. No Royals game, no NASCAR races...what a boring weekend!!!!! I make sure I wipe everything down with my sanitizer when I do have to go to the grocery store late at night.
Toby, I bought a wig and then got a free wig from ACS and took my free one to my hair stylist and after she cut it, styled it and washed it, it looks great. I wear it everyday to work instead of my expensive one.
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Hi everyone! I'll be starting cytoxan and taxotere on Friday morning. When do they decide to give Neulasta? My wbc was 8.1 on 8/13/14 and has dropped (for no apparent reason) to 5.9 last week at my onc visit. Concerned this will stall chemo. On no meds that would cause the decrease. Have been more tired and nauseated at the slightest smells lately. Figure if it's like this before chemo--could be quite interesting once chemo starts! Best wishes to all! Open to any advice or suggestions going forward. Did send a note to my onc dr tonight asking about blood work. Will be waiting for her response. Thanks everyone!
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Yurmani I had my chemo last Friday and since the dr wasn't going to be in on Saturday he gave me the nebulasta shot the same day.
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Yurmani- Some oncos start a patient on Neulasta after the first infusion while other oncos wait until the patient demonstrates a true need for the shot. For instance, I did not start receiving my Neulasta shots until after the 3rd round of chemo. I developed a high spiking fever and chills eleven days after my second round. Fortunately, I did not have to go to the ER. My onco called in two antibiotic prescriptions. My WBC did recover in time to receive the 3rd round on schedule. I had my Neulasta shot the day after chemo since it is usually given at least 24 hours after the chemo round. I would take a regular 24 hour Claritin the morning that I would receive my afternoon Neulasta shot. I took the Claritin for 9 days with the hope that the Claritin would help prevent the possible Neulasta bone pain side effect. I was lucky and did not experience any of that kind of bone pain although I still had some muscle aches and joint pain which I associated with the chemo. I also received my Neulasta shot in my tummy since I had some body fat there and didn't want a sore arm. The nurse had me warm the shot in my hand before she administered it. She also injected slowly since she said it may help with post shot soreness. If you are a little squimish about shots, do yourself a favor and don't look when the nurse is injecting you. It's okay.
As everyone will tell you, stay ahead of the nausea by taking your anti-nausea prescription drugs on a schedule and on time and with food and plenty of water. The hydration is important to help flush the chemo through your body. I ate 5-6 small meals every day which means i kept a little food in my tummy constantly. A fed tummy is a happy tummy in chemo land. I kept a food diary as well as a drug diary so I could keep track of things. With the food, it allowed me to keep track of what foods I ate when and what agreed with me. I also maintained a calendar where I wrote down how I felt everyday. Try to keep moving everyday while in chemoland even if it means just a short short walk around your house or to the mailbox. The exercise will help with the fatigue which may be from the drop in your red blood cell counts. As your onco can tell you, it is possible to become anemic while in chemoland. My RBC dropped continuously through my 6 rounds of chemo. My onco told me to change up my diet and eat more iron enriched foods. Had my RBC dropped any further, I probably would have had to have an iron infusion or a blood transfusion. I did ask about taking an iron supplement and was told that I could not take one and that the body absorbs iron better through food. If you are wondering if I gained a lot of weight during chemo since I ate so frequently, the answer is no. In fact, I gained only a few pounds and some of that was due to the water retention from the Decadron (steroid that I took for prevent nausea). Yes, I was careful with my diet and tried to eat healthy. As you probably read, try to not eat your favorite foods while in chemoland if you want to keep them your favorites. Chemo has a way of affecting one's taste buds. Foods that used to taste really yummy sometimes may taste yucky while on chemo. My taste buds would go on vacation about 5 days after chemo and would return the week before I had the next chemo round. I developed food adversions to salt and butter while having chemo.
Keep pushing forward. You will have good days and some not so good days. Before you know it, you will be on the other side of chemo. Wishing each of you that visits here the best.
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welcome Yurmani! Listen to Melrose and others..... A wealth of info! I had my shot exactly 24 hrs after infusion. Finished first round at 11:30 am and got shot Saturday morning at 11:30.
I did get the horrible pain while taking claritan and aleve......BUT only missed half day of work
I am so glad I found this site, and I am glad you did too!
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Yurmani - Melrose has pretty much covered everything. My WBC hung around 3-5 most of the time during treatment but I did get a Neulasta shot 24 hours after each chemo. You might check your Hemoglobin number. At least at my hospital, they like to do a transfusion if that drops below 8. Hope they don't have to delay & Good luck.
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Yumani, Welcome to our group. Melrose is a great source of information. I usually eat a high protein diet the week before my chemo treatment and drink plenty of smoothies and protein drinks. I have had no problems with any of my blood work and have had the neulasta shot 24 hours after each chemo. I do continue my medicines, especially my Zofran for a week after chemo. I really drink, drink and drink the week before and the week after chemo to flush the drugs from my body. When I can go to the bathroom every 30 minutes, I know I have had enough to drink. As I have said before, I have only had nausea the first round of chemo and no nausea since. I usually have a different SE each round. I had the big D the second time around and bone pain this time around. I can't wait to see what #4 brings!!!!
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Wow you all are awesome! Thank you! Melrose - you are a wealth of info and I thank you for all of it! The aversion to drinking happened to me when I was pregnant 18 years ago and I've never really been a big liquid consumer since. I need to work on that.
Tobycc Thank you for giving me hope that I can keep working. Family believes they should eat daily so my income is desperately needed!
Minustwo I messaged my physician and she said my numbers are fine for chemo Friday but they will monitor and make adjustments as needed. Hope they stay ok!
Nomatterwhat. ..the high protein route hasn't happened for this first infusion friday but I will keep that in mind for future infusions. I have the Zofran and compazine for nausea and I'll be sure to keep up with taking it for first several days to week. I need to increase my drinking as flushing out the system is beneficial all the way around. Good luck with #4!
Thanks to everyone for your suggestions and support!
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HockeyCat -what a coincidence, I manage software engineers as well. I'll be starting CT week of Oct 20th. Really sucky timing, this is our busiest time of year. Trying to get a big feature out the door by end of year, plus 2015 planning :-(.
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Sjacobs and hockeycat, small world I use to be a software test lead/manager now I'm doing something different as a Business Manager for a very small startup co, but I'm sure I'll be roped into the software side eventually.
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Yurmani- Here is what I did to help make sure I drank enough fluids. I bought two 32 ounce Nalgene bottles and filled those up everyday. I made sure I drank all of the water out of those bottles during the day/night. For some reason, the idea of drinking 8 glasses of water/fluid seemed overwhelming but drinking only 2 large bottles of water didn't. Go figure. One can also get fluids in by eating watermelon, popsicles, jello, grapes, broth/soup, and through other drinks ( gatorade, fruit juice, tea). I also used to put orange slices in my water to help with the taste of the water. Things do start tasting a little funky at times while on chemo.
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Sjacobs, Mulligan, nice to see other software geeks here!
Sjacobs, good luck on your first infusion and your big project! My busiest time was in August/September. My first infusion on 9/3 was rough since I only took a day off and back to work on the next day. I worked from home one day when I had bad SEs.... Now the major project is done, and I decide to take a week off for each infusion to take care of myself.
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My aunt introduced me to Sparkling "Ice" water. They aren't too fizzy and the fruit flavors are clean and crisp. They even taste good to me and my chemo taste buds. They are in 17oz bottles, have no calories, but do have vitamins. One or two a day have really helped me drink the amount of fluids that I need. Fresh citrus added to tap water has helped, too.
Regarding working: I was a Supervising Hazardous Materials Specialist with the local Fire Dept. There is no way I could work with my chemo brain. I would be afraid I would get someone hurt or killed. The chemo brain is worse when I am on the anti-nausea meds (the 4 days after infusion). It's better after that, with the best brain time being the 10 days before the next infusion. I hope that helps you working tech people!
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thank you everyone for your feedback, had my first treatment today. Had an allergic reaction to the taxotere so they gave me benadryl and prevacid then resumed treatment 30 minutes later and i was fine. The cytoxan I didn't have any reactions to. So far I don't really feel any different except some tightness in my chest that they said should go away but if it doesn't, gets worse or i develop other side effects to go to the hospital. I took the nausea medicine (compazine) when I got home to ward that off. I go for the neulasta shot tomorrow. I have already ordered a wig, I guess hair loss is like clockwork about 2 weeks after treatment.
I am hoping to be able to continue working through this.
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snoke1337- Glad to hear that you got through the first round! Hoping that you have minimal side effects. Keep drinking fluids to help flush that chemo and keep eating regularly and taking your meds on a schedule. Before I did chemo, I did a little research as to when I might feel the onset of the side effects. I used to have chemo on Tuesday, felt fine Wednesday and Thursday but would start to feel not so great on Fridays. I would rest in bed Saturday and Sunday and was ready to go on Mondays. I do hope you and everyone else in chemoland have an easy time. As always, keep us posted. There are others here currently in chemoland with you so keep chatting and sharing and asking questions. Wishing you a restful and easy time after this chemo round.
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I just got home from a Breast Cancer Awareness Month dinner and I have to tell you it was so much fun!!!! There was a comedian there, gifts, prizes, great food and just the fact of knowing that all of us in that room have been down that same road. Even my surgeon was there and we had the best time hanging out together as friends and not doctor/patient. At the end, they acknowledged the person who had the most recent diagnosis (me) with a nice bracelet and hugs and well wishes and then they acknowledged the person with the longest diagnosis who was a 35 year survivor. For the first time ever, I actually said "I am a breast cancer survivor, since August" and it made so proud to say that!!!!! There are very few people outside my family that know I have had any type of cancer and tonight that changed!!!!
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How fun nomatterwhat! What a nice way to make it into a positive and fun experience.
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sounds like GREAT fun!!!! Anyone having any rash .....maybe reaction to sun? I am in Florida. Doesn't hurt, or itch, mainly on arms and chest.....thinking while in car?
Getting somewhat excited for the big hair change Saturday!!! It's time for sure. Twin 1 home from college tomorrow night for a week...he does not know yet about the chemo......second one next Thursday....he knows.....will fly in to surprise brother
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Cleaning for a reason.org.
I just heard of this organization and signed up.....we shall see!! They clean your house 4 times while you are receiving chemo. Nationwide. I would love it!!!!,
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Hey Toby, Florida here too. I never get rashes, and almost the day after my first infusion I got a rash underneath my bra all the way down my back. I think it has something to do with heat and sweat because it started right after the gym, and then I'm driving around a.ll day long, it gets worse as I get hotter
I hope you're feeling really good. My head is starting to tingle, & I know I shed at least a third of my hair already. But whatever.
2 patients down, 5 to go, it was a fantastic morning at the gym! Hope everybody is wonderful blessings!
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Toby, I had a bad reaction to the port site. They put adhesive bandage on me after knowing I have a NO TAPE allergy. I finally went to see the dr as it was spreading to satellite areas on my arms, sides, etc. Even though it doesn't hurt or itch for you, you should mention it to your Onc and take a pic for future references. Glad to hear you are doing well. How exciting about your kids!
Wendee, my head has been tingling and itching for the past few days and I noticed I have some weird scabbings on my head but I don't see any hair really falling out yet. I tend to shed A LOT(I have a lot of hair and when I brush it tons come out) of hair anyway so I'm not sure if the little bit of hair that is coming out normal or from the chemo.
Hope everyone is doing well.
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Mulligan, I shed a lot, too. I noticed the shedding increase on day 14 after the first infusion. On day 17 it really started to fall out and I noticed the difference in how "full" my hair looked. This morning I lost so much hair that I had it buzzed.
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poppy, feel better after the buzz? I cannot WAIT to cut mine off tomorrow!!!! Showed rash to nurse today at labs, basically said to sow MO. Next Friday before infusion
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