Starting Chemotherapy March 2018
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Hi, day 3 now, just wanted to report that I'm also taking zofran every 8 hrs around the clock and have minimal nausea, just feel like I can only eat certain bland foods, nurses told me to stay on top of it and not hesitate in taking medication to control it. What really bothers me is that water seems to taste terrible now and I'm trying to stay hydrated. Resorted to adding just a little cranberry juice (normally try to avoid all sugar) to water today and that helped. Feeling not too bad otherwise.
Bec-Ky Just noticed dx date on your post, I'm so sorry this all started on your 40th b-day! I was feeling bad thinking this year as I turn 50 will be spent fighting cancer, needless to say I had other plans... Also I'm an RN and I know CNA work is very hard work and stress on your body when you need to be recuperating from the effects of the chemo. I went on state disability leave for 6 months (for now, maybe up to 1 year as I have 5 months chemo, then sx and radiation) because it would be impossible for me to do my job (>12hr shifts) in high acuity hospital setting I work--not to mention exposure to infections. Unfortunately the income isn't nearly the same, so a bit of a financial struggle, hoping my husbands business can make up for it. Hopefully you can get as much time off as possible for the week after each chemo tx. As Sidalee mentioned "listen to your body" and best wishes for this week.
Hoping for a good week for all
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My nurse today said that each treatment will feel the same. So whatever I feel on this cycle... It should be roughly the same for the others. I hope that's at the case so I can plan ahead.
My 1st chemo went without a single problem. But whoa... I was high as a kite on that benadryl.. Omg! 😂
Mglgtn-thank you for reaching out.... Are you in danger of losing your position being off that long?
And yeah I had my mammogram on my birthday, and was called with diagnosis on my husband's birthday. (in which that day I forgot his birthday.. Omg I felt so bad)
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I received my first TC this morning. I slept through all except last thirty minutes! I hope I do that next time too. Lol. I’m home and doing pretty good. Just blah but I’m starting to have stomach pains. I’m wondering if i should go ahead and take the Zofran? I had it this morning in IV abt 9:30. I sure don’t want it to get out of hand. Hope everyone else is doing ok
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Quiltingnut'I was told to take it at first sign.. Because it's so much harder to get the Zofran in if you're throwing up or about to throw up... Etc.
Better safe than really sorry 😁 hope you feel better!
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I just got back from my first round of TCH. Tired but happy to be able to cross one off the calendar. If I start to feel at all unsettled the nurses told me I can take Zofran this evening. Tomorrow afternoon it is the Zarxio shot and I will take Claritin to help with any bone pain. Hope the rest of you are all doing ok.
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Congrats all on Day 1! Stressful for me even though staff great. I also had 1st TC today- no infusion issues/reactions. Yay.My premeds were dexamethasone day before, day of, day after and Aloxi there. I was told to take Compazine at first signs of nausea ( I just took) and as I get Neulasta tomorrow, started Claritin today. Feeling tired and spacey and not great but ok and glad today is done!
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Congrats to all that got through their first round! One down, three to go for me. I’m feeling a little week kneed if that makes since but i suppose that’s normal. they gave me some paperwork on the two drugs I was getting and I didn’t look to see what it was till the ride home. Lol I read abt half the first page and told my husband i couldn’t read the rest. Too scary. Better I don’t know right now. I’d be imagining everything bad lol. I hope we all do well the first week. I take my first shot tomorrow around two. Becky and jstarling is thanks for the Zofran tip. I haven’t taken it yet but will be taking it by bedtime. We can do this ladies
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mLghtn, I'm also avoiding sugar and trying to drink cranberry juice. I've been diluting the juice so that it's mostly water and adding a few shakes of stevia powder to it. Tastes delicious to my warped palette right now. You can get stevia at any health food store.
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Hi Quiltingnut. I went through the same indecision process after first infusion. Taking a new drug scares me because I never know how I'll react. So, I waited just a bit too long before popping the first one. I would have saved myself a goodly amount of discomfort if I hadn't hesitated. Go for it! It'll soon be one of your best friends.
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sillyoldrab thanks! I’m taking it in twenty minutes. I don’t feel sick yet just had a few bad stomach pains hit me abt hour ago but thank the lord went away. I just can’t do a away with my sweet ice tea yet. Lol. I’ve decided i will alternate my tea then water and see how that works. Does that Zofran make you sleepy
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Hello Everyone,
I had terrible abdominal pain on day 8-10 first Cycle. I tried everything to get a handle on the constipation. (Took Zoltan for 3 days after Chemo). Day 11 I couldn't take the pain anymore and went to ER. I had an X-ray and they could see blockage. Later they decided to do a CAT scan and found that I have Diverticulitis (from being constipated). I was given IV with Cipro & Flagyl. My WBC was up therefore gave me a choice to stay in the hospital, or go home with meds. I chose to go home. Meds for 10 days just in time for Chemo on April 6th. Whew! What a journey! I hope I can avoid this going forward. I drank plenty of liquids and I was careful with my diet. Starting to Feelbetter today with antibiotics.
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I would second taking the zofran every 8 hours. I never felt nauseated, but I did have a terrible upper abdominal ache (like I had the air knocked out of me) the 2nd night. I would caution that zofran can be terribly constipating. I had some diarrhea the 2nd day, so took an Immodium and nothing moved for 3 days. I was miserable! I used miralax and senekot S, and thankfully everything straightened out. I stopped the zofran around the 4-5th day just due to the constipation, and hoping the nausea was past. I would get shaking chills and body aches around 3 in the afternoon, which I blamed on the neulasta. I was taking claritin like tic tacs. I found if I took tylenol or ibuprofen around 2, I would make it through the evening a lot better. Heartburn was terrible despite zantac, so started Nexium and that seems to be working better. I am 2 weeks to the day post first infusion. I have been getting weekly cbcs, and my white counts are 14K. Echo today to make sure herceptin hasn't weakened my heart. I find that everything tastes spicy to me - onions burn my tongue, and can't do anything carbonated. My energy level is almost back to normal. No hair loss on my head yet...but I certainly can save money on bikini waxing at this point. I haven't had a nosebleed, but there is always blood when I blow my nose. Started saline gel and neosporin in the nostrils. Seems to be helping. I am so encouraged and inspired by this board. We are strong and we will get through this together!
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I can only speak for myself, but the Zofran completely plugged me up, if you know what I mean. Felt like a beaver dam in my gut, and I could barely eat or drink. Lots of pain. Then I spent days hesitating to try Miralax before I finally became desperate enough to go for it. That, too, is now my best friend. Between the two of them, I feel pretty normal. Reminds me of Alice nibbling on her mushroom. One side made her grow, the other shrink. I'm trying to get a good handle on just how much of each is best to keep things in balance. I don't recall the Zofran making me sleepy, but it may affect you differently.
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Hi everyone! Checking in....I haven't really felt any nausea, just terrible heartburn that I have been taking Pepcid for. Strange because I have a weak stomach so I thought nausea would be my main problem. I feel tired and cranky mostly...very tired. No bone pain from neulesta I think the Claritin is helping with that. Went to the look good feel better class today. I recommend it
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Really appreciate all the insight and great tips from everyone!
sillyoldrabbit going to add the stevia, I put it in my tea but didn't think about the water, sounds like a great idea, thanks!
Bec-ky I am fortunate to live in California (not sure about other states) and have no risk of losing my job if I take up to a year off on medical leave.
Congrats to all who get to cross off another tx on the list!
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Persnickety, I had a bad case of acid reflux a few days ago and as usual was reluctant to try yet another drug to fix it. Did a lot of surfing and came across a suggestion to chew on a few raw almonds. Tried it, and to my surprise, it worked. Don't know if it will always work, but it did that time. Have also tried a little Bragg's apple cider vinegar in a glass of water. That also seemed to work, but it burned so much going down, it wasn't pleasant.
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I started my chemotherapy 3 weeks ago and will have 9 more sessions that are for 1 day per week that include IV herceptin every 3 weeks for one year; I will then be granted a 3 week time of rest followed by weeks of radiation 5 days per week; finally oral medication for 5 years starting after the taxol (chemo ends). The first confirmed diagnosis DCIS and IDC came after New Years. Although the oncologist said my hair would thin the social worker said I would lose my hair. So, I decided this hair will grow back but I am going to get it shaved before the chemo could get an upper hand on taking my hair. So glad I took this action because I know how traumatic it would have been to have my hair fall out randomly. I decided that I am a victor not a victim and will be standing on the other side of this diagnosis soon. The lumpectomy, two surgeries to remove the tumor and leave with clear margins and the removal of clear sentinel nodes AND a hematoma drainage; I am thankful to be on the down hill side of this journey. As my doctors all suggested, make this year one for you!!! As young children we were told it's all in your attitude......keep it positive. Although we are surprised by our diagnosis God is not; He has this one.
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Hi, everyone, checking in.
Round 2 of TC tomorrow. Curious to find out whether they will drop the dose given i have low nutrophils, Doc doesnt seem too concerned. But I will ask tomorrow before it all starts. Will also try home made ice things for my toes tomorrow. Doc has me prescription anti acid daily now after i mentioned acid. thought it is a bit over reaction since it only lasted a week and was manageable with diet change.
Sillyoldrabbit
If you dont want to use Zantax, almond milk worked for me. I also cut off white bread etc for few days. It lasted for a week then got better. Also i research and found out antiacid like tums are not good because they cause acid rebound. Almond mike did the trick for me
i am avoid raw things to minimize the chance for any infection since our netrophis are low from chemo. "moth" had a great list of things she does to be careful during chemo. I am following her list. :-) So I steam my raw almonds for 5 min before eating them. Also blueberry and etc. So far blueberry and apple are edible after steaming. strawberry less appealing. :-)
Everyone who just started chemo
It will get better. I am day 21 from first round, day -1 from round 2. Some days are harder than others, my worst was day 3-13... the GSF shots for Netrophils boost brought on pain, i tried to tough it out for 2 days and eventually given in to Tylenol, Moxibustion worked for a few days but it was also heating me up so i couldnt continue that is when i picked up Tylenol
Nausea
I study acupuncture as a hobby, but didn't want to get needled during chemo, so i applied accupressure myself. basically use your fingers to apply pressure to some acupuncture points. I didn't have patience to press all, so I focused on PC6 and ST36, recruited my my hubby to help with PC 6, which made burp a little and my stomach feel much better because i feel stuffed and discomfort all the time upper area.
You can google them to see the position and you will feel different once hit the right spot with some pressure.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC53993...
- PC6 (Neiguan, bilaterally)Reducing twirling
- ST36 (Zusanli, bilaterally)Tonic twirling
- RN12 (Zhongwan)Reducing twirling
- LR 13(Zhangmen, bilaterally)Reducing twirling
- RN6 (Qihai)Tonic twirling
- ST25 (Tianshu, bilaterally)Reducing twirling
Hope everyone is doing better day by day and marching thru the cycle.
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I start my TC treatments next week and I am scheduled to go to a training where they will go over everything so excuse my questions.
What are the steroids for? How often do you take the steroids?
Someone mentioned taking multiple Neulasta shots - I thought it was just one shot the day after infusion. Does the number shots increase with each round?
The amount of medication aside from chemo is overwhelming.
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hi Leli,
The steroids are given to you to take the day before chemo then day of chemo and day after, I was told it is to avoid any swelling from infusions. The neulesta is given to you 1 time 24 hours after every infusion and this is to boost your white blood cell count and your immune system. When you go to your oncologist they should give you a calendar with which pills to take and when...it can be overwhelming, especially because they recommend different things for side effects as well. What helps it to write on the bottle what the medication is for...I never had so many pill bottles in my night stand
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Hi leli,
Steroids also help prevent nausea.
Neulasta is one dose (either a shot you self inject or the pod that injects you automatically) per chemo cycle.
Neupogen (or grastofil) on the other hand is given daily for certain number of days (usually 5-7days).Both Neulasta and Neupogen work to boost your white blood cells.
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cancer 2018, you and me are on the same treatment plan. Tomorrow is my 3rd weekly infusion.
Hey y'all, I've been getting Ativan with my infusions and I love it- it relaxes me and puts me to sleep. I can't have it tomorrow since I will head to work after infusion.
No Zofran for me due to it having potential heart implications.
The diarrhea/constipation issue is really not fun. I had stomach pains, then the dreaded D over the weekend. Immodium stopped it but nothing has moved since.
I'm working through this so far. Yucky days on the weekend, then rally on Monday and feeling ok til it begins again Thursday. SE's manageable on Fridays so far and hoping that holds. I've heard that SE's are cumulative and get worse over time. I certainly hope not.
Glad your infusions are going well
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Downdoggie- I'm curious about the heart side effects of the zofran.Is this because of a condition you have and could make it worse or just a general side effect for anyone
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Im curious about that as well.... I know I have random heart irregular beats normally..so would that make it worse....?
Google.... Here I come... (again 😂)
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Becky that’s why I haven’t googled it. Lol. I feel like we really need it right now so I pray we don’t have side effects from it. I already have heart problems too. If we read about all the side effects that all these drugs they are putting in us we would be panicking the whole time and probably imagining all sorts of things. Stay off google. Lol.
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Yeah I need to follow that advice!!
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Hi ladies -
Bec-ky and Quitingnut, I have Zofran at the infusion center the day of my infusion, but my at home (for 3 straight days, nausea or not) for nausea prevention is Compazine, not Zofran.
We all fall into the Google trap - but important to remember that when drugs are tested in a trial, even if 1 person out of hundreds (or more) has an issue while on the medication, it must be listed as a side effect. That's why they tend to group SE's by percentages - many are more likely and others just may mean that one person had a complication, which might not even have been related. I have 25 plus years of high blood pressure, plus a close family history of heart disease (one of the reasons we opted for the TC chemo regime over others), and have not had issues with a dose of Zofran on the infusion days. But you can ask about other anti-nausea options for prolonged use. Have been doing very well on the 3-day regime of Compazine (taking 3 X per day, regardless of symptoms).
It reminds me of the commercials you see on TV nowadays. With all of the potential "warnings" who wants to take anything? They need to say all that to protect themselves, because if they don't, the lawyers (my tribe) are off to the races again.
Leli - the steroids help with nausea prevention, and also help with fluid retention to an extent. They provide a false sense of energy to me on infusion day and day 2, but I guess that's why so many athletes use them!
Quick report for the TC crowd from Day 8 of round 2 - feeling pretty good, walking, working, and eating (probably too much, when the taste returns I get ravenous). So yes, taste is back. Right now, my worst complaint is that odd rash on the back of my hands again, which they do think is reactivation of an old dormant virus. Still tired earlier in the evening. Became somewhat difficult at home last evening - yes, I know I was up and around and doing stuff all day but I am tired now...
Wishing everyone a good day! Stay hydrated!
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I have Ondansetron ... Which is the commonly known as the brand Zofran.
I haven't felt nauseated at all yet.. And my taste buds seem the same... Appetite is good.
But I just had chemo yesterday. I don't want to get my hopes up too much. Lol
I'm definitely staying hydrated... And being careful not to overdo anything.
When I woke up this morning though... I felt 400lbs. It was kind of a good feeling though... Like completely relaxed and heavy and almost Nyquil like.... But I was awake. Idk. Wierd.
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Is heart palpitations a side effect of the Zolfran!? I took one this morning because I felt a little nauseous and then noticed my heart racing today. I don’t have any issues with blood pressure, maybe I will ask for something different...I don’t like the feelin
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