Weekly Taxol/Herceptin

sem2408

Weekly Taxol/Herceptin

sem2408

I'll be finishing my A/C tx tomorrow and will begin weekly taxol/herceptin for 12 weeks.  I know what to expect tomorrow, been there, done that.  It takes me a whole week to recover, so I'm really anxious about the next course of treatment.  I have a seven month old and am worried that if it takes me a whole week to recover like with A/C, by the time I start to feel better it'll be time to have another treatment and I won't be worth a darn until it's over in Sept.  It kills me to think that I can't be the mom he needs.    Can anyone share their experience with me?  I'm almost afraid to hear it...  Shannon

angie27

HI, Shannon

I am wondering the same, I go for my last AC on 6/24, and then Igo on to the 12 weeks of taxol/herceptin.  I heard from other woman that its suppose to be easier than AC, I have handle AC very good, it just knocks me down for like two days on the 4th day of treatment, and then I am good to go.

I hope others on the same treatment will post here, so we can learn from there experience.

Take care

pondfrogs

hi girls,

I finished my a/c tx's and am now on weekly taxol/herceptin (jsut had my 5th tx). I was miserable for the a/c tx's thru-out the 12 weeks and even had to be hospitalized for a few days due to severe n/v. the taxol/herceptin tx's have been a complete opposite! I actually feel human again. I did have a bit of a reaction to the herceptin (facial swelling and redness) but that was easily taken care of with a little more dexamethasone for a couple days. the nausea is very little. if I had to complain about the taxol/herceptin it would jsut be legs aches for a couple days afterwards and a little more fatigue (of course) and that is easily tolerated.

I am also now on a study and taking oral tykerb with these tx/s and that did cause some problems with severe diarrhea/wt loss and they are adjusting that.

but as far as the taxol/herceptin goes

sem2408

Thank you so much, Jen.  That makes me feel better.  Maybe I should ask about that study with the tykerb as I gained so much weight on the a/c that I could use to lose a few.  Ha Ha!

ellie123

If you made it through A/C you will get through Tax/Hecep just fine.  Remember how important it is to get this behind you and go on to be the fun loving 100% mom that you want to be!!  You may have more muscle pain than with A/C but Advil made a world of difference for me.  I worked in a very active job with special needs kids all through my Tax treatments and while I would not want to do it again I made it through.  The worst is over...hug your little one and finish up what needs to be done so life can get back to normal!

Ellie

nkg

I started Taxol/Herceptin last week had 2nd treatment yesterday.  I have not have the same feeling of nausea that I did with the A/C treatments.  I am give 3 drugs before treatment through IV - one is Dexamethasone - I do get a red face for a couple of days and my legs ache but not feeling the nausea is wonderful.  I did look up Dexamethasone and found that it can reduce the effectiveness of Taxol for breast cancer in a paper in 2004.  Haven't found more recent studies and do plan on asking my oncologist about it.  I have Kaiser and my oncologist answers my e-mails very promtly.  Her2neu + 3+ strong; Estrogen positive + 100 % strong; Progesterone positive 80% moderate to strong; grading pT2 

Anne-Maree

I will start on AC early August, just had lumpectomy and lymph nodes out on 7th July. worried about a few things, including hair loss. Dr explained all serious side effects - don't know what to expect, know everybody is different. How did you go on TH Shannon, I will have that later also?

Anne-Maree