Weekly Taxol group

justmaximom15

Began Taxol yesterday, the 1st of 12. Wish me luck!!!

MsBrompton

justmaximom GOOD LUCK!

ThePrincess

Tresjoli - you should be DONE DONE DONE by now!! YAY!!

justmaximom - good luck - fyi my nurse said it takes until about taxol #4 for the AC effects of tired to be gone then you're energy will perk up as taxol isn't so sapping as AC, good luck!

Leighrh

YEAH Tres!!! Done!!!! COngrats!

Anyone have swollen feet/ankles and hands??? Why is this happening after I have finished? My feet are HUGE!! Trying to drink my water but it's not really helping.

Good news is that I do feel better... 1 week PFC.. WOOHOO! but this swelling is concerning me! Hoping it will go away. I guess if it persist to Monday I will call MO.

Tresjoli2

I AM DONE..................................WOO HOO!

Also had my 3 week loading dose of Herceptin. Start Radiation in two weeks. But no more taxanes is fantastic!!!!!!!!

My Bottle of Tamoxifan has also arrived. Doc said to wait until Columbus day to start to give myself a break.

StefLove

congrats to the ladies al done!!! and yay for #1 taxol justmaximom. I promise it does end, I have two more to go and see the light!

Finished #10 today and my last taxol with carboplatin!! NO MORE CARBOPLATIN!!!! woohoo!

BBwithBC45

Leighrh, my feet and ankles did get swollen about 3 weeks PFC. Later it got better, but occasionally it still happens.

Trvler

Congratulations, Tresjoli!!

I haven't heard of the swelling SE.

It's amazing how ditching one medication can give you a lift, isn't it? Every time I stop one, I mentally celebrate.

justmaximom15

#1 done and not a lot of SE, I rested most of the weekend. Hope it goes smoothly and I can get back to my regularly scheduled life sometime next year!

knitnpurl

Hi all! I saw this thread recommended in the August 2015 chemo group. I'm on my third out of four dose of AC doing a dose dense regimen since I'm triple negative. The good news is that my cancer had reacted really well to the AC and has shrunk and softened a lot.

My doctor currently has me set to start dose dense Taxol when I'm done with the AC. I'm doing ok on AC other than fatigue, but really nervous about the se of Taxol.

Can anyone fill me in on the pros/cons of dose dense vs weekly Taxol? He's open to changing to weekly, but I'd love to be done with chemo earlier too.

Trvler

I would go weekly. It seemed to me that people who did DD had more issues with neuropathy and other things. I know it takes longer, but the outcomes are the same (there was a study floating around here saying so) and it is easier to handle, IMO. I did weekly and I had very minimal issues.

BBwithBC45

Knitpurl, I don't have an answer for you regarding the chemo (I only had weekly Taxol, no AC), but I want to welcome you as a fellow knitter.

rainnyc

I've just finished with weekly Taxol. I can honestly say it wasn't as bad as I'd expected. Most of the side-effects appeared early but then seemed to go away. I had mild diarrhea on and off but was able to figure out the trigger foods, and it subsided. Some of that may have been due to Perjeta, though. Mild neuropathy in my toes, issues with food/drink tasting bad, and general tiredness. I'm to have four doses of AC after surgery, and I'm much more nervous about that.

ThePrincess

The researcher working with me indicated that the DD taxol women were all having issues with neuropathy pretty badly. With weekly, some women don't have trouble with it and doing cryotherapy with it prevents any serious neuropathy - I did the cryo and have mostly minimal neuropathy (just a little temperature sensitivity and I didn't have any serious nail damage).

knitnpurl

You guys are backing up what I'm already feeling. I'm more inclined towards the weekly doses. On a practical level, what were your worst days? I've been going on Mondays, but I'm set to attend a wedding on the Saturday after that first Taxol. What's nice is my doctor is willing to just delay the start to the Mon/Tues after the wedding so I can enjoy that.

And hi BBwithBC45! Knitting on my off chemo weeks has been so great. I'm just so spent from my on-weeks that I can't do much besides read and do some mandala coloring books!

rainnyc

knitnpurl, I had Taxol on Friday, and my worst days were Sunday/Monday (could shift from week to week). Saturday I was usually pretty energetic from the steroids. Be careful with high fat food on those days as that seemed to be the trigger for me with gastric symptoms, mostly diarrhea. Diner French fries on Sunday? NOT a good idea!

With chemo on Monday, you should be completely fine by Saturday.

StefLove

I did weekly taxol with carboplatin every 3 weeks after DD AC. Not including the carboplatin weeks, I think my worst day was maybe the day after treatment. I had taxol on Fridays and by Monday I was back to 'normal' and working in the office. SE haven't been too bad. Some constipation but not every week. Insomnia treatment nights due to steroids I'm assuming but nothing too bad. And neuropathy has just started to creep in the last two weeks or so but nothing horrible. Just some tingling in my little toes and thumbs. But I have two more weeks left and they don't seem concerned at all!

ThePrincess

I had my taxol (with Herceptin/Perjeta every third infusion) on Tuesdays - I had an energy drain from Thursday until Friday afternoon.

Trvler

I did my weekly Taxol on Tuesdays. Wednesdays and Mondays were my BEST days. Wednesday was the steroid high day and Monday was the furthest day from infusion. I would say Friday and Sat were the worst.

Tresjoli2

i was Friday and my worst day was always Monday.

knitnpurl

While it's weekly, it seems like the down days are less than the AC right now. That's good to know and hopefully I'm able to handle the SEs as well as I'm handling the AC. For those of you doing the reverse, I've really only been hit by fatigue and constipation. Much this is probably brought on by the decadron and Neulasta, but it's better than nausea. Claritin and prunes and sennakot do the job.

pennsygal

Fellow knitter here as well!

I did weekly as well, and had very few SEs - and no real neuropathy until the last two doses. Days three - five were the worst for me, but the effect was cumulative; by the last few treatments, I was fatigued all the time.

knitnpurl

I've got another question of course! Do you still get Neulasta during the weekly treatments? I hate it every other week and that would suck to have it all the time. Thanks!

Trvler

No, most people do not get Neulasta while on Taxol.

Batesburg

I am on neupogen while on taxol/carbo, but, I think that is mostly because of the carboplatin as it tanks your bone marrow!

justmaximom15

Reporting in that #2 is in the books. I feel fine today but just like last week, I had trouble falling to sleep last night so my MO has prescribed Ambien to help with that.

KarenAus

About to start Taxol tomorrow thank goodness, I want to start asap so I can finish asap. Question, with AC 3rd week I started feeling human and was wondering as I only have a week between on the taxol do I get a human time. Today I even managed to bring the horses in and give them a brush, we all totally enjoyed it. Will that be possible on the Taxol?

Karen

StefLove

Karen, I've get fairly human all through taxol, much much better than ac! Hoping you have minimal side effects too!

I've got ONE more taxol!!! I get emotional thinking about it every time. I really never thought I'd finally get here.

Judi1952

I am on Day 4 of low dose Taxol. I am amazed how well I feel considering I am on chemo. Yesterday I did feel pretty light headed and had a few bouts of D. I had a difficult time doing the daily crossword. This morning, I feel good, almost normal...

Hallelujah!!

May you all be blessed with minimal SE's!

KarenAus

Had my first Taxol today. Was a relief that I got no reaction. Lady next to me a few cycles ago had her first and did have one so that got me a bit worried.

I feel so much better tonight than I have with any of the AC ones. Just the metal taste is worse but I don't have that queazy feeling I have had right through AC. Hoping to see a big improvement from the last 2 infusions where the blood clot developed in my heart.

Karen