Icing during Taxol/Taxotere and frostbite???

Quasi

If you iced your hands and/your feet during Taxol or Taxotere infusions, what exactly did you do? Was frostbite ever an issue? Do you have to constantly keep taking your hands and feet out? I would like to use the frozen gloves but I am not exactly sure how to do it and what to be careful about, any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Quasi

so nobody is/was icing? I was under the impression this was rather popular, perhaps rethink icing?

Kicks

I never gave 'icing' anything a thought while on Taxol - trying to stay warm was imperative though!  The lowest I know my temperature dropped to was 94f.   Because of the IV benadryl knocking me out as soon as it was injected, I had one of the glassed in bed enclosures for Taxol rather than the cubicles with recliners.  The glass rooms had private thermostats so they could be be individually controlled.  The nurses also changed the levels of warmed blankets on me several times ;during infusion.

So NO - I have no info to give about deliberately 'iceing' any part of the body for SEs of Taxol.

new_direction

Not only did I put my hands and feet in ice-gloves and ice-"boots" I also sucked on ice because it felt like the soreness of my mouth and throat was reduced (an idea I got after the first infusion where my throat ached for quite some time). You keep your socks on and although its not particularly comfortable it's not that bad. I had no problems.
Take a break half way if you need to and change the ice if necessary. I started to wonder if I should have begun icing a Little earlier. They just put the ice on when infusion started, i might have started 5-10 min earlier now if i had to do it again.

Melrosemelrose

I iced for all 6 round of Cytoxan/Taxotere.  Here are some instructions I wrote a while ago if you want to know how to do the icing.  Private message if you have further questions.....

FOR THOSE ICING NAILS DURING TAXOTERE INFUSION: Always clear anything you want to do with your oncos.  You will need to clear it with your onco about icing since not all oncos will allow icing during the Taxotere infusion.  At the suggestion of my onco, I am using clear nail polish on my nails to help keep them strong and also icing the nails to help prevent nail damage which is a side effect of Taxotere.  She suggested that use Sally Hansen Strong As Nails Clear Polish but I switched to Essie polish since it doesn't chip as much as the Sally Hansen brand.  Essie polish costs more but for someone like me who never used nail polish before chemo, the fewer times I have to apply polish the better.  I don't mani/pedis but some do.  I'd rather avoid the germ issue at nail salons and taking of a chance of getting nicked. 

ICING :

• Time period for icing- You will for 1/1/2 hours in total= 15 minutes before the Taxotere infusion + 1 hour during the infusion + 15 minutes after the infusion.
• Ice- You can use frozen peas in quart size ziploc bags marked "Do no eat!!!" and reuse those bags of peas. Some have used small reusable/refreezable ice bags you can get at the drugstore in the first aid department.  I opted to use ice.  I have an ice tray that makes small rounded bottom circular ice.  I tried the peas and decided I liked the ice better because I thought it stayed colder longer.  My infusion center has ice available for me to use if I want to use it.  I always bring an extra bag of ice just in case I need it.
• Transporting ice to infusion center- I use a cooler with a freezer pack plus take extra infusion ice bags.  
• What to put the ice bags in- That is a personal preference.  Some just put the ice bags on their feet and wrap a blanket around them so the bags don't fall off.  Some use insulated lunch bags and put the ice bags in those.  My hands and feet are small so I'm using some neoprene wine cooler bags that I bought at Target for $6.99 each.  I figured I could use the wine bags later on.  I'm still able to hold an insulated mug so I can drink really cold water and eat ice during the infusion.  I have pretty small hands/feet which explains how I am able to use those Neoprene wine bags.
• Hand & Feet Protection- I wear thin sports socks on my feet when I ice the toes.  The socks keep the rest of my feet warm during the icing.  On my hands, I wear a pair of knitted wristlets/fingerless gloves to keep the rest of my hands warm.  If you don't have knitted wristlets, you can make some from men's socks by cutting holes in the toe area.  Some people take their feet/hands out of the ice periodically; however, I don't do that.

Process- I let the infusion nurse know that i'm icing so we can coordinate when I should start the icing. Once I know when I'm going to start the infusion, I put the ice bags in the bottom of the Neoprene bags.  I put the ones on my feet first and adjust the ice bags so my toes nails are covered.  I then put the ones on my hands on and adjust the ice to cover my fingernails.  My husband helps me with this process.

GOOD  LUCK!!!!!!