Hpw bad is the AC/T chemo, anyways??

I was on dose dense. I didn't do well on the AC but the Taxol was easy with little to no side effects and my hair ever grew back, if that is a marker at all for easy side effects.

AC tends to be more difficult but some women say the opposite. Doing it every 3 weeks is said to be easier than the dose dense, in some cases. I'm sure more women will give your their experiences. My girlfriend did it every 3 weeks and wasn't bothered by it at all.

Had 4 DD A/C last year at the age of 59.  No real problems although I didn't feel like going out dancing, if you know what I mean. 

The worst part was approx. day 3-4 after treatments.  Then, I'd bounce back and be fairly normal.

It's shitty but most of us do okay.  And then it's over.  Yay!

Best wishes to you.

Hi, I am doing the dose dense AC now. The 3-5 days I am very tired a queasy if I try to do any thing. but then I get some energy back. I would think you could home school if you have your lessons planed ahead and I need to have food made up ahead of time. I can heat & serve but cooking a meal is not something I want to be doing on my bad days.    I have heard a lot of women work though I do not know how I could.   I too jut lost my hair and that has been the worst so far.  Good Luck, Deb

As long as you get Emend before each A/C and for the few days following, you'll be fine in the nausea department.  I did feel super wired for a few days from the Decadron.  I'd say that was my worst s/e.  Like clockwork, I lost my hair on day 18 after first A/C infusion.

No nausea at all with the Taxol.  I did fine until about treatment 7, where it made me pretty tired.  It's good that you are home schooling because you probably won't feel like leaving the house all that much.  If you can kind of take it easy, at home, you'll be OK.  It's all do-able.  I finished my taxol a year ago April.

Hi, I did 4 AC every 3 weeks, everyone is different as you know, in my case, I have to say I did ok, except for constipation, I will go for infusion on Tuesdays, be ok on wed and Thursday, by Friday I start to feel very tired and I will have to rest for 3 days, most important listen to your body and eat well, also take all of your pre-meds as directed, the metal taste and the chemo fog was uncomfortable but manageable.

Then I did 12 weekly of Taxol/herceptin, here my symptoms were, the metal taste, leg cramp, and the good thing was that my hair starting coming back, now I am just on Herceptin and thats a walk in the park.

Please come back here if you have any other questions or concerns:

Katrina,

I too had 4 A/C every 3 weeks and didn't have to much trouble as long as I took the nausea meds wether I needed them or not, little to no pain and as long as you start the schooling early enough I would say its doable as you may require a nap, thats what it did to me it made me a little more in need of a nap, I'm by no means saying it's a walk in the park as I did get a little nauseous at times usually when I forgot my meds. As for the Taxol I am doing them weekly (every Monday) and if I didn't know better then I'd swear I wasn't doing Chemo my hair is growing and other than wanting to take an occassional nap I am GREAT!!!! Maybe I just like naps LOL. My onco told me I could choose between every 3 weeks on the Taxol or 1 a week and that once a week was a little easier, so Once a week was for me. Taxol does make me have a little bit of aches but, I thought what the heck when I am done with all this having the flu will seem like nothing LOL. Best of luck to you and yours, Debbi

I did the AC x 4 dose dense, every 2 weeks.  I had mine on Thursday, was sick Sat and half of Sunday but antivan for nausea really worked but made me sleep.  This schedule might work well with your home schooling as you are sick only on Sat and Sun, monday you are dragging but I worked through, went to the gym every day.  Taxol was more body pains, esp the back and legs, but no nauseau.  I got some Celebrex which really helped but was hard on my stomach, and took lots of Ibuprofen and Tylenol.  You can do this!

For me, it was rough. On AC, My productivity at work plummeted as I sat at my desk with chills, diahrea and body aches from my Neulasta shot. My hair fell out on day 16, my nails turned black after two Tx, Taxol put me in the hospital with high fevers twice, and I had to take disability leave from work. I have just been switched to Taxotere, and am hoping for less SE's.

On the up side, the Tx shrunk my tumor from over 7 cm to almost nothing, which after all was the whole idea. Physically, I had a rough time with the SE's. That obviously is not the case with everyone.

Bette 

Your treatment is exactly what mine is. How are you doing now

Larajv - not sure wbich person you were asking how their TX went but as almost all who had posted in this Thread 9 yrs ago have not been to BCO in years (one is still active apparently) it is highly unlikely that you will get a reply.

If you look for a more current/active Thread about A/C and Taxol, you will info from those of us who did it and still co.e to the site.

It would help with people being able to give pertinent reply to you if you would fill out your Profile with the info of what you are dealing with - there are so many variables with BC that just saying BC doesn't say much.

Added: I did 4 DD A/C neoadjuvant and 12 weekly Taxol adjuvant 8 yrs ago.