A/C + T Every three weeks

newter · February 2009

Hi everyone,

I was reading the dose dense thread with interest and it made me wonder how many women had the same treatment I had. I had A/C every three weeks X 4, then I had Taxol every three weeks X 4. I also had 8 Neulasta shots. I did not miss or delay any of my treatments and they went from end of May to October 2006.

I was pretty freaked out about chemo side effects before I started so my Onc did not really push dose dense. After a couple of treatments I asked to be switched to DD but they would not let me because of the lack of research.

Anyway, I think I am doing OK, I worry constantly about mets and every weird ache and pain I have. I had an ooph in 07 and I am on Femara now. I have some stiffness in the joints, mostly when I get out of bed I feel like a 90 year old women. After my joints warm up I am fine.

I would love to hear from others.

Lorene

Vavoom10 · February 2009

Hello Newter:

My oncologist recommended dose dense for me. I start my second treatment on Feb 10, my birthday of all days! I have not heard about dose dense having any lack of research. From what I have read they do dose dense (every two weeks) because it is more effective.

I am also scheduled for A/C for four treatments, then T for 4 treatments. I also get the neulasta shots the day after each treatment. I do not care for the side effects either, but it beats the alternative if I don't do this. The night after my first chemo, I was immediately nauseous, never had to hurl though. My legs and hips ached very much that night, I felt like crap for about 4 days, weak, tired, shaky, hot then cold and sweaty, and nauseous. My hand where they put the needle for the chemo swelled and hurt and I had to put ice on it off and on. Only today does my hand feel normal. I think I'm gonna blame that one on the nurse. She was kinda ditzy. She looked away and was talking to someone else when she pulled the thing out of my hand and I wanted to scream at her! Next time I go in if she starts acting like that again I will!

As far as aches and pains, honey I'm 53 and I been having them for years now. But, I did read somewhere that patients say chemo causes aches and pains in joints. I guess I will find that out eventually!

Hope this helped.

LezlieB · February 2009

I had dose dense A/C T and I found the effects not to bad at all the first chemo, then a little more the second and so on. The first chemo I was feeling good enough to start tiling the floor of my workshop, the weekend after the first dose, and was raring to go to get the second to kick this cancer's butt! I have IBC, a very aggressive fast growing cancer with mets to the liver, so I wanted to do whatever would work the fastest and deal with the side effects the best I could.

Smells were the worst part of the initial side effects. I was really sensitive to any chemical sort of smells. Food and cooking smells didn't bother me at all. All through the chemo I think the smell I just couldn't get used to was....myself! Seemed like I had a medicine smell and everything I wore or touched had that smell clinging to it. It didn't bother any one else around me so I figure it was just my imagination or my ultra sensitive nose.I

A few days after the second treatment I started losing my hair and shaved it off. I was surprised at how sensitive my new baldy head felt, but that passed after a couple weeks.

After the third treatment I was having trouble with things tasting bad and, while I didin't hurl, I came really close a lot. I'm usually a big water drinker but had a hard time drinking much without it making me queasy. Chocolate ice cream seemed to taste best, or shakes or smoothies. I've heard some people say that grape juice was another thing that people usually tolerate well through chemo, but only read about that after I was finished with my A/C T

Toward the end I'd spend a few days eating plain pasta with a little butter...my usual morning coffee I could't stand! Just eat what appeals to you when you feel queasy. One thing (for me anyway) was that the most of the side effects would subside by about a week and a half after treatment....even toward the end. I was really tire and the Nulasta caused a few bad nights of bone pain, but only the first two times. After that a nurse had me get ...Claritin and take it the day before the Nulasta and keep taking it till a day or two after and it really helped a lot.

My nails got really weird and skin was dry so slather up with lotion! I used Bioteen toothpaste and it saved my mouth and guns from getting sore at all. I went away for a few days once during treatment and forgot my Bioteen toothpaste and used my Hubby's regular toothpaste. After a couple days my guns and mouth were on the verge of getting sores. I was really surprised the the gentle toothpaste made such a huge difference!

By the last treatment my fingertips were a tiny bit numb, but not too bad. It didn't stop me from doing anything (and I'm a bead maker and "paint" with hair fine threads of glass in a torch flame) so the fine motor control wasn't affected.

I also turned into a hand washing fanatic and didn't get one cold or sniffle through it all. I avoided big crowds in close quarters and we set up a hand sanitizing station right next to the door with a sign that reminded anyone coming in to sanitize their hands.

It would have been a lot easier if I'd had that extra week to bounce back and feel more normal, instead of going in every two weeks for treatments, but it was over fairly quickly and now I'm on Herceptin and just had a bilateral mastectomy. Hair is growing back and I'm back to enjoying my morning coffee and getting back to life in general!

Thank goodness for the progress that they've made in breast cancer treatments!!

Another thing, during treatments I got a little I Pod with a video screen and downloaded three seasons of a TV show I'd always wanted to see (Weeds) and sat there in the chair laughing out loud at the silliness on screen. I almost looked forward to chemo day since I had the next couple episodes to look forward to watching. Any little thing that makes it easier is soooo worth it!

Good luck ladies! You can do it!!!

Anonymous · February 2009

Lorene...I understand your concern about dose-dense versus standard protocol. When I started chemo, my onc scheduled me for the standard regimen because I had described for her how busy I am and how I didn't want chemo to interfere with my own schedule (this now sounds ridiculous to me, but I was trying, mentally, to pretend that everything in my life was perfectly normal Undecided ). Anyway, I had my first two treatments and then decided that I wanted to get it over with more quickly and just asked to be put on a dose-dense schedule. Since I actually work for the organization whose protocol proved the effectiveness of dose dense (seriously, I do Surprised ), she knew that I was aware of all the issues. So for the 3rd AC and all the infusions thereafter, I had them two weeks apart instead of three. Now, of course, dose dense is the standard, while the every-3-weks routine is the exception.

Here is my understanding of dose-dense vs. the 3-wk course: Research found that dose dense proved slightly more effective in eradicating the cancer cells and preventing recurrence because those cells were given no time to re-activate before they were hit with yet another slew of toxic stuff. This makes sense; however, this doesn't mean that you have a significantly greater chance of recurrence. In fact, if we were to follow the above logic, the slightly more advantageous effect of dose-dense only applies to the immediate period following treatment. One would certainly assume that if any random cells were left hanging about, they would rear their ugly little heads within, at the latest, a year or so after chemo.

The differences are so minimal, Lorene, that I definitely don't think you should worry about the issue. And you know me, girl, I'll tell it to ya straight if I think you need to hear it! Wink

BTW, have you bumped up the hair thread lately? If not, maybe one of us should?

~Marin

Member_of_the_Club · February 2009

Its funny because I've spent all this time thinking I made a mistake having DD because TAC is more effective. We should all stop second-guessing.

lovinmomma · February 2009

I had my 4 A/C every 3 weeks with no neulasta and now I am doing my 4 Taxotere every 3 weeks, again with no neulasta. I have 2 more treatments of Taxotere. i have the stiff joints due to the Taxotere. I have mets so I don't worry as much about the pains.

A/C + T Every three weeks

Comments

Categories