Chemo June 2010

tina; jfv; latte:

ditto everything that designermom just said  !!!!! 

deb

Okay - I need drug help.  I seem to have settled into a routine.  Tx on Wednesday, pretty much sleep rest of the day.  Thursday - so/so. Friday, Saturday, Sunday - very sick.  Monday so/so, Tuesday feel pretty good, hungry, eat well, etc.  Then we start over.  My help is that on the days I am so sick, I am confused about which medicine would work the best and whether or not I can combine drungs.  The nausea meds I have are Zofran, Phenergan, Compazine, and Ativan.  Then I have Decadron which I think is a steroid - I'm not sure what, when or where I'm supposed to take that.  So far, I haven't taken any of it.

Sherry-->Zofran and decadron are usually taken together every 8 hours for the first 3 days (9 total doses), starting the evening of chemo.  These are not optional--they should be taken whether needed or not.

Then the compazine and ativan are to be taken as needed (I'm not familiar with the phenergan).  Do your bottles have the prescription on them?  This should all be written out for you.  My Compazine says take as needed every 4 to 6 hours, not to exceed 4 in a 24 hour period.  The Ativan (.5mg) says take 1 or 2 as needed every 6 hours.  Its ok to take them all in the same day.

My onc told me I could continue taking the Zofran past the first 3 days as needed also.  I continue to take it, esp. in the morning, for a few extra days.  I was also told I could take the occasional decadron too, if it helped, but beware of the steroid buzz (sleeplessness, agitation, flushed face, etc.).

Ativan will make you very sleepy.

Next time you go for treatment have the nurse write it all out for you!  Or if needed before then, call the clinic. 

I also take emend, so that's 5 different pills I take, and I don't suffer much from nausea, as I take a pill at the first sign of queasiness.  It took me awhile to learn last year that I didn't have to "tough it out".

Hope this helps!!

Tina

Sherry

I would imagine you definitely need to take the Decadron. I had the issue that the docs prescribed it and the bottle said "take as directed" but no direction were ever given. I called my doc at home to get clarification. I took Decadron twice a day the day before, the day of and the day after treatment. I usually got a dose of Decadron before they started chemo. I also got Emend tablet, Aloxi I.V. before treatment for nausea. I also took Emend at home the 2 days after treatment. Insurance did NOT pay for it the first 2 rounds and it was $100 per pill and I had to get 4!!! They did however pay for it the remaining treatments. I also took Compazine at home since ZOfran did not work for me. Compazine and Phenergan sound like overkill and they will both  KNOCK you out. I would take one or the other but not both. I would be asleep for a week if I took them combined. Also, as hard as it is you need to eat. It will help with the nausea. I felt sick some days and just ate plain mashed potatoes or plain baked chicken. You should try to keep up with eating some protein. I feel for you, I only had a few bad days with nausea. I think the Emend was a life saver. You should see if you can get this rx, it's expensive but effective.

Hope you feel better soon,

Diane

I finished my 7th weekly Taxol/Herceptin today.  After chemo, I went to a "Look Good Feel Better" Class.  It was really fun, and I highly recommend it.  It is free to chemo patients, and you get a lovely make-up kit with name brand products.  It felt good to be around other women who were in different stages of losing their hair, some completely gone (like me) and by the end, most of us were comfortable with taking our scarves & hats off and letting it all hang out! 

So far, feeling good this evening, minimal SE's today.  Wishing everyone a good week!  God Bless you all.

Boy - I must really be in a chemo fog.  Now I know why DesignerMom has the "Mom" in her name, LOL.  First thank you all for the responses, but after reading them, I guess I should clarify a few things.  Yes, I did change treatments and have had two tx on the new regimen with the third coming in two days.  And yes, I am very sick on the new tx but still not as bad as the one AC treatment because it landed me in the hospital.  And I left out one of my drugs and that is Emend.  I just thought everyone took that so it didn't occur to me to list it with my drugs.  DesignerMom, the onc or nurse or both probably told me what to do with all my drugs, but I didn't write it down, hence my problem now. 

I get Zofran, Decadron and Benedryl in my pre-tx IV bag before each infusion.  Maybe the Zofran isn't working for me and I hadn't thought about that until I read some of the responses.  Or maybe I don't know how to match up the drugs so that they work to the optimum best.  In any event, I will call the office in the morning and promise to WRITE down what they say!  I'm sorry if I caused any undue alarm.  It's not like any of you don't already have your own stuff to worry about. 

But I do love all of you for caring.  I'm feeling better this evening than I did when I wrote earlier.  My neighbor brought over some homemade cookies and I ate 3 of them plus a Gatorade for supper!

DesignerMom - I love you.  And when I make a trip to NY, I'm going to call you.  Of course, that will be a while.  We both have to get well first.  And yes, I PROMISE to call first thing in the morning.

thanks everyone for the "port support" :-)  I'm going to have to go and have surgery to correct it, which i'm not lookin g forward to because the incision hasn't healed yet from the last time :-(  DesignerMom - about my swallowing problems - i went and had x-rays, but the problem disappeared about 10 days after the port procedure - maybe there was swelling or something that went down, anyway, they can't see what caused the problem and it seems to be gone now.

Moving on to Taxol - am thinking about how to prepare for weekly taxol - would those who have already started please be able give some info about their experiences? things i am specifically thinking about are:

1.  main side effects - are they "just" neuropathy and nail damage? what about nausea, tiredness, etc?

2. How long does it take you to "recover" from each treatment? I hear that it is easier than AC - do you still have days after tx that you just need to hibernate?

3. Anyone tried putting ice on hands and feet during tx to combat SEs?

Anything else good to know?

Sherry and everyone else suffering - you will get through this!

thanks,

Latte

oh a reunion party!! 

What fun - don't forget to give plenty of notice 'cos our Latte sounds like a party-girl and she'll have to come from Israel and I'll need to book my ticket from New Zealand!

 I can't help with the drug information because most of the names are different but I have Don Perignon 4 times a day!!  Ok, the drug is actually called domperidone (its anti-nausea) but I prefer to think of it as the champagne :-)

 Hang in there Sherry and all you other lovely ladies.  I'm set for cycle # 3 of AC this Thursday so I wonder what SE that good old ChemoGod has up his sleeve for me this time? 

Surfacing after a week on the sofa. Did much better this 2nd round of TCH, probably due to your encouragement to hydrate, hydrate, hydrate. Chemo was 10% lower dose this time due to it's nasty knock at my WBC and Neulasta was 24 hrs later, not one week post. Plus I had Protonix for the indigestion. All seems to help the cause and although it wasn't a breeze, it was tolerable.

If you can get something to stop the reflux, then the nausea subsides a bit. And then you can drink and maybe even eat. I ate carbs like mad for the first two days. God bless Nabisco Sugar Wafers. Cannot tolerate water or fortified water any more. It hits my stomach like lead and causes me to be sicker. Had to switch to flavored waters, decaf green tea, diluted juices. Popsicles helped, too.

Gave up on the healthy eating thing, just happy to be able to eat. I figure it this way: while I'm on chemo, I'm being poisoned anyway. So come on additives, Come on flavor enhancers. Come on whatever tastes less like metal slathered with bug spray. It might not be organic but if I want it and it stays down, I'm eating it. All the antioxidants in the world aren't going to help if I'm gagging. So for now I'm Scarlett, and I'll worry about the healthy eating gig tomorrow. 

Hope you are all well enough to go out to your own special place for that 15 minutes of rejuvenation.

Bon--> glad to hear it went a bit better for you!  I agree on the nutrition!  I eat whatever I can actually taste--sometimes that's a salad, sometimes its a fast food burger and fries (I esp. like pizza!).  Some days I crave orange juice, some days a choc. malt!  My onc told me NOT to worry about what I eat--except to try to get enough protein.  And I was told to NOT lose weight (altho when I do I am secretly very happy!).

Rs711-->lol!  thanks for sharing that!

Latte--> when do you start the Taxol?  I think mine will start Aug. 16th, 3 weeks after my last AC.  My onc said he usually starts it 2 weeks later, but I will be moving my youngest dd to college in KC that week.  He said it would be fine to wait 3 weeks.  I've heard there is the tiredness, but not the mind-numbing days of fatigue of AC.  Many women can work while on it, but as I work with young kids, I know I won't have the energy until I'm all done with chemo!

Let's hope we hear from others already on it! 

~Tina

Hi Everyone, I'm new here.

I started chemo on June 11.  TNBC here so dose dense treatment, 4 rounds of A/C and then 4 rounds of Taxol.  My treatment is every other week on Fridays, this Friday will be round 4 of the AC.  I haven't had too much trouble on this chemo so I'm getting nervous about them switching me to Taxol the next time.

Just thought I'd sign in here for a little support and to offer any that I can.

Good luck everyone.

Hi.  I hope you don't mind me jumping in here.  I finished chemo in March '09 but still visit the boards and happened to come across Latte's post re: Taxol. 

I completed dose dense AC and Taxol and remember the Taxol SE's were quite different than AC. I would have to say that the Taxol was better because there was no nausea and the fatigue wasn't as bad.  However, the joint and body pain I experienced was pretty bad.  I remember posting about it and looking for any kind of help I could get!  I was taking Tylenol and it wouldn't touch the pain.  My oncologist recommended ibuprofen.   He said that even though I had the port and was taking warfarin to prevent clotting, the ibuprofen would not harm me.  I started taking that and it worked much better.  The Taxol aches kick in around day 2 or 3 so I recommend that if you feel your body start to ache begin taking your pain killers.  The key is to start taking them before the pain actually kicks in or else you'll simply be chasing the pain. 

As for neuropathy, I took L-Glutamine and never had a problem with my nails.  I had one toe that was numb and my fingers would tingle.  Running my hands under cold water a lot helped quite a bit. 

God Bless you ladies!  I wish that your SE's will be minimal!

Elaine

JENN3...YOUR WORDS ARE SO COMFORTING TODAY.

IM WATING FOR RESULTS AND IM BACK AT FEARS DOOR.