Chemo starting in December 2010

I have my first taxol treatment tomorrow. I am concerned on how the steriods are going to treat me tonight. I guess I should plan to sleep on the couch and then if I am up I can watch a movie or something!! Hope I sleep though.

I am already on B1, B6 and B12 per my nurse. They aren't helping me now and I am exhausted so not sure that they are going to help the energy after taxol! 

had my 3rd taxol today, and found out i have 'vaginitis", not a real yeast infection. so now i'm on antibiotics. any good probiotics out there i can get to supplement my system while i am on this? it's the generic Flagyl i'm taking. 500 mg 2x daily for 7 days.

First taxol is today!! Steriods weren't too bad last night. The ativan over powered them!!!! We shall see how taxol treats me. 

Take care everyone! 

Hi Ms, I have been taking ativan and the most I ever get is four hours in a row. My doctor has told me it is ok to take another one at that time... but I still feel like it isn't a full night's sleep. Then again I am running to the bathroom alot since I drink alot of water!

Spartina -- I'm having the same things... anemic, charlie horses, and sore fingers/bottom of feet.  My onc did put me on iron pills.   And the fatigue is really getting to me... hope it improves with Taxol from A/C?  Guess I'll just have to find out for myself next week, when I start Taxol. 

Anyone experience contact lens issues?  I have been trying to wear my lenses, but they seem to "fog up" almost immediately and none of my usual tricks gets them clean.  Seems like the chemical composition of my tears is different, and the lenses themselves deteriorate within a few hours of putting in new pair of lenses.  Oh well, guess in addition to the uncomfortable wig, I'll need to keep wearing the uncomfortable glasses instead. 

Hope everyone is doing well today!

Lisa

Ms- My ativan is a .5mg. Keep in mind I am tall, 5'10 and weigh 250 lbs. :-(  I know it is not a high dose. I am thinking Karebear's might be a 1.0 or 2.0 mg.

Edit- Yes I just checked dosing. The .5 mg is the smallest dose and it goes to 1.0 mg or 2.0 mg.

lisa, i wear contacts and i notice i can't wear them as long as before. my eyes get real irritated and dry and itchy

Lisa, glad to hear you are doing well and had a nice time out with your hubby.  You certainly deserve it!   I just got marked for rads, wasn't bad at all, met with nurse who fills you in on what's to come.  I take the same dose of ativan, but I think my body is immuned to it now!!  So glad to be done with chemo, and ready to be done with rads and I haven't even started!

Hope everyone has a good weekend, I'm suppose to go see the play Grease, don't know if I can be functional at 8 at night!!!  

Take care,

JoAnn

Me too Karebear. It's like the old piano cover slammed down on them!

karebear76 - I've had 3 rounds of taxol and I am exhausted ALL of the time.  The worst part is that despite my exhaustion I CANNOT sleep at night.  I'm SO tired but the hot flashes keep me up all night.  I find that if I take Ativan (mine dose is 1 mg) then I don't get hot flashes (at least not the drenching kind) and I at least sleep through the little hot flashes.  I still find myself weak and exhausted during the day too.  

I recently tried taking sublingual B-12.  You can buy really high doses at Whole Foods or a similar health food store.  It really does give you a burst of energy during the day and vitamins are perfectly harmless.

For the sore fingers I haven't found much that works.  My onc suggested keeping them hydrated with hand cream but I'm not sure what that really accomplishes since the pain is from the capillaries under the nail that have burst.  Because of that, my homeopath told me to take arnica montana (which is meant to heal bruises which is essentially what is happening under the nails).  You can buy arnica at whole foods or similar and I know our local CVS even sells homeopathic remedies.  It provides only a little relief.  I find the pain comes and goes depending on which day I'm at in the chemo cycle too.   So I haven't found any magic solution.  Although I did see some arnica hand cream at CVS the other day and was wondering if that might be more effective since it combines both advice into one solution.  Who knows.  I think if there was a solution for the nail pain someone would have found it/mentioned it by now.

holy nosebleeds!! i think taxol makes my nose bleed! then it dries up in my nose, and then can't breathe till you, well, dig the crusty chunks (ew, i know), out, then it bleeds again!

losing my eyelashes and my eyebrows are thinning out... i have 7 lower lashes left, and that's on both eyes! luckily i still have some on my top lashes!

i think this weekly taxol is almost 100% better than DD AC, other than the above symptoms and chronic constipation and my tummy always looks bloated (steroids? and eating like a crazy mad woman for 2 days after infusion) still, is better than AC!

msjag and hopefor,

My daughter's onc has her take 2 benadryl for sleep and she has never slept so well even with AmbianCrR and it's not addictive.

For figner nailsa nd toes, ice them during infusion - check the cold caps thread - so many over there are doing that with success.

Hi everyone.  I joined this forum soon after my first FEC and totally forgot that I had done so until today.  How I wish that I had remembered as rounds 2 and 3 were not fun at all.  I am half way through my treatments, 3 of FEC followed by 3 taxotere.  I am pretty worried about the taxotere but I am hoping that my nausea days have passed.  My big fear in the beginning was losing my long hair which I did, well most of it, I still have some but it's pretty spread out.  I was ok with it for a while but now I find that my neck is tense when I wear the wig.  I am so ready to have my own hair again. 

 I have read through many of the posts and it sounds like we all have our bad days and our ever so welcome good days where we feel almost normal.  I had almost 2 weeks of normal after the first 2 rounds but round 3 has really kicked my butt.  I just don't have the energy that would like to have and I have to be really carefull what I eat, my digestive system did not rebound this time.

Well, enough about me.  I'm glad I remembered this site and look foward to the second half of the battle but with the support of people who understand.

Best wishes to you all.

on to taxol # 4 of 8 today!! halfway through the taxol train!! woo hoo!!!

BOO!  my blood counts fell, like alot. white blood cells at 1.4 and ANC at 2.5, or the other way around, can't remember which one is which. so, i almost did not get chemo today. but the doc gave it to me since i am not working or living or around kids. it was kind of a bummer cause my counts stayed up all the way through chemo till now . so i now must live in my bubble called home for a week, hopefully next week it goes up, thank god i have enough groceries in the house so i don't have to go to the dreaded walmart!