Taxotere is a nightmare

Eileen, please, always ask your doctor before you take ANY supplement. After you are done with treatment is a different story.

Hi ladies,

Oh the joys of taxotere !!!  I have been done with treatments for over 3 years now.  After the first allergic reaction to taxotere which caused my chest to tighten up after about 10 minutes into infusion, I had to be admitted to the hosp for every infusion so I could be watched. The infusion was extremely slow. It would take about 3-4 hours just to do taxotere, sometimes longer. I had a whole cocktail of cortisones to suppress the reaction, but I still reacted everytime, including the last one. They would give me around 100 mg of benadryl so I was really goofy but it didn't cure the  tight feeling in the chest.  Of course, with so much benadryl, who cares?    I finished 5.5 session of that crap.

 It took me a few years to get over the fatigue. I had carboplatin and herceptin as well. Also my eyebrows and lashes have been slow to grow back in and my hair is a bit thin.

I believe, tho, that Dr. Slamon who invented herceptin, likes to use the TCH regimen (taxotere, carboplatin and herceptin).

All in all, its' doable but I HATE TAXOTERE!!!!!!!!  Anyone else have the same reactions?

tucker

Survivorwom, 6 treatments of TCH beginning wednesday,. I posted details below. 

Eileen - I will be thinking of you on Wednesday. Hope all goes well. Wishing you the best. Let us know afterwards.

Ladies I am one year out and let me tell you my nails have recovered and all my hair is back. You will get through this. Just be easy on yourself ladies the body is going through a lot of changes.

Lots of love and hugs ladies...

Eileen- I will be starting 6 TC every 3 weeks with 18 weekly Herceptin followed by a year of Herceptin on Thursday- You will be one day before me.  Good Luck.  As bad as treatment sounds it sounds better than the "D" word!  take care good luck

Rachelvc, I am not taking claritin because the pain is not that bad. I am taking tylenol for 1-2 days and that's it. Actually the second round SE are not as bad as the first round . The first round I was scared , I did not dink enough water and I did not take tylenol.

Yes, I am. It gives me some pain but I can amage with tylenol. Actually the first time the pain was much worse as the second time around.

How did you get into dragon boat paddling?  I had to look up what it was!

thanks for the tip on ginger candy.  It was hard to find. Finally found it at our local Mustard Seed. I want to be prepared just in case.. I welcome all suggestions.   

Tuckertwo, iti s very discouraging to hear that it took you several YEARS to feel better. 

My anticipated lifespan BEFORE the BC diagnosis was less than 10 years, but I got talked into the chemo to "cure" the cancer.  Now my quality of life is far worse than it was, and I guess I am just supposed to say "gee, but at least I am alive" but I resent having been "talked into" a treatment that caused me more pain and suffering than the cancer would have.  The option that I begged for was tamoxifen only, and I resent everyone who pressured me, telling me "you can do it!  You are strong! You are brave!"  I continue to be very angry and very biased about this whole thing, so you must take this into consideration when you read one of my posts.  The thing that truly angers me is how my MO is/was so nonchalant about the SEs, and telling me it would take "a while" to get better, but not giving me the whole truth that recovery could last the rest of my life and I may never be able to resume my prior activities.  I would have preferred one more month of living fully than several years of living in pain and fatigue and all the other "inconveniences".

For those of you who chose chemo willingly, who believe that it gave you the best chance to survive and enjoy life with loved ones, I support you 1000% and you are the ones who benefit most from your choices and you are the ones that can give so much encouragement to others here.

I try so hard to be positive, to respond "I'm fine" when people ask how I am.  I know that fear of "letting others down" pushed me to make decisions that I now resent, and it is very tough to let go of my anger at them some days.  Most of the time I do the "no woulda, coulda, shoulda" but it is very difficult at some times - today was just one of those bad days.

And it is so true that MANY women have minimal SEs, and the chemo is the best choice if you are going for a cure.  The SEs ARE doable.  Most women get back to a "new normal" after treatment.  Even as I gripe, moan, groan, complain, etc., I find a little improvement over the months, and hope the trend will be in the positive direction.

Eileen, I started at about 97 pounds before first chemo, ended up at 83.  Your appetite may be off, and food just doesn't have any taste for several days.  Gatorade is a good idea if you are vomiting or have diarrhea.  Having frozen dinners on hand is a good idea.  Have you talked with a nutritionist?  That should have been one of the first things your MO recommended, knowing that you have no support at home and will need some ideas for increasing your protein intake.  You need twice as much protein during treatment than normal, which is easier if you are able to eat meat or fish - some people have problems with some foods just not appealing to them.  Pudding is a great idea!  I added extra dried milk powder to my puddings to boost the calories and protein - taste is questionable, but I wasn't tasting much then anyway! LOL!

I had a hair cutting party about a week after first treatment - decided to be pro-active.  Got a "recruit" cut and LOVED IT!!!  Am SERIOUSLY considering getting it cut that short again!!  I do kind of enjoy the way I can toss my head and feel the hair bounce around my face now, but the short cuts were SO easy to take care of!  I used a good body lotion on my scalp when it felt bad.  I also tried sunburn lotion with aloe and lidocaine, and it helped a little, but the basic body lotion worked better in my opinion.

And I know why your MO wants you to stay off the computer: it can really increase anxiety as you read about all the "what-ifs."  I am such a control freak that I just could not get away from seeking information, especially when I was having such a tough time and getting no reassuring answers, but it is probably better if you trust your docs (I have a huge problem with trust, for reasons I won't go into here - I DO realize most of my docs truly do care and want to to the best for me they can...).  So Xanax entered my "as needed" drugs for a while, and I still use one once in a great while.  Ask for it if you need it!  Ask for ANYTHING and EVERYTHING you need to KEEP YOU COMFORTABLE through treatment.  It is available, and the better you can feel during treatment, the better you will feel AFTER treatment.

OK - I have done it again - written a book when I meant to write a few lines.

Prayers for all of you tonight!

Eileen - ginger tea is also supposed to be good for nausea.  I found popsicles, smoothies, all kinds of soup, cottage cheese with fruit - especially melon, to be good for me.  I also ate every form of potato, except french fries.  Mashed potatoes and baked potatoes, oatmeal and cream of wheat were also good when the taste buds were off.  They were bland enough that they were pretty tolerable.  This was pretty much for the first week, after that I ate a lot more protein, particularly red meat to boost my hemoglobin.

Moonflwr912, thanks so much!  Most days I handle things pretty well, just today has been especially tough for some reason.  I will probably be better by morning.  Sorry I got so long-winded.