For those starting TAC in March/April 2006....

Julie and Shineonme, welcome to the TAC thread. It is comforting having a thread with women on the same protocol. It is very hard and the effects seem to be hard on most all of us. For diarrhea I take liquid immodium. It seems to help calm my stomach too. For constipation I take colace every day and senokot-s when I need more help. I got a sample of aciphex to take daily for the burping and esophagitis and it has made a world of difference for my. I am day 15 from my second tac and I am experiencing some pain in my back and in the bones under my ears (mastoids) Occasionally I experience pains in the breast where my surgery was. I also have a dull headache today. But then I have read where Chemo is cummulative and that some days you actually feel worse than the day before. Julie I hope your temp goes down. I was told to call if my temp went over 100.5. I had fever with my first treatment but not with this second one. And shineonme, I use OTC eye drops and it helps the eyes. Also saline nasal spray for that burning sensation in my nose.
I will keep you all in my prayers. I light a candle each night I am able for all of us that have cancer, in hopes that we will be given the faith and strength we need to get through this.
Take care and everyone try to have a restful and enjoyable weekend!
MarciaA.

Hi Sherri,
I am scheduled for my 6th TAC on 4/21, then on to radiation. Did you have radiation? How long did it take for you to get your energy back? When did your hair start growing back. Are you taking Arimidex or anything like that? It must feel so good to have all of this behind you now. I can't wait.
Thanks,
Sue

Welcome, Molly. I'm having TAC#2 on Thursday; this is a good thread and seems to cover a good range of the TAC experience. I'm at the lucky end of the scale so far; one totally 'on the couch' day, no nausea (I should say, thanks to good drugs), flew and went back to work on day 6/7. Expecting some cumulative effects, especially fatigue, but had an easy first one. Hoping the same for you. Leigh

Hi Marcia, Not every day, but maybe 1/3 of the days I definitely hit a fatigue wall, from maybe 3:00 on, and then the energy just doesn's seem to come back. I'm only on #1, and it's the one side effect I expect to persist and get worse. My onc said TAC had three things for sure: hair loss, low wbc (thus Neulasta) and FATIGUE...everything else happens to some, some of the time. Her experience. Leigh

Paula, Just a quick word of encouragement re: port placement. I had mine a couple of days before axillary node surgery. The radiologist was great, showed me the port, explained the procedure, answered my questions. The procedure itself was very manageable, only pain was the %#$&# local anesthetic but I was expecting that and it was brief. The pain in my neck was annoying but aided by pain meds, and disappeared in less than 24 hours. I'll be thinking good thoughts for you tomorrow. Leigh

Hey Everyone:

Did I just have a strange few days! I went in last Friday for my 1 week bloodwork. I'd come down with a fever the night before (101.9), and called the call center and they told me to get a culture as well with my blood work. The culture was to see if my port had gotten infected. After telling them about my 30 hour diarreha run, and horrifying stomach cramps, they started scrowling at me in a worried way and running more tests. In another hour I got admitted to the hospital where I've been till a few hours ago.

I so didn't see that coming!!!

So here is what happened to me, and what I learned from asking a lot of questions of the hospital staff about what things matter in terms of sides effects.

I had a fever for more than a few hours. This really is what put me in the hospital. Here is what they said. Once they looked at my white count (.6) they couldn't let me go anywhere. If I got a bug I'd go down bad.

The diarrhea along with the temperature probably meant an intestenial infection and that had them worried as well. So they spent three days pumping me full of three different antibiotics and daily shots of neutripina. My WC went up fast even after the first dose (2.6) and then to normal the next day. By today I felt wonderful, my stomach cramping was down to a minimum and the headache and other stuff was far more managable.

The most important things to watch for:

#1- Fever really, really matters. By 24 hours they need to take some action even if you have no obvious signs of an infection. (I didn't- no coughing, no sore throat, no anything but the diarrhea and stomach cramps.)

This is the place were serious problems happen for people on chemo, so don't ignore it. From now on, I'm going to take my temperature every cycle on days 2-10.

#2-Uncontrolled diarrhea after 1 1/2 days needs attention.

#3-Look for mouth sores even if you don't feel things in your mouth. These are signs of serious infection and they need attention. They don't always hurt. (I didn't have any of these, but they searched my mouth twice a day).

Everthing else is important but not as serious as this stuff , so this is what I am watching during those critical post infusion days.

I hope this info helps. It is wonderful to be home

Regards,
Julie

Karen, I think we all secretly hoped we wouldn't lose our hair. I was anxious about losing my hair but didn't realize it until it was buzzed and gone. After that It was a relief because it was one less thing to worry about. You are lucky to have such a supportive husband.
Have an enjoyable week and good luck with the hair cut and wig!
MarciaA.

Port placement went well. The surgeon said it went right in, and is all fine. Well aside from the fact that it feels like someone is poking a stick thru my arm there! I'm very relieved, but the tension is going to take a few days to leave my body, it's jsut how I am. At least next chemo I won't be there an extra 30 minutes, nor will I have to worry about being stuck a million times.

My chest hurts right now, but I took my pain meds like I good little girl, so I'm off for some sleep.

Paula

Hi Marcia, I have a sort of numbness JUST inside my lips; was worse at the beginning but I still feel the 'weirdness'...my husband jokes that I have no circulation in my extremities anyway so wouldn't KNNOW if they were numb LOL. Starting to prep mentally for #2; hair is shedding like mad (I had it cut really short a month ago but now need to shave or my keyboard is going to clog) Leigh

Julie- thanks for making me laugh a little this morning. That little six year old must be a real riot!

I won't get to see my actual port site until this afternoon when the gauze comes off. But I can see where it's gonna bruise like heck. Anyone else have a little numbness in the arm on the side they did it in? Like mostly in the thumb. Like it hurts up that shoulder and straight down the inside edge to the thumb once in a while. what a pain. literally! I'm still nursing a migraine from late last night too..

Paula

Hello Marcia, Thanks for the tips. I got rescheduled to Friday b/c there won't be any doctors on site at the center tomorrow...sigh. Some brain-dead person in the center LEFT ME A CELL PHONE MESSAGE (that I got in DC today) to tell me my chemo had been moved to...TODAY! Oh well...got the onc nurse I had for #1 and she was great, so 8 on Friday. Lucky husband gets to be my chemo buddy this time. Thinking good thoughts for you tomorrow. Leigh

Has anyone broke out from either the chemo itself or from the decadron? I don't know if this is one of the side effects or if something is wrong?

Hope all is getting along ok!

Mindy

Driving me nuts too. Have them on my face, back, neck and in my EARS!!! Called the onc to see exactly what it is from and what I can do fro it! Will post when I find out.

Take Care,
Mindy