Cytoxan Taxotere Chemo Ladies- February/March 2013

Thinking of you CatsRUs. Take it easy for the next few days. I kept myself loaded up on antinausea meds to stay ahead of it and was ok. Did they tell you about Claritin for the Neulasta

CatRUs - don't slack off on the liquids. I always felt pretty good the first couple of days. You don't know yet if you'll have either vomiting or diarrhea and you sure don't want to get dehydrated. Also I wanted to keep those poison meds moving along through my system. Good luck w/the Neulasta. Let us know how it goes.

My nausea started on day 3 after infusion. If you start to feel queasy, take the meds to stay ahead of it. Hope it goes smoothly for you!

Roby, During my treatment, I thought I had a bladder infection or cystitis. The cultures were negative for me, too. It turned out, I was just irritated by all of the drugs. I drank more fluids (even though I didn't think I could do so) and emptied my bladder more frequently... even at night. I also used coconut oil.

I did NOT use estrogen cream because my cancer is ER+. Even when used on our lady parts, some of the estrogen is absorbed into the bloodstream. After all I went through to get rid of the cancer, I didn't want to feed it.

I hope this helps. But most importantly, you get relief!

Hugs,

Poppy

Hello All, I follow this board but don't write much. I had my last chemo treatment on April 7. I wasn't able to get the Taxotere due to a severe allergic reaction after the third round so I got Adriamycin and Cytoxan instead for the last round. I completed one week of radiation so far. My question is about hair growth. I would have thought that by now I would see something happening on my head but NOTHING! It's very discouraging. I didn't shave all the way down to my scalp because it was so sensitive so I am left with some little stubble here and there but no new growth yet. I'm getting very nervous about how I will look when I'm through treatments. I had an emotional weekend with a lot of crying over this. I know that I should just feel grateful that I am done with the hardest part (chemo) and that I am getting through radiation fairly well. It could be a lot worse but I just am feeling sad all of a sudden. I just want to look in the mirror and be happy again. It doesn't help that I gained about 15 pounds since chemo started and went up a clothing size. That's depressing in and of itself! I keep telling myself that this is temporary and will get better. Just not feeling it today....

I gained weight this past year (since my diagnosis), too. Pooh!

I finished chemo before Thanksgiving and it took a while for the hair to regrow. I think because the hair regrows from way down in the root, it takes time to see the results. I finally started going around without a scarf or hat at the end of March/beginning of April. So that would be 4 months after chemo ended.

Speechmom, I finished chemo on February 20. Did you have 4 or 6 rounds of TC? I had 4. It has been 3 months since then and my head is covered with grey SHORT hair...as in I wouldn't go out with it this short. Hopefully in a month or two I will throw out the hats. It is growing, but took 8-10 weeks before I saw anything. Don't fret! It will start.

I am now 8 days post 1st round TC and, apart from a cold sore on my lip and dry lips and mouth, I think I'm doing pretty good. Still have a bit of a heavy feeling in my head but nothing that is keeping me down. My scalp is itchy and my hair looks crappy - dry and nasty, regardless of what I do - but not the end of the world. I had a couple of twinges that could have been Neulasta, but as I am prone to lower back pain anyway, I'm not entirely sure. Again, nothing awful, just made me wonder. I did have bad heartburn and stomach pain days 3 and 4 which I believe were associated with the Decadron I was taking. My MO gave me an Rx for Pantoprazole which eased the problem. I'll be sure to take them before, during and after Decadron next time round.

Cheers all, hope you have wonderful weekends.

Hi Cats, It sounds like you are doing pretty good! I used Biotene rinse to help with my dry mouth. It seems to have helped quite a bit; I just had my first dental check up since chemo and my teeth and gums are still in great shape. I had to take Prilosec for reflux and it made a huge difference. My scalp was tender and felt odd shortly before my hair started shedding. I kept a calendar of my side effects and my MO reviewed it with each infusion. It helped her adjust my meds and helped me anticipate SE and plan my days.

Poppy... I finally found Biotene...guess I wasn't looking in the right place! I went nuts and spent a fortune...lol... I bought toothpaste, mouthwash, mouth spray and oral balance gel. Only been using for an afternoon but getting some relief already. Yeah for Biotene.

I haven't posted but have been reading everyone comments. I started chemo in April, taxotere and cytoxan and had quite a few side effects so my MO decided to break up the taxotere into 3 doses. First week cytoxan and 1/3 taxotere, next 2 weeks 1/3 doses of taxotere. Anyone else on a plan like that? Today I finished part 3 of second round. I will go right into 3rd round without a week off which I thought I was getting so I'm a little down this afternoon but I will get past it and I'll end up with an extra 5th round. Side effects have been better overall except for fatigue. I feel like almost before I get through the 3-5 day SE's it's time for another round. I have several autoimmune issues that were why she felt like SE were so extreme (Joint pain, mouth sores, skin on hands peeling off, etc).Just curious if anyone else has had this schedule?

Hi ladies.

I'm through 3 of 4 TC infusions as well.

After the first treatment, I ended up in the ER with a high fever on day 3. Then was admitted for few days. No infection was ever found. Came out and that night fever spiked again. I remembered that when I was admittted ER nurse said I was very dehydrated as she couldn't even get any blood from my port. So I drank tall glass of water and took temp little later and it had dropped.

So the lesson I learned then was hydration was important not just day of and day after treatment, but all the time.

Second treatment I had fever in the 100.0 - 100.3 range, but as long as I remembered to hydrate, it always came down.

This third time around, one night when we had stormy weather and a tornado in the area it actually got above 100.5 but I was not going to the ER because of the weather. I continued to hydrate and in the morning it was below the threshold, BUT it stayed in that 100.0-100.3 range for days 3-6. I had no appetite and no energy. I kept on hydrating though. Day 7 yesterday was like a cloud lifted and I felt much better, no fever, and I even went out to see a movie and had frozen yogurt (which was so comforting on my mouth!).

So it seems for me, the impacts are cumulative. I'm also getting worse more sores, nail tenderness, eye twitching this time around. But luckily no major nausea or diarrhea. So all in all I made out okay.

I need to get prepared for last round in two weeks on June 12 because my son is planning to propose one week later and have us be part of a post proposal party in a town two hours away. I need to make that party!

Just wanted to share my experience. Good luck everyone!

I'm now one day post round 2 of TC. Had my Neulasta shot today. So far so good, feeling much better than the first round (which wasn't all that bad). My mouth is a little dry but nowhere near last time. Hope this continues. :-)

Take care all.

Had my last TC treatment Feb. 5th. Just now I am starting to lose my fingernails... every few days another one? Has this happened to anyone, is it normal? Also my legs are very itchy. Not sure if this is normal or could it be from hormonal treatment drug - fermara....or something else I need to worry about.