Weekly Taxol for Stage 4

Dana taking a break from chemo sounds good to me. Immunotherapy hopefully could be a cure so I would go for it if not a cure maybe just slow the beast down. Has anyone told you what the possible side effects are? Hopefully the doctors will keep you going to see your kids graduate and go off on their own. Meanwhile you have those interesting teen years ahead of you. Good Luck.

I was on taxol for approx. 11 mo before it failed, back in 2013-14 & nothing has worked since!! I've recently had major progression in the liver, after Gemzar failure & am beginning Taxotere next week (weekly doses). I understand this is a tough one & am wondering if anyone here has been on it previously & can share their experience.

Thank you.

syrmom sorry to hear about the progression. I'm afraid I don't have any info on Taxotere except like you have heard it's pretty hard going. Hopefully someone with more knowledge can pipe up, I will keep my fingers crossed that it's an effective chemo for you.

Cmlbrower welcome to the group. I'm sorry you are having a hard time at the moment. Most people find taxol a fairly easy chemo to deal with. It's certainly not as harsh as others. When I started taxol nearly 2 years ago I had extensive mets to the the lungs, bones, kidney, thyroid and most of my internal nodes. The taxol really did a number on my Mets and reduced my symptoms especially my lung ones pretty quickly. I remain stable on it after all this time. I still work 4 days a week and am a single mum to 2 teenagers. I'm hoping you will also get a good response to it.

Syr I was on Taxotere first three months thid spring. It's a pretty strong drug. My worse side effects were debilitating muscle weakness and tremendous pain in my thighs hips and knees. Until my dose was dropped twice I was basically either using a walker or really ended up staying home.  I would have a recovery day on Tuesday and Wednesday then chemo again on Thursdays. It was really rough !  However not everyone has such a severe reaction to the Taxotere as I did.  And at the end of 3 months I had no progression in addition to a decrease in the lymph nodes in my chest.  

I switched to weekly taxol and I have scans next Tuesday. I have neuropathy in my hands and feet, headaches and some aches and pains but it's way more doable than the taxotere. I'm still glad I was on the taxotere though because it finally stopped the madness of a progression every two months !!! 

Just got the results of my CT scan. Lung nodes are shrinking and bones are holding steady Doctor says taxol is doing its job. Will continue on taxol. Waiting now for my 28th taxol infusion.

GREAT NEWS NYCchutzpah!!!! Keep up the strength and courage going into the 28th Taxol!!! So reassuring to know that it's working! I get my scan results Monday. Hoping for the same news!

Hugs!

Dana

lauralind: thank you! And yes good luck to you today for your scans. Let us know too! My scans were a mystery for the first time ever! So my PET showed increased liver mets growth BUT the CT showed a DECREASE in size of the liver mets. ??? Dr said she will wait until my tumor markers come back from lab and then decide what she thinks about that discrepancy. THENNNNN my CT AND PET both showed a mysterious "air pocket" at the lower base of my right lung that has not been there. Report said could be mets could be infectious could be inflammatory. ??? They don't know yet. So it was overwhelming today because she said that she wants the scans to be repeated in two months and she would feel more comfortable with me waiting on stopping chemo to try a clinical trial I was offered. At least until all the info is in. I had a brain MRI today after Taxol so we need that report and my tumor markers, then I will have her final advice. One thing that upset me was, if the liver progression is happening she talked about changing me outof weekly Taxol 😢

Will wait and see tomorrow's reports.

Wasn't so bad, it just seems to be inconclusive in those two areas. That was dissapointing, however my bone mets are stable! So that's great! Need my brain mets to be also and I'll be a relieved woman!

Dana

Anyone have elevated heart rate on taxol? Mine was 90 this morning at my infusion, then 109 at rest this afternoon.

I'm wondering if I'm starting to get another pleural effusion (doesn't feel like it yet, but have been having 'prickling' feeling intermittently in both lungs) or if it's a reaction to the taxol itself. It's not high enough to do anything about, but it's usually mid 60's to mid 70's per minute.

I guess my CT scan will clarify that next week. Stupid scanxiety & concern over symptoms

I hope your MRI comes back clear, and you get clarity re CT Dana. Hope your headaches go soon Laura and are nothing to worry about

hi Lauralind! how were the results from Thursday? Thinking of you. My brain MRI came back good! Stable and shrinking mets! Yay! The way my onc is handling the conflicting pet/ct is by ordering a liver MRI. Having that done tuesday. In the mean time, she canceled my taxol treatments. I believe she is pulling me off taxol for good because of elevating tumor markers along with liver progreasion. Again I will know more after results from my liver MRI. Sigh...

Taxol was good to me for the most part. Scared of what's to come.

KT...good luck on your scans next week too. Scanxiety is a great way to put how we feel!

Dana

Hey everyone !  I'm happy to report my scans showed no active disease in addition to the lymph nodes in my chest are "unmeasurable"   After 2 years of always some progression or issue what a nice turn of events. My tumor marker was 1. But the ca123 isn't back yet. 

I am however being switched off taxol to Abraxane because of some allergic issues.  The last 2 infusions I've had facial down to neck flushing for days then this last time I got a lump in my throat. I start that next Thursday at a reduced dose because neuropathy is increasing. My balance is off and the neuropathy is also moving down my fingertips to now the whole first digit. My leg aches and pains have increased as well as paini my knees hips and lower back much like when I was on taxotere but to a less degree. 

I was hoping for a chemo holiday but I'll take a NED anyway for however long it lasts. 

Dana I'm sorry the taxol wasn't the drug but there are plenty others ! Just need to find the right one. Hugs. 

Texasrose they look great !

Trying to read all of this but it is hard to do. I am 52 and had said no more to any conventional treatments. Am still going to try cannabis oil but am also considering chemo again. Doc says he wants me to try Taxol. I have so much pain and I'm sick of it. My husband is wonderful. Not pushing me in any direction. He has his own health issues too but not mets of cancer but still issues that interfere with his quality of life. So I worry about him too and he worries about me. Ugh.

Anyway, it looks like they want to do weekly Taxol so any words of wisdom or advice would be greatly appreciated.

I think I was glamorizing death which is sick I know. Death is awful. Period. None of us get out of this life alive. However, It is still hard on everyone involved.

Thanks for listening.

Patti, When I was taken off Taxotere (a family member of Taxol) it took about 6 weeks (the time I had off chemo ) before I started really feeling good again. I started right back on the weekly Taxol though and those symptoms are back. Ive been off that for almost 2 weeks and yesterday was the best day Ive felt so far, with a long way to go before not feeling them.

I have no pain with Taxol.

Kt that's great to hear to taxol is working. It worked great for me but with symptoms of a lump in my throat they felt I should get off it. 

I had my first infusion of Abraxane Thursday. I was a bit nauseous through Friday but was able to go abiut my life went out to dinner Friday night. But then the bone pain started. Pretty severe both sat and Sunday. Nothing really helped. I used the heating pad which gave me a little relief at times. I feel better today but it's not completely gone.