January 2016 Chemo!

Congrats Zinny

MissBee, just saw your post. I'm also in for Perjeta/ Herceptin for another 9 months till next March. I still have a lot ahead of me--surgery, recon, maybe rads etc.

Maya, I hadn't started taxol yet when the head pains and eye pain started. It was 3 & 4 weeks after my last AC, so that long after the last Neulasta. It feels like the muscle behind the top of my eyeball is pulling. I can kind of feel it go way back toward where my brain was hurting on top. Weird. She said we'll do the MRI first and then maybe she would sent me to an eye doc. I will have three doses of neupogen starting tonight. Then they will reevaluate after my counts next week. :-

Myra, you will get back to yourself. Little by little… And it SUCKS to feel sick all of the time. It is totally ok to say that.

Thrush, maybe? That's a long time for a sore throat…Can you tolerate smoothies? Something like Rumble to get you some protein? I got "The Cancer Fighting Kitchen" cookbook which has lots of brilliant ideas for fussy tastebuds on chemo - worth a look?

I thought that my taste would change with Tamoxifen, so i was eating all of the yummy stuff before it tasted awful. Well, I gained 10 lbs and it all still tastes ok - oops. Weird how it is different for everyone.

Myra, I could have written that post, I'm feeling the same way. Sick and tired of feeling sick and tired. I have 7 more weeks of Taxol/Carbo to go and it seems like forever. Dare I say that I think the dose dense AC was easier, at least I felt like myself for a week inbetween. My biggest thing is the exhaustion, and lately I feel like I'm letting everyone down because I AM always tired. They just don't get it.

I was told that I have thrush this week, I thought I was coughing and everything tasted bad because everything is so dry, but the thrush medication is definitely helping, it may be worth checking into.

One day at a time...

I will be on herceptin until Jan 2017

SO TIRED ‼️ I'm two days from getting my 5th TC infusion. I have only been tired days 4,5 & 6. After that everything has been normal. But, today I can barely walk a few steps without feeling totally exhausted. Wonder if my blood count has dropped. Anyone experienced this. Tomorrow I go to see Hamilton on Broadway. Hope I don't fall asleep

Cathy, my fourth TC cycle was definitely my most fatigued. I started eating beets, spinach and some red meat and felt a little better - found my counts had dropped a little more than usual when I had my blood levels checked. My 5th and 6th rounds have been much easier though. Even went to Disneyland 6 days after round 5 and walked 24 miles Over two days and felt great

Cathytoo - I'm going for treatment every 3 weeks (Taxotere) , but I definitely felt the accumulative effects on the 3rd week of my 5th round (2nd week was better). I'm completely retaining water, my feet are swollen and I'm having difficulty breathing when I'm laying down. Legs feel like lead, and rashes now. I try to get out for walks but it's hard cause I get so winded and of course legs heavy...but I force myself to because I think it helps.

It's absolutely scary, and not to scare you....but when there are such huge changes in your body your mind goes into overdrive. Mention it to your MO. I did, and I got a mugga (spel?) and an EKG but she thinks it's all due to the water retention. Now I have to take a water pill.

Hope you feel better soon!

Cathytoo, Hamilton is worth it even if you sleep a little. lol

Ugh. 4th DD Taxol hardest by far, struggling to get back to normal!!

Zinny and Buttaflydiva, I totally understand, weekly Taxol is kicking my butt! Finally felt OK yesterday, just in time for another infusion today, #6 of 12...ugh. This is more difficult for me than AC, with AC at least I had a week to feel almost normal.

My bf is not being very supportive or tolerant of my tiredness either which isn't helping. He "jokingly" called me lazy the other day, then told me that a lot of it could be in my head. I'm still angry.

I had my last dose dense Taxol on the 19th. I am so glad to be done with chemo but struggling to get my energy back this time. It has been such pretty weather here and I want to be outside planting flowers but a little activity just does me in! I also have three more weeks until I start rads (I have to drive 80 miles one way to get to treatments) and want to make the most of it.

Is anyone else struggling with swelling? My fingers are swollen and the last two days at the end of the day my ankles/feet and my arm around my elbows were a little swollen. It has been pretty warm here the last couple of days but it was doing it before it got warm and a search of Taxol and swelling revealed this has been a side effect of some women. Anyone? I think I'm putting in a call to the ONC today just to make sure there isn't something else I need to do.

For me too Taxol is kicking my butt. I switched from weekly to dose dense because I didn't have the energy for hospital visits 3 times a week for chemo/neupogen shots. Dose dense definitely has more side effects (bowels, tiredness, bone pain), but it gives me some time when I feel myself. My MO said Taxol is much easier than AC but that hasn't been the case for me.

EmilyJane -- I'm having a breakout too. MO says it's folliculitis: Taxol attacking cells in the skin that keep bacteria in check. They gave me a prescription for clindamycin, but it didn't work. I have the same side effects also from chemical menopause. I'm hoping the dryness and pain is from Taxol because the rest of my skin is the same. I get blisters from walking in my normal shoes and I start bleeding whenever there's any friction on the skin. Can't even wear earrings cos the holes just bleed as soon as I put them in. So, let's hope it goes away when we finish. In the meantime, I use lubrication and it helps a bit.

As I crawl toward the finish line, I just got confirmation that it's all WORTH IT: went for MRI yesterday and they just phoned with the results. Bit of background, I'm having neo-adjuvant chemo and at diagnosis there was cancer all over my breast and in the lymph nodes, multiple tumors, very aggressive, etc. MRI shows "marked response to treatment", lymph nodes have gone back to normal size and "no definite residual malignancy in the breast"!