AC-PACLitaxel (dose dense) Treatement

Hi Cal05,

I did it. It certainly was torture but I figured since neuropathy is permanent, I was going to suffer through 12 hours of icing (total) to prevent it, rather than face a lifetime of misery. My MO said it's even more important for dose dense because neuropathy is much more likely and more severe. She now advises all her patients to do it.

I have 2 recommendations: get your icing set up right and find a way to distract yourself to pass the time. My infusions were 3 hours (just the Taxol, then I had Herceptin and Perjeta on top). The nurses set up the ice for me: plastic tub with a bag of ice cubes under feet and one on top, then another similar tub for the hands. I refused the gel packs because they only last 15 mins and they're not that cold. They changed the ice once during the infusion. When it got too cold I took hands and feet out briefly then put them back in.

For passing the time, my hospital has wifi, so I picked a Netflix series and watched it. Couldn't read because I didn't want to keep taking hands out of the ice to turn the pages. I bought a bag of my favorite chocolate and rewarded myself with one every 20 mins during the infusion. I am really glad I did it. Two of my friends have crippling neuropathy from chemo.

I wore socks. Didn't wear gloves but my cancer center provided a towel to put between the ice bags and the hands. I had no problems with frostbite. All you need to do is lift hands and feet up for a few seconds when it feels too cold, then put them back again.

It's worth phoning up your chemo center to see what they can provide. Ice is commonly used so they might have a freezer, ice cube machine, basins, ziplock bags, towels etc, and that saves you having to bring your own stuff. For me they provided everything.

To Marie, as I understand it for Taxol there are 2 main protocols, 12 weekly infusions or 4 dose dense. They're both equally effective, but dose dense has a lot more side effects. I've done both. My blood counts dropped on the weekly and I couldn't handle going to the hospital 3 times a week for shots, so they switched me to dose dense with neulasta.