will be taking Carboplatin and Taxotere

Hi Sweet:

I had taxotere, carboplatin and herceptin for 6 cycles. I just finished November 24, 2015. Everyone responds differently to the drugs. Chemocare.com has a good description of side effects for each of these drugs. I can tell you what I experienced.

By the evening of the infusion day, I would start to feel a little nausea. I was prescribed compazine for that, so I started it then. I was able to eat normal foods and had a decent appetite until about day 3. Then my appetite was pretty poor and I felt low grade nausea for about a week. I generally took compazine for 4-5 days after each chemo. I never actually vomited, which I consider very lucky. I tended to lose about 5-10 pounds in the first week after chemo, then slowly gain some of it back.

The Kytril (anti-nausea injection that they give right before the infusion) caused me major problems with constipation. It took me 2 cycles of misery before I found the medical regimen to keep things moving. For me, I would start miralax the night before infusion and continue it twice daily for 2-3 days until the Kytril wore off.

I got both mouth sores and very sore around the rear. Biotene mouth rinse and spray are really soothing for the mouth. Also the salt/baking soda mouth wash is good as well (let me know if you need the recipe). My lips also became swollen and chapped and I got dry eye, so had to use a lot of moisturizing eye drops. For me, the mouth issues got worse after the first week and were bad for about a week to 10 days.

I developed mild numbness of my fingers and toes that worsened considerably after the last chemo treatment. I am now on Lyrica for peripheral neuropathy, and it is helping. I also noticed decreased sensation on the skin of my face and nether regions that was worse the first week after chemo with each cycle, then got better. There was also some burning with urination at that time.

The fatigue is cumulative. I was able to take two 2 mile walks a week for the first 4 cycles, then had to back off on the exercise. Your stamina gets shot. Also around the 4th or 5th cycle, my leg muscles became very sore and heavy feeling. It was hard to squat and walk very far. That got even worse after the 6th cycle, but went away about 6 weeks after I was done with chemo.

I started losing my hair about 14 days after the first cycle, but my first cycle was cytoxan and taxotere, so not sure if that will happen to you at that time, but it usually happens before the second cycle. I shaved my head once my hair started falling out. It was very weird waiting for that to happen. I knew it was imminent when I had a hair in my eye and I went to move it and it just fell out of my head from the gentle tug on it. Ugh! Not a great part of the whole experience (not that any of it is very fun).

I started having swelling in my lower legs and feet after about the 5th cycle. That took about 6 weeks to resolve after the last chemo and I still get a little swelling. I used compression socks to help keep that under control.

You have a tough road ahead of you, but you can get through it. Just remember to focus on the endpoint of you being healthy. I made the decision to live like my dog, Sunny. That is to say, don't dwell on the negative. It does no good to worry. Live each day to the fullest. Count your blessings. Probably the hardest part of all of this for me was accepting help. Your friends and family will want to help you. They will feel better helping you because they will be doing something. My friends helped my family by bringing dinners for us. We used the "Care Calendar" (carecalendar.org) so people could sign up to cook. It is a great program. Caring bridge (caringbridge.org) is also a great way to keep all your friends and family updated on how you are doing.

I recommend that you keep a daily journal of how you feel (listing specific side effects) and what medications you are taking. That journal helped me to come up with a drug regimen that worked well for me and helped me to tolerate the chemo the best I could. By the end, I knew what to expect and knew when I would start to feel better down to the day post chemo.

Good luck on your journey! I'm happy to answer any of your questions.

Laura