Starting AC+T in March 2018

I agree, I wanted to hear from others going thru same chemo drugs as I...4 does of AC then 12 of Taxol. First does was 3/5...day 2 thru 6 were horrible with nausea. Took all nausea meds prescribe 24/7, but not enough, couldn’t eat much, crying all the time, shaky weak legs..not a fun week. Then Monday came around and Lab/Nurse appt, they gave me IV filled with stronger nausea meds and steroid and Lorazepan, I felt human again and it lasted all week...finally got my head around I can do this!!!

Had my 2nd dose of AC yesterday ..with additional nausea meds and a patch subscription that goes behind my ear. I feel fine today...100% better than last week at this time...just shaky legs and a little sleepy. I can do this....with all the drugs!!! Hahahah

This week I’ve had two IVs with nausea and steroids added, they made a world of difference. The nurse said the steroid is probably why I’m so shaky..at least that part wears off. After first dose I was crying all the time, so I asked for anxiety meds, I also couldn’t sleep at night, so they gave me something that has worked wonders for both issues.

Dx 12/2017 @ 65 yrs

IDC, left, 4 tumors up to 2 cm, bilateral mastectomy 1/25/18; Stage 2A, 2/13 nodes; ER+/PR+ /HER-

I decided not to do reconstruction...not worth it to me

ordinary beauty thanks for starting this thread, I agree, it is nice to hear from those getting the same tx---the people who started at end of March chemo group seem to be getting mostly TC. I am getting neoadjuvant dose dense AC (4tx) plus taxol (12 tx) because my tumor had a very high Ki67=85%. The have have me on a anti nausea protocol that started last mon, 1st day of AC with IV steroids, Emmend, Aloxi and Zyprexa. Zofran was every 8 hours as needed. this seemed to work well as my nausea was controlled by the zofran and I just stuck to bland foods--have to say I didn't eat much in general first few days. I only had mild jitters from the steroids, feel weaker and shakier after they wore off. My biggest complaint was fatigue and the bad taste made it hard to stay hydrated with plain water. Then I stopped taking zofran Wed thought I felt kind of normal thurs and Fri--but thurs was my last steroid dose and experienced crash starting yesterday. Feeling super fatigued just trying to do any activity and achy and its uncomfortable to swallow going from my throat down my chest. Have you guys had that sensation at all? Doc said par for the course with the AC, lining of whole GI tract is basically affected. Also I was super constipated and ended up needing milk of magnesia yesterday although I had been taking miralax, colace, and senna for several days, turned into big D yesterday. Today I feel like my stomach is still kind of upset and overactive, back to eating sour dough toast again. I'm glad you sound like you're doing ok after your 2nd tx, starting to wonder if I will be back to normal before my second. I have medical marijuana as well, I read the 1:1 CBD to THC is supposed to be good at killing the ER/PR+ BC as well as ease SE's, haven't used it yet though because I didn't want to mix with all the other stuff, was planning on using it week 2 of tx . Are you also in CA then? I got my wig on Friday and I really like it but was very expensive--had to get human/synthetic blend because the others seemed to look too big on my head. So, yeah I would be pissed if I cut my long hair and then spent all that money for nothing. MO told me no chance of keeping my hair with this regimen though, cause I had considered the cold capping but he said wouldn't work with the AC I would still get patchy hair loss at best so not worth the money and hassle of freezing.

Calee65 I'm so glad it sounds like they adjusted your nausea med regimen, it sounds like you had a really rough time before, hopefully you will get a lot more rest now, the sleep is so important to heal our bodies. So sorry you had to go through major sx before as well.

So glad to hear round 2 seems to be ok so far, hoping for a good week for all

Moth thanks for the tip for swallow problem. I think they told me about some "magic mouthwash" prescription i could ask for as I am now also unfortunately starting to get some mouth sores too, despite my vigilant mouth rinsing . I think I will call tomorrow, I didn't realize it was a swish and swallow med, so that will help help with both issues. I did read a lot of the Feb group posts during my diagnostic period so I know some of what you went through and so sorry to hear you experienced the febrile neutropenia (serious and scary thing to go through). The MO told me I shouldn't be too concerned about becoming neutropenic being on the neulasta, his nurse practitioner acted like it could just randomly happen within a week and be carefulI. On top of everything I had to get a mole removed from my ear the week before my chemo started so now I have basically an open wound (I keep it covered all the time) that will take some weeks to heal now that my body is compromised by chemo. I also have 2 kids and pets, I'm pretty fanatical about hygiene and wear gloves/mask when I'm cleaning etc since I don't know what my counts are. They are only doing blood draws prior to infusion right now. Staying infection free is definitely on mind and I'm trying to be as safe as I can. I also really felt that shaky weak feeling much more after steroids wore off. Glad to hear that you are much better now with only 1 left to go!

ordinary beauty great to hear that suppository worked! maybe I'll inquire for next time as all those meds I used work a little too well and created opposite effect. The zyprexa is kind of weird because its an antipsychotic (which made me reluctant to take it) that acts on brain and its part of a newer protocol. I guess a couple years ago studies were done and it was found to be up to 75% more effective than without in first 24 hrs after chemo. I definitely felt like combo worked and the nice thing was it knocked me out for infusion and each night that I took it thereafter, so I got a lot of sleep in first few days. I stopped taking it a day early cause didn't seem to need nausea meds anymore and felt like it added to constipation and I don't love the idea of taking that type of medication. I don't have an oncotype score since I didn't have a lumpectomy yet, they want to shrink the tumor and make sure the chemo works before they remove it. I think you have to have the tumor not just the biopsy for the oncotype, but could be mistaken...

Hi Ladies,

I am also on the AC+T protocol, neo-adjuvant. 4 bi-weekly rounds of each. Had my first dose on March 16th and my second last Friday. So far, Monday's are the toughest. Mostly just tired and some heartburn. I take Neulasta as well. My hair has now started to fall out. Now on my third haircut to shave it down. Which for me is the hardest part at this point. Overall, this is not as bad as I had imagined. One question, I thought Taxol was harder, but, someone mentioned it is easier. That would be nice :-). 6 more to go!!

Glad to hear you guys are doing so well, makes me hopeful for the tx#2 next week! My first was Monday a week ago and I feel like I'm almost back to normal. I think I recovered from what seemed like a steroid crash (flu like feeling) over the weekend and even that horrible difficulty swallowing sensation was gone today as well as the mouth sores that had started yesterday. When I woke up it was like all had miraculously healed overnight and hasn't come back yet...

Thanks for all your posts, it really helps to hear other's experiences!

Hello all,

I started AC beginning March and am going thru aftermath of 3rd round. I don't get really nausea so I am taking nausea med sporadically when the odour of the water is too hard to bear. However, as other stated, I got pain/burn swallowing about 1 week after chemo dose. I had also a harder time with round 2. Now thru round 3 I don't have nausea but felt weak and days 2 to 4 felt like fainting each time I stood up. I have also spots in my vision like I watched the sun or a lamp, which I did not. What I have also is insomnia. Yesterday I didn't sleep during the day hoping to sleep at night but it didn't work unfortunately. Also, yesterday I felt restless didn't know if I should sit or move around or just stand or lie down. Very annoying! Today I am fine liyng on the sofa reading all the threads from this website and moving every 2 hrs to drink.

Thanks ordinarybeauty to start this topic. I will put it in my favourite.

Well yesterday I thought I was having a normal day (day9) and even exercised albeit slower with more breaks than usual. Then in the evening headache started and no medications seemed to help, it wasn't an excruciating headache but I just felt bad in general and very fatigued again. On top of that I thought my mouth was back to normal and so ate various nuts, had mouth sores by last night---even worse than before despite brushing teeth and rinsing with biotene after eating. So frustrating, trying to live like normal as much as I can and not constantly focus on what I can or can't do, but last night I felt like oh yeah I feel terrible cause I have cancer and going through chemo, and I should've done differently, ugh... I feel all is getting better again today, though not as good as yesterday morning. Sorry for the vent, I really appreciate the site and everyone's posts.

Wishing you all well today

lolotte Thanks for the gum tip, I will definitely try that especially first week after tx when I had the taste issues. I did use Xylimelts last night before sleep, its a minty moisturizing lozenge you let slowly dissolve and I think that helped too. I had a lot of food issues the first 4-5 days after tx and hardly wanted to eat. the only thing that appealed to me was sour dough toast with butter or bananas or banana smoothies. I made myself drink a lot of broth but the thought of it now makes me sick so don't think I will be able to have the broth like last time for #2. I did make up for not eating starting around day6 became very hungry and taste was back. Also water tasted really bad (salty metallic) and even though I was trying not to have any sugar I ended up putting apple and cranberry juice in my water to make it drinkable because I felt I was probably not hydrating enough. Also I did notice my vision bothering me and felt like hard to focus for a couple of days, I think it was dry eyes and the lubricating eye drops helped for that. You shouldn't feel bad about Xanax because you need to sleep, its the most important thing for your body to have that total rest to heal. Luckily the Zyprexa they have me taking the chemo week knocks me out and I sleep a lot. Hope you start to feel better soon.

Hi Ig10, sorry you are joining us, but these forums definitely help. I did feel the the swallowing discomfort extended into my neck, like back of neck even and into my chest. Also the neulasta gave me chest pain on like day3-4 since there are large bones there making wbc's. Sinus pain or pressure I would clarify with doc and just make sure you're not getting sick. Any pain that is really hard to bear I would just call to be on the safe side. I called on saturday when i started having swallowing issues and doc called back right away and was reassuring it was par for the course. I'm sorry you are so young and dealing with the hair loss while trying to work. I'm 49 but pretty much felt like I just turned 40 and had long blond hair, hair thing was huge for me initially, worried it would come back gray and I would suddenly look really old. Now I feel I'm kind of over it most of the time. I got a really nice wig that will be fun to style, not to mention much easier and it looks great, my overall health and knowing I'm doing everything so I never have to deal with this again is more important. I cut most of my hair off so its much shorter but I will probably start freaking next week when it starts to come out Hang in there, at least you can say you're like 1/2 way done with the AC.

Thanks, mlghtn. I mentioned the pressure in my ears at my last appt and we are watching it. It happened last time too. I was having some inner ear issues after my surgery and I'm wondering if all this is related. I probably need to bring that up. It's so hard to know what's normal and not during chemo. I was healthy before my diagnosis and rarely got sick. Now I'm worried about everything. The neulasta is hard for me. I have the onpro and the day after is my sick day. I am sore to the touch all over my body. Luckily it only last a day and you're right --I'm halfway done with AC! I will have to cave soon and shave my head. I have a nice wig as well and need to get used to my new normal.

Ordinarybeauty Thats great to hear that you're SE's are not too bad this round! And a little weight loss is always nice . I also lost 8lbs but it was more from anxiety and loss of appetite from my new dx prior to chemo start. Now I seem to be maintaining same weight. Totally relate to salty metal taste of water and unfortunately didn't find a good solution for that---added juice to my water and helped minimally, so not looking forward to that again next week. Good tip for the hair, have seen some others post similar and will probably have to do the same next week. Looks wise I think the patchy part would be hard and you are brave to let your lovely friend see you. I'll probably be pulling it out not just as a past time but also to try to make it look even...

Hang in there, wishing everyone well this weekend