Having hard time understanding how TC chemo is administered

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so_chickadee
so_chickadee Member Posts: 17
edited October 2019 in Triple-Negative Breast Cancer

Hi everyone. 

Chemo starts next week. My treatment plan (Taxotere & Cytoxan) fact sheet says: "Your treatment plan consists of 4 chemotherapy cycles (about 3 months). A cycle length is 3 weeks. The drugs are given intravenously at every visit."  And I do not have a clue what that suppose to mean. Will I have to come to the chemo clinic every day for three weeks? Or is it just one time infusion and then have a recovery for three weeks? Please help me understand. 

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  • MinusTwo
    MinusTwo Member Posts: 16,634
    edited October 2019

    chickadee - you do need to call your oncologist and ask for a 'nurse navigator' to give you a tour of the facility and tell you the procedure.

    Normally you have one infusion every 3 weeks. Each may last 4-8 hours so you need more details. You also need to know if you should take food, blankets, if they have a TV, etc.

    You also need to know what other meds are going in the infusion (like combating nausea for example) I'll find the 'ready for chemo' thread & post, but each doc is different so you need to call.


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  • MinusTwo
    MinusTwo Member Posts: 16,634
    edited October 2019

    Chickadee - here's the link. NOTE - these are suggestions that might be relevant after you see what your personal doc says. You can also join a thread with people currently going through chemo & read all those posts - like October chemo or 2019 Sept Chemo.

    https://community.breastcancer.org/forum/69/topics...


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  • so_chickadee
    so_chickadee Member Posts: 17
    edited October 2019

    MinusTwo

    Thank you very much!

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  • MountainMia
    MountainMia Member Posts: 1,307
    edited October 2019

    The taxotere infusion takes a while. (Cytoxan is less.) I don't remember how long mine was set up for, but as MinusTwo said, plan for an infusion day to take most of the day. Especially the first one will.

    Ask if you will have a port or a direct infusion into your arm. If into your arm, you'll want to wear a short-sleeved shirt but also have a warm cape, shawl, or small blanket you can wrap around yourself. Once the IV is into your arm, you can't remove a jacket!

    Good luck to you!

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  • so_chickadee
    so_chickadee Member Posts: 17
    edited October 2019

    MountainMia 

    Thank you. Did not realize I would probably spend a day at the infusion clinic. Have to arrange babysitting and stuff then. 

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  • JudiJo
    JudiJo Member Posts: 17
    edited October 2019

    I had TC infusions....got there at about 9:00 and out by 12:00-1:00 pm. If I remember correctly...there were four bags of fluids. anithisimines, anti nausea, taxotere, cytoxcin. I took steroids two days before and day of chemo and claritin for a week after. (the nurse said the claritin would help with bone pain from the Neulasta) It wasn't horrible. I lost my hair, but worked full time through it.

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  • MountainMia
    MountainMia Member Posts: 1,307
    edited October 2019

    JudiJo, I think my first one was scheduled for about a 5 hour time slot. They wanted to go quite slowly in case I had a reaction to the taxotere. Which I did. Had to wait for it to resolve, and then we tried again. And I reacted again. (chickadee, this is not typical!)

    Ultimately I got switched to dose dense AC, instead of TC. It was a quicker process but still took about 3 hours.

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  • MinusTwo
    MinusTwo Member Posts: 16,634
    edited October 2019

    Chickadee - yes to the baby sitter question. And for an undetermined time - at least until you're used to the system. Sometimes reservations get backed up and you have to wait to get a chair. Usually they'll check your blood every time and won't order the actual chemo drugs until those blood tests come back.

    Often the first time they give you Benadryl to make sure you don't have any allergic reactions. Since that put's me totally out, I had to have someone take me & drive me home - just that first time. Otherwise, I drove myself to every treatment. After that, drove myself to every radiation every day for 5 weeks.

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