The Beast & Me: Round Two

TAC and TC would include a taxane. Its the adriamycin that she is concerned about.

I did not do TAC all at once. I did the A/C first, 6 biweekly dose dense treatments (2 more than the standard treatment) and then did 12 weekly Taxol. The A/C was hard on me, I won’t lie to you…but it was doable. I did the Neulasta and procrit shots from day one and that kept my blood counts up. If you do anything like this schedule, we can have a talk about support drugs. Everyone is different in how they respond, but I did a ton of homework on the drugs to help with side effects, and I would be thrill to pass on the tidbits that worked for me.

Above all please trust yourself. You know how to kick cancer’s butt. You kicked a triple negative cancer to the curb, you CAN and WILL kick this one too.

Hugs
Deb C

I guess that no matter
how much all cancer related thing will develop,
there will be docs, unfortunately too many docs,
that will not be up or even ready
to work with some kind of patients
no matter how good they may be on their work and
how knowledge they are or may be on this area.
Just as science, patients also evolve along the time,
sometimes I think that docs are just not ready at all for them,
neither for this new generation of women from some years back,
like that Onc. and her lack of "touch"
probably she had a dumbness attack scaring you that way.

I did 4 rounds of Adriamycin plus 4 Taxol.
I remember some people, at the moment
can remember at least 3 now, that did the same as me,
had heart problems all of them and did just fine.

The only thing I can say is "watch your time" after each shot.
We all react different but I think
we all have a "timing" working around the same way during chemo.
For instance, between the third and fifth day,
was when I would get with an hangover=that thing would kick,
then would go away.
What worked for me, just around 1 or 2 hours after the each shot
I would take pills for nausea
either way wouldn't get until the end of the day;
found the same thing in pills that they use in chemo shots,
probably the name in there is different,
but would take Novoban one per day and nausea would get under control
was the only thing that worked for me.
This pills only come in packs of five, and five was the enough
one pill per day for the first 5 days after each shot,
then would stop coz there was no need.
Between the third and fifth day mainly when I was on Taxol,
before I would start to feel bad I would take painkillers.
As to neuropathy nothing worked for me and it went away
sometime after the end of chemo.
Also took Aranesp to keep the red counts up.
Kept the fluids up, and mainly when I was on Taxol
what did made a huge difference to me was to move,
I have a sedentary work and have to move and go for fresh air
mainly for my mind sake, and during it
when I would feel better would go for a walk most of every day
either way would get rusty and with that stiffing feeling.

Here's a detail that at least I never saw writen,
nor even much talked around
and you with "arm things" to deal with
may want to keep in mind when on chemo.
I asked my Onc. and we talked about it several times
and apparently a lot of women feel this
right after the first round of chemo,
mainly those that had mastec. with "the arm thing"
and the problems that come after involved.
I had a lot of lack of movement when I started chemo,
was the lack of moves, cording, some pain from the recent surgery,
plus seroma and so on, when I started chemo in a blink
and just some couple of days after,
all of the sudden I felt a HUGE, GREAT improvement,
was such that that at some point I could even reach
and move the bad side just as much as the other side, with
no pain at all and had almost 100% of all my range of moves back.
What was odd to me was that it was all of the sudden and after
and during some weeks after each chemo shot.
That can happen easily, and it's a chemo side effect,
and the mix they give us in the cocktail,
not that there good things about this, but ... this was and can be good.
Since you were/are managing all those drains and fuilds and so,
plus the arm thing, along with the LE
and the stuff around the warping back and forward,
you may want to check this kind of "changes" and "control" them.
If this happens take advantage of it by doing exercises,
and DO NOT overdo all of the sudden,
neither think you are ready to swing on a trampoline,
it's good it even helps and can help a lot on the recovery of this, but
at least I a week before the next shot, things would come back again.
So if all of the sudden you feel far better or even great around your arms,
do not overdo coz you may regret it some weeks after,
YET take advantage of it coz it can help A LOT.
If this happens and I sure hope so, can be confusing to manage,
that is ... one day we are all feathered and next one is feeling great,
but I bet you can find a way to take advantage of it.

G., you can do this, like others said, it's doable and manageable,
the only problem and you said it already, is that,
at this moment
just remember "you know too much" and that can interfere A LOT.
Even that thing of your Onc.'s chat ...
most probably if you were one this for the first time
and had no time to do your search and readings to get ready,
if you knew nothing or not much,
most probably her dumbness wouldn't have hit you that much.

Good to know you had a chance to lossen your sence of humor meanhwile,
and the birds idea for Spring sounds just great me...
can not remember whom talked about it though...

Hugs.
.

Hi G, I did AC - 4 treatments dose dense. I was the poster child for chemo, as I did not suffer any side effects at all. I prepared for the mouth sores by getting Biotene but never used it. I took all the meds the onc gave me and experienced nausea once, and it wasn't severe; I overheard a nurse telling a new patient to listen to her body and if she needed the meds for an extra day, take them. That's what I did and didn't have any additional nausea. I was off work anyway during the time I was on chemo but I felt well enough that I probably could have worked. I had a neulasta shot the next day following every treatment. The onc had originally recommended an additional 4 taxol but after discussing it with him, the 4 additional treatments only bought me an additional 1% so he was ok with me not doing the taxol. I had a baseline EKG before starting chemo so we knew what my heart looked like. I didn't suffer any bone pain from the neulasta. It wasn't fun but it was doable. Fitchick gave you lots of good info. Drink tons of water (I didn't drink plain water so swirched to carbonated flavored water). You can do this and we are with you every step of the way.

Margaret

Ask for erubicin it is the same as ac. But less toxic on the heart. I had taxotere and erubicin. It is used in Europe a lot.

Gina,
All of us with stage 3 have stats that are scarey, but even the worst have half surviving so why did was she so sure you wouldn't land heads up? That seems cruelly aggressive. Especially since you have survived an even more aggressive triple neg. I am interested in the reasoning even if she has no empathetic skills.Beth There are many ILC doing well with many more nodes.

G -

I did fifteen weekly A/Cs. The Adriamycin was IV the Cytoxan was oral. Hair loss and fingernails you know about so I won't bother with those. I didn't get nausea at all. I have some heart issues, but didn't have any complications there. I gave myself daily Neupogen injections for my counts - also no problems there.

I did 12 weekly Taxols after that - also very doable for me. I had a little more trouble with fatigue, but managed.

I know you have so much to process here, and don't want to presume to tell you what to do, but I thought I'd share my experience. Please let me know if there are any questions I could answer for you based on my experince.

Most of all, don't let your oncs attitude get you down. They are all differnt and I'm sure it's hard, especially when you liked your old onc so much. You know how important attitude is - you are one of our biggest cheerleaders about that. We are here for you.

Big Hugs!
Anne

Gina, just reading your post about what this new onc had to say infuriated me! How dare she! I am so sorry your onc is such a negative person. You are not negative, and I sure would let her know that you plan to beat this just as you did your first bout. GRRRRRRRR

So, she's also a mind reader too? She can tell you WHERE your cancer will recur? I got the "dandelion story" from my onc the first time I saw him. He scared me to death and he was only explaining that if it spread he can treat it, but not cure it. Of course I wasn't ready to hear such crap. But in the end I loved him. He's now moved.

I think you need to tell this doctor that she needs to update her computer. Tell her her program is outdated.

If I had heart damage from the first chemo I would probably have the same attitude as you about doing Adriamycin.

I've been through the dose dense neoadjuvant AC/Taxol. The other gals have given you enough advice and description of what they went through. I think it is wise that you "insist" on the chemo that's less likely to cause more heart problems. That's just my opinion, but who am I? Certainly no doctor.
Shirley

LOL!!! Great Idea Althea! Gina, let me know...I'll send them for the whole office. Maybe then they will understand that you are ready to fight and WIN!

NO SURRENDER!!

Big Hugs
Deb C

NS -

Good luck at your appointment today. I hope that you like this onc better than the one from the other day.

Sending you hugs and good wishes,
Liz K

HOLEY MOLEY G a new forum !!

Thank you Tammy and Melisa!!
G my love and prayers for you today !!

Hugs,
Carrie

Oh, Gina...YESSS! Good for you! I know that when I'm anxious to forge ahead with something, I'm likely to cut corners and, in your case, might just have said 'WTF, I'll stick with this one.' But you didn't. I hope that this one is way better for you and gives you the support that you deserve.

It's probably good that we have this new section because I imagine that some women still in treatment or just fresh out might find the topic a little scary if it stayed under 'Moving Beyond...'.

G,

Good for you! My thought when I read your comments about the oncologist was that "I wouldn't want that doctor treating me". I'd want someone with a positive outlook, whose objective is to have me live till I'm 95, with no recurrence along the way. You don't deserve anything less!

Good luck!!!

(Great new forum, by the way!)

Gina, that is awesome. I shopped around for another onc myself after treatment. You have to find the right match for you. There was another lady who posted about taking the chemo in individual rounds. Maybe this is the start of a new dose dense standard. I'm all for less side effects.