HealingWell
Search Close Search
☰

Anthi, only 3 more to go now!

Support Forums
>
Breast Cancer
✚ New Topic ✚ Reply
❬ ❬ Previous Thread |Next Thread ❭ ❭
Posted 3/21/2007 3:01 AM (GMT 0)
Hope your first taxotere went well and the side effects are minimal.  I wonder if you're going to be craving fried egg sandwiches with this drug?!?

You're getting there!  5 treatments down, 3 to go.  You're practically a "short-timer."

Love and hugs...

BEV

Posted 3/21/2007 12:34 PM (GMT 0)

Hello again Bev

Yes thank you the first taxotere went well.  They managed the cannula at the third attempt so that's one better than last time.  Not much in the way of side effects yet although they say the muscle and joint pains start at about days 4 and 5 but let's hope I don't  get those. I'm sitting here in the black nail polish which is unbelievably hideous !

In fact I've got only 2 treatments left as I'm having just 6 in total - 3 x FEC and 3 x Taxotere so I'm two thirds of the way through now.  That's a good feeling.

My onc is trying me on Effexor now for the hot flashes.  You say you take 'the smallest dose available'.  Do you mean 37.5 mg?  She's given me that to start with but then moving up to 75 after the first four days which I didn't really want. I can't break them into 2 as they're capsules but I guess if I find the smaller dose is enough I can take one alternate days. I'll see how I get on anyway.

Not sure how I feel about food yet but the fridge is full of eggs just in case ! Great to read about your results on  your other post.

Take care

Anthi

Posted 3/22/2007 10:36 PM (GMT 0)
Hi, Anthi, yes, I take 37.5's once a day. My onc told me when I started that, if that helped, to up it to two a day, which I did. I found that it made me feel a little funny...fuzzy-brained, I guess. So I backed my self right back down to one a day, and I've stayed there ever since ( and that's been several years, I think.)

Glad the taxotere went well. I hope you don't get the body aches, too. Would love to see that black nail polish! And only 2 more! Wow! You are the lucky one. Seems like here they usually do 4 of each, but I could be wrong. They didn't have the taxanes out yet (they were in clincal trials, I think) when I was going through treatment.

Yes, good news about the old shoulder. I have also taken Celebrex for years for arthritis, and I was taking 400 mg a day. Apparently they've decided that isn't good for your heart, so they cut my dose in half. So all my -itis's have been acting up, but I never had problems with that shoulder before. When they went from bone scan to x-ray to MRI, I have to admit I was getting a bit nervous about the whole thing. I will probably have to have some surgery to repair some of the tears, but I will put that off as long as they tell me I won't do any further damage by doing so.

My fridge is full of eggs, too, but that's because we're getting ready for the Easter Bunny. Do you have kids? You haven't mentioned, I don't think. Mine are for my granddaughter, who is 5. She just can't wait to get to dying the eggs. And I guess for the 25-year-old, too, who still professes that she believes so she can get a basket full of goodies! LOL And that's my psychology major.

Hope to hear you're continuing to feel well over the next few days!

L&H
BEV
Posted 3/23/2007 8:17 PM (GMT 0)

Hello again Bev and thanks for the info about the Effexor.

Well - famous last words about the side effects.   Since I last posted I've been feverish, had pains in my head, bad stomach and gut pains, diarrhoea, aching leg muscles, sore mouth, bad taste in mouth and general exhaustion !   I seem able to move around only very slowly - not at my usual speed at all.  Let's hope things improve tomorrow !  But I've read some good things about the results they've had with Taxotere so I shall persevere.

No I haven't got any kids - in fact I've never been married and I live alone which is  something I appreciate very much at the moment as I seem to need lots of peace and quiet.  I've got loads of good friends and neighbours though who I can call on for the odd bit of help with shopping or lifts to the hospital as I don't seem able to drive very far at the moment - chemo brain seems to be setting in !

Take care

Anthi

Posted 3/23/2007 8:41 PM (GMT 0)
Anthi:

 

I feel your pain, girl.  I hated the aches with Taxotere.  I used vicodin for them and they dissappeared. 

 

I swear by vitamin E for the hot flashes.  Never had to try Effexor.

 

I don't remember an egg craving, but the taste in the mouth, if it persists, you may want to tell the doc about it because there's something called thrush.  It's a side effect I got on chemo.  It was an uncomfortable coating inside my mouth and teeth.  Yuk!  There was a medicine for it that I was prescribed, worked like a charm.

 

I recommend drugs!  Now's the time to be thankful that we're in the 21st century and have had lots of scientists research chemical side-effect management!!!  (including and not least, PAIN!!!).  This is not a moral issue, nor should public perception of narcotics be a factor.  Chemicals are there anyway, so just use the knowledge to find the chemicals that will manage your side effects so you can function.  Especially when you're alone!  I'm totally in awe that you're not freaking out.  I'd be!!!  Way to go brave girl!!!!!

✚ New Topic ✚ Reply