I have been told that I will need dose dense chemotherapy with Doxirubicin and Cyclophosphamide and I wondered if anyone on this forum has had this form of chemo?
Thanks
Hi Happycats
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Best wishes
Lucy
I thought I would reply to your post. I am 3 years on from dx now so have finished all treatment. I had dose dense chemo and I think it is still the exception rather than the rule.
I had AC and Paclitaxol. My onc told me she was doing that because I was young and was fit enough to cope and not working at the time (I had just returned with my husband from working abroad). Because I was having private treatment there also wa
For me it worked as she was trying to shrink my tumour to avoid a mx which it did. I went on to have a WLE and rads plus Herceptin as I was HER2+.
The downsides were that because it was every 2 weeks I never what some people call the “good 3rd week” where you can get out and above and back to work etc. I had to have the Neulasta jabs to build bone marrow because your body can’t heal itself in 2 weeks to have the chemo again, and with the taxol the numb fingers and toes were pretty bad and took about 6 months to get back to normal.
BUT given a choice I would do it that way again - my onc said that the best way to kill it and keep it away is give you as much as often as you can take it. Plus it meant that chemo was over in 4 months rather than 6 as I had 8 sessions.
You will get through it - just don’t expect to be as able to get back to normal as people on the regular regimes and don’t beat yourself up if you feel rough.
If you want any further info just let me know.
Sam
Thank you so much for your reply. It really helps to speak to someone who has been through it. I have to go to the hospital now to have my seroma drained but I will send another post later today. Thanks again. Sarah
Hi Sam I am back. You say that you had 8 treatments and it was done in 4 months so presumably you had AC and Paclitaxol in the dose dense regime. I have been told the AC will be dose dense for 4 treatments and then the docetaxol will be at standard three week intervals for 4 cycles. I was ER -ve PR-ve and HR2 3+ and have been told that this and the fact it was grade 3 and there was lymph node involvement are factors which have led to me having the dose dense schedule. They also said that they only offer it to people under 50 so I just qualify!! I will be having the Neulasta injections 24 hours after the chemo as you describe and have been told that this can lead to aching joints and muscle pain - did you experience those? The numbness and tingling that you mention from the taxol has also been mentioned. Thanks again for taking the time to send your message, I really appreciate it.
Sarah
Hi - is it the “AC” chemotherapy you are having? I was given this - they called it - short and sharp - let me know and I can relay my experience!
Good luck.
jan