Well remember my fec for 6-8 treatments…today I took #4 FEC but now for the remaing 3 or 4 treatments he is changing it to Taxotere and Herceptin together.
My shrinkage was really good so I wondered why the FEC is stopped he said cos it doesn’t react well with herceptin… he said good results with taking these two together…as usual when i leave my appt I am nervous and upset wondering how I will feel…but I do want to do what is best of course. I have less steroids to take this time as I told him I cry for 4 days after chemo…not much nausea but jitters that literally makes me feel I am going to lose me mind… he said…well the steroids with Tax is worse…ewwwww I am scared…if any of you ladies have had this treatment (prior to surgery for me) please inform me some…thanks
Hope all u sweet ladies have a wonderful weekend…feeling well and full of the joys!!
Well I had 3 x FEC and was absolutely fine on them, and then had my first taxotere 2 weeks ago (got 3 of them). I have to admit I was warned that it would feel that I had been hit by a bus, and sorry to say this, but I did feel like had been hit by a double decker bus. Ached all over my body and very tired too. As for the mouth - well that was not nice and quite painful. Took about 6 days for the achy body to go and then the mouth was about 10 days I reckon.
The steroids start the day before chemo - 4 tablets twice a day for 3 days, but as said you take the first lot the day before, then some on the day and then the day after. Everyone will tell you take the last lot before 4pm.
But again, it is doable, hit me harder than I thought it would, but I have got through and number 2 is next week. I didnt listen to my body as carried on cos I have a 3 yr old and an 11 month old, and they show me no mercy. But know better for the next lot and will rest when I need to.
Good luck, but also remember everyone is very different and reacts differently to chemo, and I think you suffered a bit on FEC, so maybe you will be fine. Let us know how you get on.
I’ve had 3 lots of FEC and 2 lots of Taxotere and herceptin - the 3rd is due next week. I have it on Tuesdays and am in bed sleeping until around Thursday/Friday and then I start picking up. Like Dawn, I ache a lot but I also have an injection of neulasta to keep my white blood count up and not sure whether the aches are worse due to it but I don’t have any mouth problems whilst on it. I also get a slight temperature. The way I get through it is to take sleeping pills at night and just sleep during the day as and when I need to (which is most of the time) the urge to sleep is extremely powerful and mostly I can’t stop myself. I feel extremely restless when I am awake (probably due to steroids) and cannot sit still for a minute. I found for first few days I couldn’t read, watch tv, didn’t want to speak to anybody on the phone so now my friends know not to call me for the first 2-3 days and instead they text me. It’s not much fun but it’s dooable and I certainly didn’t feel sick on taxotere which I did on FEC.
Anyway my surgery will be 3-4 weeks after my last lot of chemo.
Good luck
RebzAmy
Thank you Dawn and RebzAmy… doesn’t sound too nice! I can deal with pain and nausea but not the jitters… I will take sleeping pills at night too. I sadly wasn’t allowed neulasta…they prescribed me GCSF which does the same but have to take 5 days worth. I always feel quite painful the first 2 nights of those.
Bless u Dawn I know you have to be busy when you dont feel like it with the babes…
Hi Lee
I had 3xFEC and will do my 3rd and last Tax next Friday…God that sounds good!!! I hated both of them, for different reasons though - I hated the sickness with FEC and only managed to get the anti-sick tablets right on the 3rd one. Taxotere is very different. No sickness at all (yay!) but achey limbs and joint pains (boo!) - but they passed quite quickly, it was the yakky mouth which was the worst…Difflam mouth rinse helped alot.
Taxotere is s’posed to be the arse kicking chemo, used to only be used on patients with secondaries, now been licensed for use on Primary too. FEC shrank my tunour by 50% but since the Tax it has disappeared almost to the point of it being difficult to find…so I have no complaints!!
Wishing you well - it is alright, not great - but then none of them are great! It does seem to follow more of a pattern than FEC though, so I found that better as I can cope easier when I know wht’s coming!