Hi ST and everyone else who is suffering with low energy and tiredness.
My mum has come down to help out for a couple of weeks and am so looking forward to being able to do nothing without feeling guilty.
Feeling the steroids kicking in already. Treated myself to chocolate and ice cream this evening before my taste buds disappear tomorrow. Ho hum - has to be done I suppose.
Don’t think I’m getting a dose reduction however I have lost 10kg since I started chemo so asked them to recalculate my dose as its more than 10% of my body weight. Am a bit worried about having a reaction as the chemo nurse said its more common on the second. Taking husband with me for moral support.
Good luck for tomorrow Lulu and Cackles. Hope all our SE’s are small ones!
Hi all, have come to join you on the tax journey!
Got results yesterday and have multiple mets in liver (as well as extensive bone mets) Will be starting taxotere in the next week or two, waiting to hear from chemo unit with start date!! previously had fec with primary diagnosis and suffered terribly from SE’s from it…had been warned by onc that SE’s on tax would most probably be worse. so was dreading it!!! but reading thru this thread has made me a bit more positive…so thankyou all so much
Take care all, Good luck for those tomorrow with chemo!!
Tracey xx
Hello lucy3 and welcome to the TAX thread - which was started by me when I was trying to find something positive about going through TAX. I am thinking that the most positive thing was finding all these lovely people going through exactly the same as I am going through! I felt very lonely when I was first diagnosed - now I feel part of a rather special group and like to think that I have made some new friends along the way. Sorry to hear you have mets - but it is treatable!
Good luck everyone who is being poisoned this week - try and see the bag of TAX for what it really is…it is nature’s magic potion that is going to make us well again (eventually).
well i had my chemo yeaterday tax and carbo… and sorry its not a positive post as i had a reaction to the tax and it had to be stopped for a while so i could get hydrocortisone and piriton infusions to help make my glitter hallucinations and big purple face die down… although im sure they would have been very fetching with my fabby pink chemo shoes LOL
ended up on the chemo ward for 7 hours after tax was restarted and carbo was through and felt pretty poop all of yesterday and slept nearly all day and night but woke up feeling great today.
will be getting the infusions before chemo is started next cycle and they are also requesting i get a hickman line put in said veins are too naff for picc… hopefully it will be in before next chemo is due.
now im just psyching myself up to give myself my scabby GCSF injection.
Tracey welcome to the tax thread hope you have a better time than you did on fec… sorry to hear about your mets.
Hi Taxers,
3rd tax next week thought Onc would up my dose next Wed to 100%,as a reward for good behaviour,he refused telling me at my age the full dose would knock me for six and they would have to stop altogether,he reckons from American research,my 80% dose of Tax + C is adequate,didnt argue, he is the expert, at the beginning he thought I was too old for chemo so should count myself lucky.At the moment feeling really well and energetic and even had a few nights when I slept, indeed a great big bonus.
(((HUGS)))Mavis
Well done Mavis - you see, you’re not too old. Lulu, sorry you had that horrid experience with the tax. With me they give the pre-meds then wait an hour before I have the TAX. Seems different everywhere.
I did my injection this morning too, first of the last 8. Poor tummy still bruised from last lot. I’ve already got the bone aches all over, have you?
Sorry to hear about the reaction. I was so scared I was going to have one too as they said it’s more common with the second and third but thankfully it was all uneventful (except for the 3 goes to find a vein…)
I have been given Filgrastim injections for the first time since i was hospitalised after my first TAX. Guess it’s cheaper than 5 nights in a hospital bed. I’ve been told to start mine tomorrow and hosing that the pain isn’t going to be as bad as after the double dose I had in hospital - I had the most awful back ache for 6 hours.
Commiserations on the bone aches SB. Mavis - never too old!
Off to scoff some pizza and chocolate before the cardboard mouth sets in
Evening all. Second Tax today so rotten injections tomorrow. I had just arrived to take my mother shopping 50 miles from the hospital when they rang to say they had forgotten to give me the GCFS. She is 85 and very set in her ways. She had a hair appointment at 2.45 and that was very important. Then she needed shopping in the huge Sainsburys- no way would she go to the local small Budgens which would mean I could pick them up. I resigned myself to not getting them and phoning friends to collect them. At the fourth call I found a willing carrier…! Obviously Mum doesn’t understand chemo etc. perhaps I should show her my bald head. She is alert and very bright but Not really able to understand how shattered I am. Denial is perhaps a good thing for the elderly. She only has me . I am an only child. I have dared to challenge her sick role. She can’t even outdo me on tablets needing to be taken!!!
So today’s Tax the 20% reduced dose. Hope day four to ten will be less painful. I think even with the steroids I will sleep today.
Cross fingers for normal bowel s tomorrow after movical and senna.
Lulu how horrible to get a reaction. How are you now?
Alesta how did it go.
Cannollieings glad to hear somebody else has legs that give way.
As usual nice thinking Supertrooper.
Welcome to the thread Lucy hope you find it useful. There are positive things about Tax it is just well hidden at times.no really I realised today that I couldn’t really remember how I felt last time. Bit like having a baby.
Night all
Cackles
CACKLES,what a rollercoaster you have been on today,trying to juggle everything bet your mobile was hot, hot, hot.I used to care for my Mother she was the original matriarch.Hope your steroids dont keep you awake tonight and you are constipation free.
(((HUGS)))Mavis
im doing fine now… no pains yet but only did my neulasta jag about 6pm so think it takes a bit longer to become painful but may take a tramadol before bed.
sorry to hear the trauma you have been having today… hope you do have a good sleep im also starting to get tired already despite steroids most unlike me as usually a night owl.
i was anticipating the tax trots so have reduced my laxatives maybe i should up them again if im gonna get bunged up especially as i have an anal fissure which can be mega painful.
and my filling just fell out too but guess ill need to wait till chemo is finished before i get it fixed.
Heard from chemo unit today and first tax is 8th nov, got my steroids and anti sickness ready!!! feels more real now ive got the date…gulp!!
Already take pain meds constantly for my bone mets so hopefully they’l help with the pain i see you’re all suffering from.
Morning all slept until 4am seven long natural hours even with steroids…Fab. Bit of heartburn but I always get it with the dex. No nausea or other symptoms do a good day ahead I hope.just that D… Jab to come.
Girls they give me ondansetron I.v. With the Tax and it constipated big time. Better to be safe than sorry if you have a fistula Lulu. Talk it over with your unit.
Have a symptom free weekend one and all.
Cackles
Hi Lulu-just read your post about the injections. I’ve been doing mine about 8a.m - doh! Why didn’t I think of doing it in the evening so i could try and sleep through a lot of it. i’ll switch tomorrow.
I’ve been lucky - no constipation on TAX although I’ve got the Movicol at the ready just in case, not going through that again.
Sorry about the filling. I also had one fall out recently. Dentist just popped a temp one in for me to plug up the hole, no drilling, no nothing. It’s been there about 6 weeks now. Why can’t they always be like that? at least it prevents a further problem if there’s no decay.
Cackles - my Mum is 89. Had to take her to the dentist yesterday. I almost cancelled because I felt so rubbish myself, but like Mavis says, she’s the Matriarch. I’ve also protected her from most of the details of my treatment so she hasn’t really got a clue - what’s the point of upsetting her? So I was surprised yesterday evening when she rang to say she’d been worried about me. I also thought my OH was ignoring me, but he put a pillowcase in the freezer (suggested by my chemo nurse) so it would be cool and soothing for my sore feet - Bless.
I see most of the people who’ve been up early are those of us on chemo/steroids at the mo!
Can’t get enthusiastic about Halloween week-end. Haven’t got anything in to give. Usually I do put pumpkin lanterns outside.
Hope everyone’s se’s are minimal. xx
xx
This thread is such a help, really makes you feel like you are not alone in the dreaded world of Tax! Slenda Brenda so pleased for you having had your last dose, but I can understand why you are not swinging from the chandaliers, you know what is coming. Maybe in a couple of weeks when you feel human again. Good luck with the radiotherapy. I am triple negative too but can’t have any radiotherapy as had it before, so Tax is my only hope. I am having 75% dose, just hope it is enough although dose reduction seems quite common. The steroid buzz left as quickly as it came on Friday, but after another sleepless night rang GP who was on holiday so saw Locum who gave me Zopiclone no problem! Mind you have not needed any help sleeping since then as been asleep constantly! But got them ready for when I do. The chemo nurse at the first visit told me to do my evil injections at night to sleep off the side effects too, not sure it works, mind you. Last time my back went into spasm for about three hours, worse than labour pains!!
Mouth is really awful this time, despite Difflam, Nystatin, lollies, throat sweets. Nothing tastes edible, even cardboard would be good. Didn’t realise the injections caused the constipation, you are all so knowledgable. 2 x Movicol seem to help a day but give awful cramps, better than the alternative though. I too have Odansetron iv before the chemo and hoping that after last injection tonight the bone pain starts to ease. Cackles, I got some Lansoprazole for indigestion - it has really minimised it this cycle.
You poor girls with your mothers! It must be so hard to keep calm and cool!! Hope you all get some decent rest.
No energy and a duvet day today which is always a bit of a mixed bag - glad to be resting but reminds me there is something wrong with me (now what could that be… hmmmm).
Had my first injection last night along with co-codamol 30/500 and 3.75mg Zopiclone then off to bed at 10pm and slept until 2am which for me is great! Dozed on and off through the rest of the night.
Forgot how awful the mouth taste was from last time. Feels like my tongue is burning and can taste nothing which is so crap as my husband made us a lovely onion torte for dinner which looked fab and I can only assume tasted fab too. Had forgotten about the constipation - thanks for reminder!
Must get up later - even if its only to catch up with x-factor results
my tongue feels very fat like sidey-ways and is rubbing on my teeth… sore throat… puffy gums… funny taste… mouth fluffy and very sore… have bonjela, saliva replacement gel and difflam… sis is bringing baby toothbrush and ice pops.
wasnt sure how quick the SEs would kick in as had chemo on thurs… so im not sure if this is sooner than most or average.
have been getting a bit of indigestion on and off and had it anyway since chemo 2 years ago and been on omeprazole since than… but seems worse now so have taken an omprazole in morning and evening to see if that will help.
managed to have a shower earlier but felt really wabbit and puffed out afterwards and had to have a lie down… feel like such a big woose.
Tax on Friday and shattered today. Very tired only had a few hours last night. Toe nails very tender tonight. In fact the duvet is too heavy for them. My taste buds are gone for now. Only seem to taste acidic things like stewed apple etc. I think it is all a day ahead of the last dose but the aching bones are not here yet.
Hope everybody else is ok.
Cackles xx
Hello Ladies - I am gearing myself up for TAX #3 on Wednesday. District nurses are coming tomorrow to take bloods. I’ve had a nasty cold for nearly a week now and that has left me as week as dishwater so I hope my bloods are okay! I went to the post office today, 5 minute drive and then 2 minute walk - I thought I was going to faint whilst waiting in the short queue! and had to have a lie down when I got back home. Pathetic! Does anyone else get this weak and tired? Normally I have a good week before Chemo - not this time!
Also coming tomorrow is my Breast Care nurse who wants to talk to me about my mx which is planned before Christmas. My OH asked if I wanted him to be there - and I said no, but now I am wondering what sort of questions I should be asking and what she is going to be telling me.
Oh well - I managed to muster up enough energy to bake a “cut and come again” cake which is now in the oven and filling the house with lovely smells. At least I have managed to do something today. Going to go and slob in front of the tv now.
Hope everyone’s SEs are bareable! Hang on in there girls - there is light at the end of the tunnel and remember
