Hi all Happy New Year, I’m hoping for a “stable” one - that would make me very happy and I wish this to all of you too.
Dugsy, me luv, you sound just like me. I had 16 taxols and spent most of December on the sofa unable to move, lost about a stone in weight, I could not eat a thing as well as all the other things that I have previously mentioned (won’t bore you|) My community macmillan nurse prescribed me steroids and immeditely I felt better, started eating, but it has taken me til about now to feel normal-ish. However, I am on exemastane too and find that I have difficulty sleeping and get really bad aches and pains in my hips and pelvis area. I have appt with Onc 17 Jan, then a scan in Feb, Pumpkin how I laughed at “scanxiety”, it is so horrid isn’t it, but I like the word, mine has started alredy too and I don’t even have a date for it yet! Anyway, must stop rambling, I really hope you are all feeling a bit brighter, love to all xxxxxx
Hi everyone
Well I just feel a wreck now - this last taxol (15) has really done for me! Seem to have every SE in the book! I am hoping it may just be the result of having it just 5 days after the previous one ( Christmas etc). They said I was a bit anaemic but not enough to worry about. Don’t see onc until 23rd Jan when shall ask about scan. So just resting up for next one - did you have to stop after 16 Wannee? They seem determined to keep going on me.
Hope you are all feeling better now. Hope you are managing to get some rest Dugsy.
Love to all
Sarcath
Hello all,
How is everyone today? Keeping warm I hope - feeling very chilly here today, but such beautiful sunny days. If it wasn’t so cold it could almost be spring!!
Sarcath - sorry to hear you are feeling so rubbish at the moment. I should think the number of Taxols you have done is the main reason for all the SE’s, as our poor bodies do struggle to cope the more chemo we have. But also the shorter time between the last two will definitely have had an effect. I had one of mine just a day earlier, as we were going away, and it really floored me, so I can understand how you are feeling. Rest is the only thing you can do at the moment & plenty of it!
Pumpkin - your heart problems sound awful - have they improved at all? Did you have your echo scan? Hope it was all normal & you can carry on with your Herceptin. Did you say that anxiety is a SE of Zometa as well? I haven’t heard that, but am also on 4 weekly infusions & have been for over 18 months & I have to say I have noticed that I definitely get more anxious now - interesting. My PET scan is also on Jan 24th, so I will be thinking of you - my scanxiety is creeping up by the day!!! What a horrid time it is! My results are 31st Jan, when are yours?
Wannee - glad to hear you are feeling better. Are you still on the steroids? I know they are wonderful things, but I hate taking them as they make me put on soooooo much weight 
I have also noticed problems with my sleeping since being on Exemestane. Often seem to wake very early & can’t get back to sleep. God the things we have to put up with!!!
I’m feeling better since my last post. Have been taking time to rest & accepting offers of help. Back is much better & tiredness improving. I just feel extremely unfit & overweight - just the slightest bit of exercise leaves me gasping for breath!!! But due to almost a year of being on chemo I’ve done virtually no exercise, so guess I just need to take it slowly & hopefully my short walks will start to get longer & I’ll feel less knackered!!!
Keep in touch ladies & take care,
Dugsy x
Hi all, was just catching up with posts, it seems like everyone has struggled to the finishing post and beyond.
Sarcath i’m sorry you feel a wreck but hope your scan results make it all worth while.
Wannee glad the steroids have given you a bit of oomph and your feeling bit better, keep us posted when you get a ascan date.
Dugsy glad you are feeling better since your last post and taking time to rest and accept offers of help. i know what you mean about feeling unfit, having been pretty much a couch potato myself over the past 10 months, i am now trying to get out for short walks a couple of times a day.
Yes i did get my echo which was absolutely fine, relieved!! asked to get my herceptin over hour and half this time and miss the zometa for one session to see if that makes any difference to the palpitations and racing heart and feeling agitated and panicky, trying to suss out which one is actually causing it. Yes many of the information sited list anxiety as a side effect of both herceptin and zometa.
Never ceases to amaze me the way the many drugs they give us to help us in one respect make us feel so bad in others.
What happens next depends on scan results. I had told myself that if all was good and stable i would think about going back to work, but now a wee voice in my head is saying why would you want to do that? do you want to spend what ever time you have left working?. (not that i am being pessimistic, anything but) Don’t know where that has come from as i really like my job and the people i work with.
Anyway enough rambling, i see my onc again on 26th but don’t know if my results will be back by then, hope so, if not will prob bre following week same as you 31st, sooner the better. I will be thinking of you on 24th and praying for good results for you 31st.
best wishes to all, and take care.
keep posting!
Pumpkin x
Hello all
Glad to hear you are feeling better Dugsy ang good news that your echo was good Pumpkin. Well I have just about had enough of taxol - legs so weak I feel nervous of going out. Don’t know if I can take two more lots - guess it would be best if I could but shall see what doc says on Monday. I am steadily losing weight so perhaps I should have a lower dose. Who knows!
Hope you are all doing OK - keep posting - it’s good to hear from others!
Sarcath
Hi Ladies,
How is everyone? Like Pumpkin said we all seem to be struggling a bit at the moment.
Sarcath - really sorry to hear you are feeling so awful. My cousin had 18 Taxols with no break, like you, and she also said she found the last 3 or 4 really hard going. I think you have done fantastically well! Weekly chemo is such hard work. I hope you feel a little better as the week goes on - let us know what the onc says today. Sending a big ((((((((hug)))))))) in the meantime!
Wannee - how are you? Haven’t heard from you in a little while but I did see a post from you on another thread saying your tumour markers were up. Have you had another scan or are you trying another treatment for a while first? I will have everything crossed that things start to go your way soon 
Pumpkin - so pleased your echo was ok & you can carry on with Herceptin. How are the palpitations/anxiety now? Did you miss a Zometa to see if that made a difference? I will be thinking of you tomorrow while we are both having our scans & praying we are both still stable.
I am dreading this next week - PET scan tomorrow & results on the 31st. I am convinced it’s now affecting my lungs as I’ve been coughing on & off since Xmas & getting breathless on occasion too. So expecting the worst & feeling terrified I hate this disease.
Keep in touch one & all & let’s hope we all have some good news soon.
Love & hugs,
Dugsy x
Hello all
Hope those scans went well ladies - how long do you have to wait for results? I have taxol 18 next week, a scan at some point as yet unspecified and then a visit to onc 6 weeks after last taxol - all seems very spread out to me. How can that give an accurate picture of what is happening? But what do I know? I wish I could just go with the flow but I can’t - I want all the information just so I can understand, like size of tumor before and after etc etc.
Thanks for good wishes anyway and let’s keep each other updated. Love to all Sarcath
Hi all, just popped on to update yous, i got my ct results today (pretty good since i only had it two days ago!) anyway it’s all good! everything stable in bones and no progression to anywhere else. Sooooo relieved but still waiting for brain scan as been having dizzy spells, they said it just a precaution, they don’t think it’s likely to be that as have no other typical symptoms, hopefuly that’ll be clear and i can breath easier for couple of months untill next scan.
Sarcath you must be looking forward to getting the last one over and done with, well done , 18 sessions is hard going. I know what you mean about all the waiting afterwards when you just want to know it’s worked, try and take it in your stride.
Dugsy i hope you get good results too, please keep me posted, i hope you are doing ok while you wait for your appointment.
Wannee how are you? what happening with you?
luv to you all pumpkin x
Hello Pumpkin
So pleased your results are looking good so far and Wow! that was quick! Hope very much the brain scan is good too.
I really feel my body has had enough taxol and am seriously considering forgetting the last one - don’t want to do myself so much damage that I can’t have a life for a while after. Even my tongue and nose have pins and needles and legs are numb right up to buttocks!! Not that onc seemed bothered by that.
Dugsy, I hope you haven’t to wait too long for your results and that they are good when you get them. Do let us know.
Any news from you Wannee? Hope you are doing OK.
Love Sarcath
Hi all,
What great news Pumpkin! You must be soooooo relieved!! And very quick results too! The waiting is terrible so an added bonus to be told so quickly! Stable is such an amazing word to hear I think! I hope the brain scan shows up nothing & you can enjoy the next few months
You really are going through the mill aren’t you Sarcath? I think I might have thrown the towel in by now, but also don’t blame you for wanting to carry on until the end. The numbness & pins & needles should improve once you have finished, mine certainly has, and I hope hope hope that you too will hear that lovely word ‘stable’ after your next scan
I had my PET scan done on Tuesday, but don’t get the results until next Tuesday, 31st. It’s a terrible long wait & I don’t feel I am coping well at all at the moment. Been to see my GP this morning as blood pressure was high & feeling so anxious all the time. So he’s started me on beta-blockers - more tablets to take! Also, thinks I have a sinus infection so on steroid nose drops for that too. Honestly, I feel such a wreck! Not like me to be moaning all the time but really don’t feel myself right now
Anyway, will let you know how Tuesday goes - not looking forward to results AT ALL…
Take care all,
Dugsy xxx
Hello all
Well I did it - 18 taxols and waiting to be clobbered with SEs which were bad enough last week. What family pressure will make you do!
So now I wait 3 weeks for scsn and another 3 weeks for the results, so 6 weeks in all.
So now I am just on exemestane which didn’t seem to be dpoing anything before the taxol - onc did say it often took a while to have an effect so I hope I see some results from it now chemo has finished. Femara din’t work for me at all so I wonder why this one should do any better.
Dugsy I do hope you get good news tomorrow. You could really do without all those other problems.
Hope you are going on OK pumpkin.
Love Sarcath
Hi Ladies
I’ve read a few posts on this topic relating to weekly Taxol (3 weeks on 1 week off). I’m on that regime too and have just finished my 2nd batch of the 3 weekly doses. I’m looking for your thoughts really as I seem to cope while having the weekly doses but was expecting to feel more normal on my week off but feel really tired and low. Can I ask how you’ve found the cycles. I’ve got another 4 batches to go with a scan at the end of batch 3.
This is my 3rd line of treatment since secondary diagnosis in December 2009. Had docetaxol then a year off then capcitibine which was not so effective last march-july.
Thanks
Diana
Hello everyone,
I’ll be having the 2nd dose of my first cycle tomorrow (3 weeks on, 1 off). The first week has been pretty good, although I know it’s early days yet! And my onc mentioned today that she’d had to lower my dose last week as my liver function test was a bit off, so I’ll be getting a higher dose tomorrow if my liver’s ok again…
Fingers crossed for mild SEs and good results for everyone doing weekly Taxol! Angelfalls xx
Hello all,
Just noticed a couple of new posts so thought I would try & help:-
Wilf - I had exactly the same problem as you during my first week off (I also did 3 weeks on & a week off). I was expecting to have more energy & feel less tired but just felt shattered!! Made me think I may as well have had chemo that week!! Anyway, I think in my case I just packed in too much during that week & didn’t give myself chance to recover, so for the rest of my weeks off I took it slower & it was much better - lesson learnt!! I found them on the whole manageable - main problems were tiredness, horrible taste in mouth & numbness in fingers & toes. Just listen to your body, rest when you need to & always mention your SEs to the drs.
Angelfalls - I also had my dose lowered slightly halfway through due to the neuropathy & it really helped. Numbness improved quite quickly & no problems at all now (I finished early Dec), so hopefully it’ll have the same effect on your liver.
Good luck to both of you with the rest of the Taxols & hope they give you lots of stable scans
Sarcath - if you happen to read this, how are things going with you? Pls PM me if you’d prefer to.
Love & hugs,
Dugsy x
Thanks for taking the time to post, Dugsy! Had 2nd dose yesterday and the Piriton knocked me out completely! Slept through chemo and more or less straight through until this morning. But I now feel fine - slightly sore tongue, bit of nausea, but all “do-able” so far… I hope you’re doing well with your latest treatment and feeling ok.
Take care, Angelfalls xx
hi ladies,
just to say i had chemo in oct 2010 intil jan 2011, but now dx with lung mets 6 weeks ago started on taxol along with herceptin, straight away and so far i feel fine with it compare to when i had chemo last time which was fec and taxotere that was awful for me anyway.
all the best to all of you
lorraine x
Hello Lorraine,
I also did FEC and Taxotere at initial dx and am finding the Taxol much easier so far… Are you doing weekly doses? How many have you done so far? Glad to hear you’re feeling fine and hope that the Taxol continues to be gentle on you, but tough on your mets for a looooooong time! Take care, Angelfalls xx
hi all id thought id let you hear my news ive had taxol it was with another chemo but worked very well for me it shrunk my mets by atleast half gd luck to u all love laura
Thanks, Laura! Hope the Cape is still treating you well and doing the trick for you xx
Hi
Thanks Dugsy.
In the week off you want to feel normal but it just doesn’t happen so am looking to take it more easy. Thanks for the advice. I’ve got a scan today earlier than planned as my liver damage markers (GGT and bilirubin) are increasing. My other liver functional markers are okay. So we are not sure that taxol is working. Did you get results early on?