Have finished three lots of FEC and now its onto Taxotere(again three lots)
Am very nervous -had a very up and down time on FEC ranging from a fantastic cycle with no side effects on my last one but being hospitalised on the second one
Had a nightmare blood test with nurse not able to get blood from my arm until the third go so worried about them getting the canula in my hand (have had problems before)
And the side effects look pretty dire -i am more worried about this one than i was about the fec
Just dreading tomorrow
Jools
Hi jools
Will be thinking of you tomorrow.I have my 2nd/3rd FEC on13th Aug/31st Aug, then also switch to TAX. Will be keeping an eye on you!!!
I have heard such mixed reports about Tax, I just hope your side effects are few and just make sure you keep in touch.
Take care
LOL
Ali
x
Hi Jools and Bestie, I had taxotere x 3 and found it a lot different that fec. I had a dry mouth wheras on fec I had a sore mouth. I had a bad stomach on fec on tax I had indigestion. Tax can give you dry skin and you can lose nails , I did. Fatigue was the worst and it increased as the chemos went on. On fec I started to feel better after a week and the third week almost normal. On taxotere I was only just feeling ok when it was time for another. My hair started growing back on taxotere but very slowly. I ate completely different foods as well. On fec I craved carbs whilst on tax I ate a more balanced diet. I had numb hands and feet on tax. I think taxotere was the worst for me. But… I didn’t like fec either!!! You will do it as you are halfway there now. Good luck to you both and keep us posted as to how you are coping. Love Eileen
Hi. I had 4 courses of FEC with varying problems ranging from “throwing up for England for 3 days” with the first one, to very little problems with the rest - most of the time I felt great. I had my first of three taxotere two weeks ago on a Thursday and had a reaction to it almost immediately - I felt my head was going to blow off and my husband said I went a charming shade of puce! It was very strange - I could feel the drug go round my system and eventually lodge in my spine where I have always had problems since a laminectomy some 30 years ago. I then had back spasms. The drug was stopped immediately, I was given IV piriton, ibuprofen and muscle relaxant for my back. They waited 40 minutes and tried again - absoultely no problems! On the Friday i felt great and was out cutting an acre of grass on the ride on. Saturday I felt great. On sunday morning at 4 am I woke up feeling awful, shivering, temperature, back spasms. Rang the hospital at about 9 am and was admitted for two days with “post chemo fever” - temperature never got to 38 degrees though. Given antibiotics. It is now almost two weeks since I had the taxotere and I have felt dreadful for about 9 days. Today I actually felt almost normal. If this is “normal” for taxotere I think I’d rather have FEC - felt normal after three days with that. I can see that I will only feel back to one hundred per cent normality about the day before I’m due to have the next course. However, everyone is different and you will probably be fine.
Sharon
Hi Jools
I also start my first of 3 x Taxotere tomorrow and I am also dreading it. I got through 3 x FEC quite well although looking back I also got through child birth quite well too, LOL! On the 1st FEC I suffered from nausea and queasiness but once they gave me additional anti-sickness I managed well on the 2nd and 3rd although the fatigue was hard to deal with,I found it so frustrating not being able to do much and even the smallest of things like going upstairs was such an effort, it also seemed to last for ages on the 3rd.
Like you said the side effects do look pretty dire - when I saw the Onc yesterday she only mentioned a couple of the side effects, actually she seemed quite blase about the whole thing, just as well I have the ladies experiences on this great site to learn from. I will be sending my hubby out tomorrow to stock up on painkillers, ice lollies, etc just in case.
I will be thinking of you when I’m in the hospital tomorrow when they are inserting the canula, another thing I’m also dreading, but once the canulas are in hopefully with no reaction we will be able to relax a little. 
Carolyn
Hiya all
We’ve another thread re. Tax called “Starting Taxotere” and there’s a number of us all new Taxoteers comparing notes and supporting each other - please have a read, and join us. So far all of us who started this chemo in the last month are all doing ok, its doable - I’m day 13 after my first and I’m almost back to 100%, and enjoying this lovely weather and the odd vino!!
Cheers Anne
Hi Jools,
I just wanted to wish you well for you first Taxotere today. I am on a different chemo to you (E-CMF) but I remember how nervous I was when I switched from Epi to CMF, so I can imagine how you are feeling.
Anyway, I hope all goes well and you are not troubled with side effects too much,
Kelly
-x-
Hi Jools,
Good luck to you for your TAX journey! I’ve had 3 FEC and 2 of 3 TAX so far, my final one is next Thursday. I had no problems on FEC at all so like you I was very nervous about starting TAX. I also have trouble now getting my veins to behave-struggle to get blood test done and to get canula in-nurses always have a nice deep sink full of hot water ready for me to soak my arm in pre-chemo, it does help. After TAX no.1 I felt fine but tired until day 3 after, I don’t want to tell you horror stories as you may be totally fine but be prepared for painful legs and feet, the nurses will give you strong painkillers for these and I reommend taking paracetamol at the same time-Ididn’t know I could do this til I’d had no.2!!! I felt as if I had really bad flu for a few days and was definitely more tired than with FEC.
I’m on day 14 after no.2 now and I have struggled quite a bit this time, spent a total of 11 days in bed-soooo tired, mouth was very yacky for 1st week but its fine now, couple of days with bad stomach and also aches and pains in scars from op. Having said all this please don’t worry as I’m stil smiling and it’s all do-able-us ladies are made of strong stuff!! Once you’re on the TAX you can see the light at end of the tunnel so just focus on getting there,
Thinking of you,
Tracy xx
Good luck for having your tax tomorrow. Everyone reacts differently to it. I had the follwoing symptons
shivery
diariah (spelling?) so bad i didnt make it to the loo twice! poohed all over the floor infront of my parents! lol
Lost all my finger nails - get some micro pore tape for when they start to hang off as you catch them on everything. I used to leave them on the side of the bath and wait for my daughter to go in and scream!
Fat tongue and sore mouth but got a bicarb mouthwash from my onc and it was great.
Extreme tiredness
tingling hand
oh yes nearly forgot…permanant baldness! but am sure this wont happen to anyone fo you ladies.
BUT, no sickness or that terrible fuzzy head.
Good luck ladies