Am starting chemo again on Monday 25th June ,i will be haveing 6 cycles of Tax+ Carbo this time round, and am hopeing some of you lovely ladies can give me some Tax survival tips?, what helped you with the SEs ect, i want to be as prepared as poss this time , so any tips on what helped you with Tax would be very welcome and much appreiciated, think ive scared myself silly reading some of the Tax threads on BCC, though know everyone reacts differently, so am hopeing it will be kind to me, (well hopeing lol) my main probs last time with Epi were horrible mouth probs, (ulcers and oral thrush every cycle) chronic constipation, Fatigue,and also acid indigestion. Am haveing a hickman line put in on the Friday to hopefully help with my viens, know lots of ladies on here have had this chemo too so any fips that anyone can give me to help me in advance wuld be great,
Thanks All, Linda x 
Hello Linda,
I feel a bit ashamed to be so pleased to see your post! I am sorry that you are having chemo again but I am also having taxotere and carboplatin x 6. This is after 4 EC and 4 taxol in 2009. (Basically, being treated for a cancer in other breast this time). I have only come across a few others on this regimen hence reaction.
I started my chemo in May and have had 2 cylces so far. My treatment got delayed as I had to have emergency surgery (long story).
Any way you ask for tips. Um, not sure about tips but I can share my experiences and what has worked etc for me? It’s quite different to the EC and taxol but there are some similarities.
I have a picc line due to dodgy veins and having had auxillary clearance both left and right. But, I had a hickman line in previously. Again, happy to share my experience if this will help. I think the main thing for me was the thought if it all, the reality was not so bad and my goodness it makes a huge difference to having treatment. I am in bed at the moment so will be surfing (as they say) today so get in touch or post again.
Take care, Rattles x
HI
Based upon my experience with TAX I would say the following:-
plenty of painkillers for the joint pain (not as painful as I expected by the way). I managed with codeine and paracetamol.
laxatives for the constipation caused by the painkillers. The pain started on days 3/4 after stopping the steroids and lasted for about 4 days.
Ice lollies - I had an unbeleivable thirst throughout TAX treatment and they also helped with the sore mouth and dry tongue. Plus difflam mouthwash and bonjela in case of any ulcers - I didn’t have any but just in case.
Moisturiser - put loads on your hands and feet at bedtime as tax can cause your skin to peel off.
Be prepared for extreme fatigue and just give in and rest. This was the worst for me. I also suffered from the tax trots from about days 9 to 12.
I wore the dark nail varnish to try and prevent nail loss and my nails have all been fine.
Tissues - I lost all my nose hair and had a constant runny nose.
All in all TAX wasn’t nalf as bad as I expected and much prefered it to the constant nausea of FEC.
Sam xx
Hi Rattles and Sam, thanks so much to both of you for shareing some of your expierences , Sam am so pleased to hear that you managed to aviod the nail problems with Tax, this is one of the things ive been worrying about as sounds horrendous and have read about lots of ladies on here looseing nails ect, so am realy glad that at least some ladies have managed to keep their nails, Il def be stocking up on the difflam and ice lollies because of my last probs with ulcers/thrush ect as if nothing else the lollies definately helped to freezed my mouth!
Rattles, like you im also being treated for my opposite breast this time ,so big hugs to you too. be great if you can give me your expierence of having the hickman line put in too, am hopeing it will be much better for me in the long run as also need herceptin after, oh ,and please dont be ashamed to be pleased about my post lol, am so pleased to be able to find someone on the same regime too, know im a bit behind you but maybe we can try and help support each other along the way.
Big Hugs to you both, Linda x
Hi Linda,
I am sorry that you are having to face treatment for a seond time. I am sure it must have come as a shock? Although I am slightly ahead of you, I do not expect to have my 3rd for at least 3 weeks to give me time to recover from my op. so you will soon catch me up!
Just want to check you are def. having a hickman line/ aka central line? I had one put in while in HDU following post op complications. Only reason I am asking is that there are few different options. I was gonna have a portcath fitted due to lymphodema risk, but this was ruled out as it needs to be put in under a general anaesthetic so I had a picc line instead.
My hickman was put in under a local- but gather that it can also be done under a general? It did not hurt at all. I had a chest x-ray before hand, and afterwards to make sure it was in the right place. I think some sort of scan/ultrasound was done to make sure it went in okay. The main problem I had with my hickman (and the picc by the way) is the thought of it, where it is and how it goes in and the fact that I had to trust the doctor putting it in and the knowledge that it is there. Once in, you can feel it only a bit and it really, really comes into it own when you need to have chemo or lots of IV drugs/bloods. It is so much better.
Tell me a bit more about what you know and what you expect. Will you be awake? There was one bit I didnt like (do you want to know- of course you do now?!) but tell me if you prefer not to know. And to be honest, it was not that bad at all and while you will be nervous, you will be fine.
It came out very easily too - again no pain.
When do you have it in? Let me know if you have more questions?
Rattles, x
Hi Linda
I too tried the dark nail varnish. EVERY day for the entire time I had Taxotere, and beyond. But unfortunately, I finished my chemo in August and 3 months later in November, 5 of them lifted and came off half way down each nail, and the other 5 went all thick and yellow half way down and I just had to keep cutting them down until Id got rid of the “rubbish”. Now, in June, 10 months after finishing chemo, they are all NEARLY back to normal, although still brittle and prone to breaking, esp thumbs and forefingers.
My main problems with Taxotere, whilst having it were the bone, joint and muscle pain and the incredible fatigue. I just stayed in bed for 3-5 days after steroids stopped. It was like being hit by a tank!!! I lost my eyebrows and lashes with Taxotere too, which was upsetting.
And then there was the Tax trots!!! DO NOT take any laxatives!! You may not go to the loo for a few days and be tempted. But believe me!!! Dont take anything because eventually…!!!
Its all doable though.
Wishing you all the very best
Mandyxx
Hi Rattles, yes am def haveing a Hickmam Line and i will be awake, (am a big baby with GAs lol so try to aviod them at all costs!l) pease tell me everything, yes i def want to know then i shall know what to expect, they just told me it will go in my chest under an ultrasound i think they said ,they gave me a booklet which explains a bit but doesnt realy tell me what its like to have it done so am greatfull for your expierence, it sounds a bit scarey as like you im worried about knowing its in the right place and wont pull out ect, daft i know as am sure they do hundreds of these lines , its just all new to me so am a tad anxious. Thanks so much for your help.
Linda x
Thanks Mandy, shall steer clear of the Laxatives now lol ,with Epi it was the other way round the bloody constipation was awfull, realy sorry to hear about your nails, it seems to be a big problem ive read with the Tax for most people , it must be quite painfull at times, i shall have to warn my Oh about the forthcomeing explosion with the Tax trots lol think i better add plenty of air fresheners to my ever growing list! Am pleased though to hear Tax is Do-able if not very nice grrrr. Hope your doing ok now.
Big Hugs to you, Linda x
Hi Rattles,yes it did come as a bit of a shock being re DX in my opposite breast, especialy as id only been discharged for a week! it will be 5yrs next mth when i was first DX with BC, so was hopeing to be away from all this rubbish for a while, but unfortunately i had a callback from my discharge mammo so bang im back on the BC rollercoaster. It must have come as a shock for you too Rattles?, think its quite uncommon to get BC in both breasts ,this new cancer is tottaly different to my first one, is yours? tut, seems we dont do things by halves. grrrrr.
LInda x 
Hi Linda,
My 2nd breast cancer was triple negative, grade 3. Same as first which is why it was diffiuclt for anyone to be sure whether it was ‘new’- that bit of it is scarey. Ditto, going through the whole treatment again. It has been much harder this time. I could chat to for ages and want to ask you questions and I havent really got to the chemo itself (your orginal question!) but there is time to come to that later. I agree, the fatigue is worse, but I think that is partly to do with having chemo again, and for me, 4 lots of surgery now.
Shall we get to the Hickman line? I saw a reply in your other post. I just want to say that this and mine shows the range of experience people have - best and worst case scenario. I am not at all dismissing Gary’s experience- I have just had to have a mastectomy after a failed reconstruction (and on chemo!!!) so I know what it feels like to have things go wrong. We are all fearful about procedures and the Hickman is invasive. It needs to be cared for carefully and yes, there are risks. I can see that reading Gary’s post, I was lucky (and believe me, I don not feel very lucky these days!!) and I really feel for Gary for having to go through so much.
The bit that I found horrible was that when they put my line in, my head had to be lower than the rest of my body. Frankly, I felt as though I was upside down (but I wasn’t) and as you can imagine this was unnerving. At the time, I was in quite a state as I had been through a terrible time, but still, I did not find this procedure that bad and I am a wuss.
My advice would be to be informed about risks and make your own decision. As I uderstand it, you dont have to have a hickman and there are other options. All central venous devices (blimey, I am learning the lingo!!!) carry risks like infection risks, as well as potential clots. But these are small risks in comparison with gains and if you dont not have a choice you have to try and manage this and your fears.That is why for me, the wost bit is coping with it psychologically and I always feel slightly on edge.
I watch whoever cleans my picc like a hawk (in fact, I told the anaesthetist that he had not cleaned the end of my picc with alcohol a few minutes before he knocked me out!) and I cope by making sure I know what should be done. This is only because so many things went wrong for me.
I had an achey shoulder and was sore after the Picc. This did not happen with the Hickman.
I hope this helps Linda- when do you have it put in (sorry if you told us this already)?
Rattles, x
Hi again Rattles, thanks so very much for shareing your expierences of the hickman line, it realy helps as at least il now know a bit more as to what to expect when i go to have the line put in , i am haveing the line put in on Friday ,i have to be there at 10am, then i will be starting chemo on Monday ,like you at the minute im finding it all a bit harder this time round and ive only had my surgery so far lol , am not realy sure why , everyone keeps saying to me youve done it once so you can do it again, i know they mean well lol and are proberly right but… guess its just the thought of going through it all again as i kinda know whats comeing, think as scarey as it all was the first time around i didnt realy know what to expect with the treatments ect, but this time i i do, so just keep telling myself itll all be ok once i get statred and i can just get my head down again and will get on with it !
My first breast cancer had some simularities in that they were both grade 3 and both er+ though my first cancer was only weakly er /pr positive ,this new one is more er positive 6/8 but pr neg ,this one is also HER2 positive where my first breast cancer was HER2 neg, and although thankfully i had clear nodes with both breast cancers this new one also had some lymphovascular invasion. I am a bit concerned as have been on tamox then was switched to AIs as was menopausal from chemo and was still taking anastrozole when i was re DX grrrr so feel now sometimes that the hormone therapies havent worked for me or helped in keeping this one at bay even though i am more er positive this time , though maybe the big difference in why they havent helped is the difference in her2 status, its all complicated isnt it!
Am realy sorry to hear that youve had to have 4 lots of surgery Rattles , it sounds like youve had a realy tough time of it so huge big hugs to you , hope you are recovering ok and am starting to feel a lot better, its tough enough haveing to go through all this BC rubbish without haveing to have so any surgeries on top of it all too, hope your are getting pleanty of TLC and also pleanty of rest.
Thanks again for all your help with everything ,i could chat for ages too lol ,am so glad to have found you on here as there seems to be so few people on the Tax/Carbo regime on BCC at the minute so am very thankfull to you Rattles for replying to my post!
Big Hugs to you, Linda x
Hi Linda,
I will be thinking of you on Friday and hope you have lots of nice things lined up this week before starting chemo on Monday.
I cant claim credit for this but I someone said this to me ’ The first time you are diagnosed with breast cancer, you are scared of the unknown. The second time, you know what you are scared of!’ On the one hand, the second time, you know what to expect, and have enough faith to hope you will get through. But you also know it will be tough. I also think that for me at least, I am much more drained. I dont bounce back as quickly. I am less resilient. So chemo the first time was hard, but I coped pretty well. This time, I am so much more tired.
What chemo did you have last time? (sorry if you have already said this) As you know, everyone is different with SE’s. I have found the carb/tax easier from the point of view of sickness and nausea. I dont get cystitis and I take steriods for fewer days so less flushes and strangeness. With carb/tax my stomach is far from happy and its a balance to get the movicol/immodium right though I did last time. There is a horrible metallic taste, but this has gone away whereas on my previous chemo it became permanent. The neuropathy has kicked in sooner but onc thinks this is an accumulation from previous chemo. The worst bit by far is the fatigue. I would really plan carefully for this. But again, you have to remember I have been through alot before chemo so you may not suffer from this.
I came across a lady in another thread. She has an unusual name, but she seems to be on the same regimen so I hope she sees this thread.
Rattles, x