i’ve joined the tax gang. i had my first dose on friday. and i feel truly dreadful. dizzy, out of body and achey. and i have a pain in my left thumb which throbs. i know, i know, it sounds like nothing but its kept me awake all night. this better bloody work because otherwise there is no excuse! please tell me i’ll get through this! i know so many of you have weathered this storm…
jo
xx
You will get through it Jo…there is that what you needed to hear? No? Still feel lousy? It will pass, the aches and stuff don’t normally hit me 'til the Monday and by Wednesday they are gone - but then be prepared for the yakky mouth if you haven’t already got it. All in all it lasts about 8 days, so you’ll be OK by the weekend. I have done 3xFEC and 2xTax, last one this Friday…hooray!
I hope you start to feel better soon - I started to take paracetamol or ibuprofen on the Sunday and carried on taking them til Weds, that helped. And Difflam Oral Rinse for the mouth - get it from Dr’s, Pharmacy or Chemo unit.
Take care
Ali
x
Hi Jo and Ali
I’m about to have my last one of 3 tomorrow (Ali you’ll be joining me) and it usually hits me straightaway - I’m away with the fairies until the weekend when I start picking up slowly. I usually take sleeping pills as just wanna sleep the time away - in fact I have an overwhelming urge to just sleep for about 2-3 days but take sleeping pills at night time to stop me waking up all through the night.
Anyway Jo I can completely relate to everything above you have said as it really hits me hard but the good thing is that taxotere doesn’t make you feel sick. I’m also on neulasta injections to keep up my white blood count so don’t get a sore mouth anymore but do get a horrible sticky taste and need to keep drinking. In fact drinking lots of water is really important.
Take care
RebzAmy xx
Hi Jo
Had my second (and last) of this particular poison on Friday too. My legs are like lead, I’m weak and dizzy with stomach cramps. But no sickness or nausea, just a bit of the “runs”. The mouth thing is pretty horrible, it passed in about 8 days for me last time.
Good news is that my lump shrunk to very small even after 1st one, where FEC was no longer working! So it’s all in a good cause, all worth it.
Good luck, hope you feel better soon.
Cecelia. x
Thank you, thank you…yes, all this is what I need to hear. I still ache, I have a revolting taste in my mouth but it is so good to hear from you all. At this moment in time the thought of two more of these is pretty unbearable but I’ll get my head around it.
That’s great about the lump Cecelia…That is so good to hear too. Ali and Rebzarmy, v. good that the end is in sight!! I’m going to drink some water…
Jo
xxx
Hi All
Can relate to the above, and got my 2nd tax on Wednesday and am getting very nervous and worried about it, as don’t wanna be knocked for six again like the first, but as some have said, the second is not as bad as the first.
Glad to see some of you on the last one - bet that is something to feel good about. Mine is 21st November …
Anyway, good luck to you this week with last chemos and hopefully you will sail through.
Take care
Love
Dawn
x
Also my stomach is like a balloon! I’m the Mitchelin Man!
Uncomfortable! Urgh…
Apple juice and blueberry juice is nice and tasty Jo.
Cecelia. x
Hmmmm…yes the Tax has been hard going for me too, but I have my 4th and final one this Thursday, 1st Nov. Hoo flippin Ray!!!
I still have the achey legs from the previous dose…and can’t walk far at all, plus the numb toes and sore nails. BUT my hair started to come back on Tax, so that was a big plus! The mouth thing is horrible while it lasts…mine gets covered in white curds (thrush?) and my tastebuds are shot to pieces. Still, only one to go now, and soon it will be time for your final one too Jo!
Good luck to you and everyone else, with the rest of your treatment…Hopefully we will be reasonably “normal” again soon.
xxxx
Hi -
welcome Jo to the tax gang ! It’s awful isn’t it. Like Dawn I have my 2nd one on Wednesday and am absolutely dreading it but also at the same time I know after 8 days I will feel bit better. The mouth thing has lasted all the way through and a few aches. Had 3 FEC which was ok-ish and no really bad effects.
Just me - Glad to hear about the hair coming back - I hope mine does !
Love to you all xxx
Liz
Good to know that it does get better in about a week. Hard to believe the mouth thing though! How can water taste bad!!! I will try the juice. I wonder if the stomach thing is the steroids Cecelia? Mine also feels really hard and uncomfortable…
XX
Jo
Hi Jo I had 4 taxotere and felt truly horrible throughout BUT it passes.You will get through and you can be secure in the knowledge that its the best there is at knocking the little blighters to kingdom come.I can recommend Roses Lime Juice when you have a yucky mouth.I also found sparkling water well chilled was good.As time passed I found the pains got less but the lethargy got worse.I also had tingling fingers and toes[still have]sore blurry eyes and a tendency to diarrhoea yet it is almost all back to normal now.You can do it:‘‘because you’re worth it’’.lol Valxx
hi val
i just hope it is knocking the b****ers out - i am er + and her2 - and i know there are question marks about how effective it is in these cases. but i need to believe in it…thanks for the roses lime juice suggestion - that sounds as though it will be good. when did you finish val? i’ve only got three thank goodness and so two to go…
xx
Hi Jo
Yes no doubt the stomach is the steroids, can’t stop eating for a start even though everything tastes pretty much like powder! Water even bad as you say, how can that be? As I say, may saviour is fruit juice. Nuts seem OK too.
Cecelia. x
Hi,
I get doxorubicin and cyclophosphamide with my tax - but kow the side effects! I find fruit juice is just as dreadful as water with the ‘mouth’ but have discovered jellies (you can swallow them without the taste going everywhere) and now ice-pops are a great way to get fluids down.
Half way through now, three down and three to go! The worst today is the dreadful fatigue, sore bones and sore skin - everywhere!
I found both ginger ale & coke were OK to drink - I let them go flat first as I don’t like fizzy drinks, and wouldn’t normally touch either of these. Also fresh pineapple is good to eat.
Best wishes to all you Tax ladies, I know how awful it is. I am now onto rads.
I’m new to this site and am just about to start 3 x Taxotere after having had 3 x FEC. I’m a bit nervous about it as I didn’t find FEC too bad and I’ve managed to hang on to my hair so far - have any of you got this far and then lost it with Taxotere? I think to have got this far and then to lose my hair would just be awful.
I know it’s only my hair (as everyone tells me), and I know it will grow back (as the same people keep telling me) but I don’t want to be marked out as that person who’s ill to people I don’t know and don’t like.
It’s good to meet people who really understand instead of well meaning people who really don’t!
hi
ginger ale sounds like a good bet - i’ll try that too. juice today tastes vile. even my beloved frozen smoothies aren’t doing it…pineapple last night was good though…
ej1969, you might get lucky. i lost pretty much all my hair with fec and seem to be losing the rest now within days of 1st tax. but this is all so individual…good luck. i understand about the ill thing, although some days i don’t care. and actually it feels like a relief sometimes when i can just wear a hat and not care. and i’ve experienced kindnesses which make the day seem better…just small things like the lady in the chemist who gave me three extremely expensive samples of eye cream on a day when it was clear that i was not looking or feeling my best…
xx
jo
Ginger ale is good and bananas are also very good for the sore mouth along with pineapple.
I am in for TAX no 5 on Friday and dreading it as I have not had a good day since my last lot - I still have the sore feet and toes and hands - although at least I can type again now - which I couldn’t last week due to the nail pain!
I had 6 FEC first and whilst the sickness was bad - it was nothing compared to this - that said - we are all different and I understand that some people find TAX a lot easier than FEC… just wish I was one of them!
Only 2 more to go and like some of you others after all this chemo my hair is now growing back - how strange after 10 months of baldness and and whilst still having treatment! Roll on 24th November - the momentous LAST ONE (for now!!).
Hi,
This will probably seem like a very stupid question, but has anyone managed to still carry on working during Tax?
I was on AC for 3 sessions, through which I managed to carry on almost as normal. Unfortunatley, it did not work for me and 11 days ago had my first dose of Tax and I have not been back to work since. I have had almost every side effort listed on the information sheet I was given and have only just started to feel a bit better. I was envisaging being back at work after a few days and carrying on as normal.
I’m now on anti-biotics for a sore throat, have mouth ulcers, sore lips and terrible wind!
Anyway, enough of my moaning, good luck to all my fellow Taxotiers!
Tracy x
Hang in there Phardy. This seems to be a very different ride from FEC but you are nearly there. Blimey, it sounds like you’ve really had maximum dose stuff…Those cancer cells must have run for cover by now surely. Great that your hair is coming back just in time for the cold. Tracy, I think some people find that the first one is the worst…I really hope this the case for you. Do you have to work or are you just feeling that it would be mentally easier?
Thinking of you.
Jo
xx