just wondered if there is anybody out there who had taxotere on its own… did your hair fall out?
i keep reading about people on fec-t and their hair started growing back in when they started the tax… but just wondered if it was only ‘slightly’ growing in and if you were on tax alone would it just go wispy or patchy or will it most likely all come out…
my hair has just got to a nice length after being on epi-cmf 2 years ago and i will find out next week what treatment is gonna be but already been told its likely to be taxotere.
im not anxious about losing my hair if does come out just wondering really.
I don’t have any experience yet but I’m also starting Taxotere next week so I guess we’ll find out together. I have also read about hair growing back after the second treatment - like you I had chemo two years ago and my hair is now almost shoulder-length.
Hope it goes well for you, I must admit I’m more nervous about tax than I was about the EC I had previously but let’s hope neither of us suffer too much
I had FEC-T, but I had a long gap between Fec and tax because I had appendicitis and that had to be sorted and it was difficult getting back on ‘the chemo train’. It was an extra 5 weeks, so 8 week gap in all and my hair had started to grow back. When I went on TAX I lost about half the hair on the top of my head - patchily, most round the top band below the top and none the bottom three inch band. The hair that didn’t fall out just stopped growing.
Best wishes for your treatment. What a bummer having to go through chemo again. Don’t forget your frozen peas - unless you have access to proper ice mitts and boots. I’m sure it prevented me from getting neuropathy and severe nail problems. It will certainly reduce any SEs to hands and feet.
I had T-FEC due to trial and yes my hair did fall out. I did have a covering of fluff left but not enough to cover my head. I never went completely bald either even when I went onto FEC and some more did come out.
thanks so much ladies… i had a wee chat to my BCN today and she has confirmed that i will lose my hair again whether i just have tax on its own or whether i have it in combination with something else.
what regime are you going on this time lesley? its is just gonna be tax alone?.. its two years ago since i was on epi-cmf.
my results are on the 28th and was chatting to BCN today to see if there would be more surgery if unclear margins but because its in the muscle they dont do that this time and would prob just give chemo even if margins are positive… she also thing the clinical oncologist will def decide against rads as the new tumours were ‘just’ outside the previous radiation field but its hard when the BS and onc dont agree about treatment.
I’m just doing tax alone - I have secondaries with some progression lately, hence the return to chemo. Woken up this morning with a really sore throat so really hoping this doesn’t develop into a bug before next Monday as I really want to get started on treatment now
I have had 4 x EC and have my first Tax at lunch time today. Some people have reported that their hair starts to grow back during Tax but if I have only learnt one thing during my treatment, it is that everyone is different and reacts in different ways to chemo.
Its good that we have started a thread on taxotere and I will come back and report on how I find it as well as posting in the monthly threads.
Had first tax at 1pm today. Just one bag on a drip after steroid injection. Started taking steroids yesterday and have to take 4 tablets twice a day for three days. Infusion took an hour and then I came home and went to bed for a couple of hours.
Feel okay - a bit warm - but okay. Will keep you posted as the days pass.
Have just come back from my first Tax - had a two-hour wait because they had to repeat Friday’s blood tests as one or two of the liver function tests were on the high side, they’d come down a bit this morning but were still out of range so lowered my dose by 10% to be on the safe side. Not feeling any side-effects whatsoever at the moment but I suppose time will tell - no allergic reaction anyway which they said would happen almost immediately if it was going to happen at all.
Good luck to all you Tax-iers! I finished in July… Most of us found that the SE’s took a few days to kick in, so enjoy these few days… side effects vary enormously - hope yours are small! Jane
Spent all morning at the hospital today after my temperature hit 38.3 - went to A&E as it was before 9am - they really didn’t know what to do with me! I ended up in an dirty side room whilst they rang the Chemo “help line” to get advice - they have their own Oncology Department on site?? Anyway - after a bit of complaining and flashing my NHS Alert card I got moved to a very clean side room and one of the oncology nurses came to see to me. Bloods taken, antibiotics administered and allowed to go home when blood results came back as okay and temperature had dropped to within “normal”
I am on stronger pain killers now as the bone ache kicked in on day 3 - pain not quite as bad today (day 6) but inside of my mouth feels sore, tongue feels burnt and my teeth feel very sharp!! Oh and everything tastes horrible apart from frozen prawns and cottage cheese.
Oh god, A&E have NO IDEA what to do with cancer patients at our local hospital too.
I went in there with bowel contractions as a result of Chemo build up and in absolute agony and the Doctor I saw eventually said to me “do you think this is chemo thats causing this?” and I said “Well I assume it is, but I don’t know because I’m not a doctor”.
Didn’t contact anyone, just ended up with codeine and sent home.
Ninja on here actually recommended I take Immodium Plus which stops the diahorrea I was getting and had been for about a day, which was burning and burning and all my innards felt bruised etc. The “plus” bit helps contractions if you’re getting them. Job done!!!
So I got more help from someone off a forum than a fickin’ A&E Consultant. Worrying.
Now I know they can’t know everything, but surely cancer is one of the major critical illnesses - like heart, stroke… so you’d THINK they’d know some BASICS, or who to speak with if they don’t.
Hi all, haven’t posted for a while as was taken into hospital last Monday with neutropenia and a high temperature and kept in for SIX DAYS!!! Neutrophils had dropped to 0.04 and I kept spiking high temps so it took a while before they’d let me out.
Still have sore mouth, oral thrush, but most other s/e’s seem ok now. Hoping to have a Neulasta (or whatever it’s called) jab after my next chemo to stop this happening again
oh that sounds nasty Lesley… iv been told ill get the gcsf injections from the first one… they said because iv previously had chemo ill be at an increased risk of neutropenia… managed to get through the last time without any hospital admissions… hope thats your only admission and that you are now fully on the mend.
Hi all, feeling so much better since my bout of neutropenia ended - had second tax this morning and have come away armed with five GCSF injections to stab myself with next week. Have already mentally put aside Sunday, Monday and Tuesday as being days when I plan to lie around doing very little. Sympathies with everyone with sore mouth syndrome, I found that awful last time, along with the stabbing pains all over my body. Encouraged by the fact that lots of you seemed to find the second treatment easier to cope with than the first.
