Ice Therapy Success - No Peripheral Neuropathy, All Nails Intact & No Mouth Sores
I have just finished 12 weeks of Paclitaxel without dose reduction. I am very happy to report that I have no peripheral neuropathy, my finger and toe nails are undamaged and I have no mouth sores.
It is thanks to the information on this website about ice therapy (cryotherapy), and in particular to the generous advice of @shs14, that I finished this chemo last week relatively successfully.
I decided to write all the information in one place as it may be helpful to others considering ice therapy.
Upfront I should say that you will need a helper to implement this and that at times it can be a little painful. My incredible twin brother, Tom, came up from Launceston and looked after me for 5 months - 4 x fortnightly DD - AC and 12 x weekly Paclitaxel. He's my hero.
Equipment:
1. Booties: I bought 2 x pairs of NatraCure Cold Therapy Socks on Ebay. These were a little expensive and from the US, but I found them effective. I used them for my feet and hands. (I read that other women have improvised, wearing regular socks and purple nurses' gloves directly into the ice).
2. Buckets: I bought 2 rectangular clear plastic boxes from Bunnings - they had lids, but not needed. They need to be wide enough to fit your feet and hands.
3. Ice: Every week we visited the bottle shop near the Kinghorn cancer centre, Darlinghurst, and bought 2 big bags of ice. These were carried, unopened, in a supermarket "chiller bag" until needed. Although the Kinghorn centre does have an ice machine, the amount of ice was unreliable.
I also used ice bricks on top of everything in the buckets - 2 for each bucket.
4. Socks and gloves: I wore cotton socks and used the purple nurses' gloves from the clinic. I brought a pair of woolly socks and knitted gloves to wear after ice therapy as my hands and feet were very cold.
5. Towels and a bath mat: the ice box for my feet was placed on a bath mat so that it didn't slip and the floor didn't become slippery. On my lap I placed a doubled over bath towel on which we placed the ice bucket for my hands.
6. Blanket and Cardigan: During the 5 months of chemotherapy I generally felt colder than normal. I used a a white blanket available at the clinic and always wore a cardigan during treatment.
Process:
1. The night before chemo I placed the booties with their gel packs in the freezer. It is very important that the booties are completely dry when they go into the freezer otherwise it's difficult to put them on.
2. The nurses got used to us, and by week 3 we were a well-oiled team setting it up and not getting in the way of medical staff.
3. You need to start the ice treatment 10 - 15 minutes prior to the taxol infusion. Tom would empty half a bag of ice in a bucket, then I placed my feet in the booties, then on the ice. Tom tipped in the remainder of the ice bag on top of my bootied feet so they were completely covered. A similar procedure was done for the hands.
(See attached photos).
The first and last ten minutes were sometimes difficult - icy pain. But I rarely took my feet and hands out of the ice during the entire 90 minutes.
4. My brother also popped ice cubes into my mouth during the whole time. I had no mouth sores whatsoever.
5. I did not wear dark nail polish. However, during the entire 5 months I applied a nail strengthener Revitanail. Starting with 2 coats on the first application, then adding another coat daily. I removed it the night before chemo and reapplied immediately, following the same procedure for the following week.
Although the studies on cryotherapy have been small and many medical professionals are not convinced, my own experience was positive and I am grateful to have avoided nerve damage and mouth sores and to have all my nails. Happy to answer any questions you may have.
