Cold feet are a good thing in this situation - LOL!
Hi everyone,
Just wanted to add my five eggs worth :-) I had 8 weeks of fortnightly A/C follwed by 12 weeks of weekly Taxol. My Chemo ward offered cold cap with the A/c (which sadly didn't work, but hey, your hair grows back and it gave me the chance to be a cute redhead for a while!) and ice gloves with the Taxol. I asked about ice boots too, as it seemed to me that whatever protocol applied to hands should also apply to feet. They said that unfortunately they didn't have any boots, so we just went with the gloves. It feels pretty awful and makes reading a bit tricky (although not impossible- an eReader is good). HOWEVER - it does seem to work, because although my finger nails became very brittle and shredded easily, they didn't discolour and I didn't lose any and I have no loss of feeling in my finger tips. My feet were another story altogether - blackened toenails after first treatment and neuropathy that lingers even now (more than a year after the treatment). My big toenails finally fell of altogether last month! I wish I had been as resourceful as @poodlejules! Just because my hospital didn't have the ice boots didn't mean I couldn't have DIY'd a solution!!
It can seem like extra discomfort and awkwardness at the time, but down the track when you're recovering it is incredibly reassuring to know that you have done everything in YOUR power (and less face it, some days it doesn't feel like there is a lot actually within your control!) to maximise your chances of a great recovery.
On that topic, I can't emphasize enough the benefits of being super attentive to your diet, exercise and mental health. Even if these don't actually fight the disease (and I am sure they do, by the way!), the extra resilience they give you to the rigours of the treatment is amazing. And once again, these are things in YOUR control.
Good luck with it all @shs14 - one day at a time xx
