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primek's avatar
primek
Member
10 years ago

1st dose Taxol and Herceptin

Well a wee bit of excitement with my first dose of taxol Thursday. I started off just feeling a bit flushed and itchy along my hat line, then I could feel some thickening occurring inside my mouth but not enough so it visible outside...I let the staff know...then I suddenly felt really really flushed, so much so I took out my fan and took off my hat displaying my bald head to all in the unit. Then started a broncospasm cough. By this stage they stopped the chemo...but I had had all but 10 mls anyway. Ended up having some ventolin and hydrocortisone and lots of fluid. Turns out the bag was empty anyway...the 10 mls was just the line so I had full dose. I then got shivery and cold but all symptons passed. About an hour later before the Herceptin was started and I had to stay for 45 minutes after to just make sure okay. Was there for almost 6 hours. No further issues...had a few tears of course but sucked it up. Hopefully with the next round no problems, 11 more to go of taxol.

Felt really well Friday, just needing one more ventolin dose. I even went to the gym...1st time in 10 weeks. Saturday I did a pool workout and out for tea. So different from AC. This morning though I awoke with hip pain. Had a little yesterday morning but it passed. Not today. By the afternoon it was in my knees, shins, ankles. I felt a bit puffy and even felt sore in the neck. Panadol didn't  help and after quite a few tears took some tramadol. Well looks like I will have bone pain with this one  for sure. Hoping by tomorrow it will ease off as I am traveling 300km for a gated blood pool scan and then back.  It has been good to have more energy again, even with the bone pain I managed to change my sheets, clean the bathroom, wash floors and cook tea...more work than I have done in 10 weeks. At least mentally I feel more like my old self.

6 Replies

  • socoda's avatar
    socoda
    Member
    10 years ago

    Hi Primek, 

    Sorry to hear you're having bone pain and I hope for you it's a one-off. Also hope your huge round trip is comfortable, smooth and pain free. Wishing you all the best. Xx Cath

  • primek's avatar
    primek
    Member
    10 years ago

    Yes I had steroids, zantac and an antihistamine beforehand.  It is classed as hypersensitivity rather than a full on reaction as it was over an hour before it started. Probably will have phenergan before next dose which will make me sleepy. The bone pain resolved by late night and no issues today so woohoo. Kath :-)

  • Autore's avatar
    Autore
    Member
    10 years ago

    Well done for managing to be so active on the taxol! I didn't have an allergic reaction to Taxol but they dosed me with Carbo at the same time (double the fun), so it felt just as exhausting as AC.  

    Did they give you antihistamine before the Taxol? I took a lot during my treatment.

    It took about 1 month after my last Taxol dose to feel human again . But I did seem to bounce back faster than I was expecting. The body can be very resilient! Keep up all that active work :) well done x

  • jd48's avatar
    jd48
    Member
    10 years ago

    By the way, someone has previously mentioned using a TENS machine to manage chemo bone and joint pain.

    I have not had a chance to do so with Chemo but I suffer from chronic pain due to broken plus missaligned spone and cannot use painkillers due to liver damage so I own a very basic TENS machine that has saved my bacon on manu ocassions. It basically not just helps me by reducing pain but makes it possible to walk where pain otherwise stops me as while applied to the hip or leg or back area inflammed at the time I can walk and get about with minimal pain.

    The place I got it from is out of stock but I found the same machine in a different online shop in case you were interested in finding a cheap one. It is very basic and on eBay you might be able to get it $10-15 cheaper but I figured legit business is always a safer bet.

    This machine is small and runs on AA batteries so very portable making it easy to place it in a large pocket or handbag while still attached to you thus peoviding pain relief even when walking and wanting to leave the house.

    http://www.dshop.com.au/buy/digital-therapy-tens-machine-bonus-free-pads/4218?gclid=CjwKEAjwpqq6BRC99aKUkaSjuDsSJAC0pNTVUNYTMVmey2PIIZunLjnrAz-BliBrN5m-6_PFopL33BoCE87w_wcB

     

  • jd48's avatar
    jd48
    Member
    10 years ago

    Sorry to hear about the newly discovered bone pain but so happy that this one is not draining you like AC used to ??

    Please keep an eye out on your reactions and warm them before the next dose about what happened the 1st time as that sounds like a full on allergic response so they should both take is slowly and stay with you throughout.

    I too was supposed to have Taxol for 6 weeks when my AC ends but due to my allergies they will leave that out as they reckon Taxol has been known to cause allergic response in many women so with me being allergic to everything they are certain I would react adversely.

    I do hope your trip is uneventfull and that the pain subsides quickly

    Hugs

    Jel