My 12 weeks of Taxol chemo experience

Well my 12 weekly Taxol treatments have come to an end – yay!!! All finished this week.

I must say the experience has not been as daunting as I anticipated and I have coped quite well over this period. When my oncologist told me that this chemo protocol was “quite tolerable by most people”, I did not believe him but looking back now I do agree with him.

Yes I have had side effects but nothing major that has prevented me from leading the same normal life I did prior to diagnosis. I have continued to work during treatment ( I do a 4 day week and some days I worked from home too) and do all the usual household chores and family commitments ive always done.

During this time I have also had 4 Herceptin infusions at Cycle 1, 4, 7, 10. I have felt no different from the other cycles so not sure if Herceptin will have its own side effects when I start having it on its own. Ive been told most people don’t get many side effects on it. Your heart gets monitored after every 4 infusions, my recent test was great, same as my baseline, so Herceptin has had no adverse effect on my heart to date.

My typical week has been as below:

• Day 1 - treatment day - feel good. I'm given a antihistamine and some nausea and steroids via infusion as pre meds. Infusion of Taxol takes one hour and on Herceptin days which is every three weeks it takes another hour to infuse. I also take a anti anxiety drug under the tongue right at the start to take the edge off the ice caps as I did scalp cooling.
• Day 2 – im on a high from the steroids, so I get lots done, it's a good day for me
• Day 3 - I'm ok in morning but a few side effects start creeping though later in the day
• Day 4 – side effects start creeping through but are tolerable
• Day 5 - more side effects
• Day 6 - back to normal
• Day 7 - back to normal

Then it's time to go back again for the next Taxol, so its mainly 2 days that I felt a little off but nothing too serious.

My main side effects have been

• Metallic taste - chewing gum helped
• Altered taste buds - not all food tastes the same anyone , sweet still taste ok for me but my veggies now taste bitter. This side effect has been with me the entire 12 weeks. Looking forward to my taste buds back soon.
• Dry mouth - I used moisturizing mouth washes and toothpaste for this which did help
• Nausea - none
• Low blood counts etc - all good, Taxol is not known for this, it's rare to have to go to hospital with temps etc
• Aches - have had a few of these but not every cycle, mainly lower legs/hip area, more of this towards the end of treatment. Some occasional Pandol helped.
• Tummy upset - occasional, just took some antacid, sometimes I felt “gassy” too
• Bloody Nose - have noticed this a bit when blowing my nose that there has been some blood, but not occurred all cycles
• Neuropathy - some occasional tingling of toes and fingers but it goes away, felt this more during cycle 10,11,12
• Hair loss - the ice caps worked a treat. My hair shedding started from cycle 5 onwards with my worst week being cycle 7 and 8. Nobody would know I'm having chemo, I still have all my hair, just not styled like I usually would
• Eyebrows - thinning a bit but with a pencil cover it all looks good
• Eyelashes - all ok
• Hair on legs - still there
• Pubic hair – free brazilian as added bonus
• Nails - all ok, I use hardener and nail polish every few days
• Skin - have broken out in a few pimples on face and neck area, have changed to a milder cleanser and skincare products. Also wear a good sunscreen as skin is more sensitive.
• Bowels - have had some looser stools, but nothing too bad
• Weight - weight has been stable despite the steroids. I tried to do a daily walk as often as I could. As they weight you every week, my last weigh in was 1.5kgs less than my first one.
• Tiredness – only occasionally did I feel flat, most days my energy levels were good

My side effects have not been the same each cycle they seemed to differ every week, the only ones that have been constant for me are the mouth/taste ones.

One other thing I did was drink lots of water to flush it all out. I drank 3 litres a day and added lemon juice or a bit of cordial if I was getting sick of plain water. I carried a water bottle everywhere.

 I will create another post about my scalp cooling experience, which has been a positive one for me and allowed me to continue with treatment with the anonymity I wanted. I’ve chosen who I have told about my diagnosis rather than being forced to do so due to how I looked.

No two peoples chemo experience would ever be the same but I hope that the above can help anyone starting out on a similar treatment plan as myself.

 Emotionally I did feel a bit more drained at cycle 10,11,12 – I knew the end was near but it started to feel like a drag going in weekly.

 So the next stage begins soon – Radiotherapy – will summarise all that once im done – having a little break now to chill out

  

Angie