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Taxol side effects after 7th dose.... to continue or not continue
Hello all. My name is Wendy. Please bare with me as I seek any advice that may be available at a difficult time in treatment.
I was diagnosed with Triple negative breast cancer Jan 18 this year. Scans etc showed no apparent spread. The advice was to get the portacath in and start neoadjuvant chemo which I did within 3 weeks. The follow up MRI after the AC and a couple of Taxol doses shows the tumour had "disapppeared". Three doses later (all up I had 7 doses with the last dose reduced by 25% ) as I had developed stage 2 peripheral neuropathy. That week the oncologist suggested maybe it was time to stop Taxol or at least have a rest for a week and see if symptoms decrease and carry on. The breast care nurse rang and suggested that this is the only "window of opportunity" based on research etc and that I should accept the peripheral neuropathy and take the chemo. All through my treatment I have changed my diet, taken supplements, hyperbaraks, hyperthermia and PEMF. This Thursday I have the option to resume chemo and Im not convinced it is the best thing... Im aware that 1% of woman are at risk of Leukaemia later on down the track ./ the peripheral neuropathy can become a permanent state not to mention the other less obvious side effects. I intend to continue the supplements etc So my big dilemma is whether to go on. Has anyone else been faced with this situation. Of course at the end of the day its "your" decision etc but i feel i need to compare notes if possible kind regards wendy
I was diagnosed with Triple negative breast cancer Jan 18 this year. Scans etc showed no apparent spread. The advice was to get the portacath in and start neoadjuvant chemo which I did within 3 weeks. The follow up MRI after the AC and a couple of Taxol doses shows the tumour had "disapppeared". Three doses later (all up I had 7 doses with the last dose reduced by 25% ) as I had developed stage 2 peripheral neuropathy. That week the oncologist suggested maybe it was time to stop Taxol or at least have a rest for a week and see if symptoms decrease and carry on. The breast care nurse rang and suggested that this is the only "window of opportunity" based on research etc and that I should accept the peripheral neuropathy and take the chemo. All through my treatment I have changed my diet, taken supplements, hyperbaraks, hyperthermia and PEMF. This Thursday I have the option to resume chemo and Im not convinced it is the best thing... Im aware that 1% of woman are at risk of Leukaemia later on down the track ./ the peripheral neuropathy can become a permanent state not to mention the other less obvious side effects. I intend to continue the supplements etc So my big dilemma is whether to go on. Has anyone else been faced with this situation. Of course at the end of the day its "your" decision etc but i feel i need to compare notes if possible kind regards wendy
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16 Replies
- Thanks for your response joannie the onco wasnt going to give approval i knew from a friends experience with him. I def wanted holistic care
- I appreciate the very much prompt responses to my post. Thankyou
- @WendyNev. I had (and still have) a terrible relationship with my oncologist who I call the Ice Princess. She is the most aloof and disconnected person I have ever had the displeasure to deal with, but I don't want her as a friend, just to treat my cancer. I mention this for a reason. During the AC twelve week nightmare I was hospitalised after each dose and after the third treatment, she told me that she was going to delay my final one by eight days and as well, cut the dose by 20%. I protested and asked if we could discuss it, but her words to me were "No...I will not be bullied by you, or anybody else regarding this...this is my decision and it is final". So it may come as no surprise that when I started on the Taxol, I was like Manuel in Fawlty Towers...."I know nothing...I say nothing..." Peripheral neuropathy started around dose five, but I said nothing. My personal choice was that I'd rather go into my coffin later with velcro, than sooner with buttons. They kept on asking if I could still do buttons as a yardstick for finger problems. When the very last drop of the last dose went in, I mentioned the increasing and by now bad neuropathy. She got the shits with me for not saying anything earlier, so I threw her own words back at her, and told her that I wasn't prepared to be bullied by her in that matter, that MY decision was MINE and that it was final. I realise that this was quite possibly not best practice, but for me having been diagnosed with Stage 3 Grade 3 cancer, I had one shot and one shot only before the horse bolted out of the breast and off to other parts. A year later, still with numb fingers and feet, I have no regrets. Given the same situation tomorrow, I would do the same, but I do realise that this is my nature...go hard or go home.
- Hi @WendyNev, I'm not sure that I can give you any advice on this except to ask what your oncologist is recommending. Permanent peripheral neuropathy, as I understand it, is something you definitely do not want, but neither is a recurrence of bc.
