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Cytoxan & Taxotere & Herceptin
by Ray515, May 12, 2008 05:47PM
Okay everyone. I just finally found out which chemo drugs I will be on and want to know from others who were on the same drugs what their typical reactions were. I will be on Cytoxan and Taxotere for four cycles and Herceptin once a week for a year. I will also receive Benadryl, Aloxi, and Decadron for nausea. If you have been on the same regime I'd appreciate any information you could give me. Thanks.
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Okay I am presently on my 3rd round of cytoxan. Then I start 4 rounds of taxatere followed by a year of herceptin.
The first round of cyoxan made me REALLY sick. But everyone is different. They gave me emend for the nausea I later had them percribe carafate for my raw stomach and protonix for the acidic balance in my stomach. I felt MUCH better on round 2. I go for round 3 on wed (wish me luck). Most of the ladies in my beyond boobs support group did not have many side affects from cytoxan, but my stomach is VERY sensitive!!
As for the taxatere I have been told it is much easier on your body than the cytoxen. I start taxatere in June. As for the herceptin, the nurses say it has virtually no side affects other than the close monitoring of the heart that you must have while on this drug.
Have you had surgery yet? They are doing my surgery after the chemo.
I am er- pr+ Her2+. Thank God we live in the herceptin era I have heard its a wonderous drug.
Take care and if you wanna ask me anything please feel free.
Herceptin -
no reaction to speak of, but I had it with carboplatin & taxotere.
First time, I had a reaction to taxotere
so we switched to Abraxane. It's the same med in a different base, but at least 3x as costly. But all in all, that regimen for me was not too bad. I did I have a first time 2 days in bed with taxotere drug. I felt like I had flu aches & all sorts of moving pains, but it only lasted for 2 days or so. As for nausea, I was fine. Stay in front of it - take the Zofran. I found it worked much better than the other anti-nausea they gave me. I took Zofran at the slightest hint of nausea & it went away. I only took 2 or 3 pills and didn't need it the rest of the time.
Second regimen for me was Adriamycin, Cytoxan & Abraxane again.
We discovered I wasn't Her2neu positive after all so the Herceptin was dropped.
They won't give you Herceptin & Adriamycin at the same time to be careful about cardio issues. I had a harder time with this regimen, but I think it was because of the Adriamycin.
My advice: Drink LOTS of clean water as you juice the chemo drugs. Eat alot of protein at home & lots of green veggies if you can. Stay in front of nausea with the Zofran (great drug!). Stay away from refined sugar, alcohol & caffeine. Make sure you stay regular (prunes work for me). Rest as much as you can. I was afraid of toe & fingernail problems (I think this may be with adria, but maybe Cytoxan) so I bouight some cotton gloves, moisturized my hands every night & wore gloves when I could stand it. Ditto with feet, but used socks of course. My skin stayed pretty good, but did dry out a bit. I took baths with baking soda in it - not too hot.
Exercise as much as you can. You will probably get a little more tired toward the end of the regimen. Let yourself rest then. Just exercise when you feel up to it, even walking.
Treat yourself however whenever you can. The kids & DH will survive this brief interlude without the mom being as much a mom, wife as much a wife, just for a while.
As I see you will only have 4 rounds. You will - can do this. You are strong & it will be over quickly. I'm rooting for you - on your shoulder - sending light & healing vibes for getting through to the other side, yeah!
I have uni-mastx, removal of port & DIEP same time, this May 28th. 2 weeks! yikes!
Then radiation for 5 weeks (about 4-6 weeks after).
You can write or call if you like. I'll send contact info to you.
happy spring, Cally
Find ways to stay hydrated. I found that water became too 'heavy' on my stomach, yet herbal ice tea was exactly what I wanted. That, and fresh-fruit popsicles. Also, avoid your favorite food the night before and the night of... trust me on this. I didn't listen to my nurses when they gave me this advice and had a beloved meal before my first round of chemo... to this day I can't look at that food without having a gag-effect. And it had nothing to do with vomiting... it was more the smell and general feeling of yuck.
That's another thing the cytoxan did - my sense of smell was on par with that of a blood-hound. My poor husband... he loves mexican food and I would ban him to the couch if he came near me after having eaten any. I could smell it a mile away. Perfume also was tough to be around - any kind. Laundry detergents and their scents killed me. We had to go to non-perfumed soaps. The advice about dry skin is good - treat yourself to the richest, most wonderful hand and skin lotion you can find. You might need to experiment a bit to find the lotion that works best for you during this period. I had tubes of hand-lotion in every room. They were a God-send!
I also agree that you will be through your 4-rounds before you know it. It sounds ridiculous, but it is true. By the time my 4th and final round came about I couldn't believe it. Yes there were plenty of tears. Yes I had a difficult time with nausea. Yes the neulasta shot was hell (felt like wet concrete settled in my veins and bones for a couple of days). But each time, after the first 72-hours passed, it was like a slow awakening... and by day 5 I felt just fine. You will get through this. Let people who want to help care for you take care of you... all focus is on you and that is ok. that's the way it should be. You will get through this... I have no doubt about it. When fall rolls around and those long Indian-summer days are upon us, you'll be past all this and looking forward to an amazing future.