Journal entry by Erin Neal —
It's been a bit since an update!
I got to have a week off of appointments 4/15-4/19 after my last round of Doxorubicin, which was nice.
I did experience quite a bit of fatigue and bone pain again with my last Neulasta injection -thank heavens those are done.
Last week was the first round of Taxol, which will be weekly for the remaining 11 weeks. Overall, treatment time with this medication is shorter. I get labs drawn, wait to see the doctor, then go back to the treatment chair to get the cold cap on. Then there's 30 minutes of pre-cooling, 30 minute infusion of premedication prior to the chemotherapy infusion (this includes Dexamethasone, Benadryl, Pepcid and Zofran), then the Taxol (chemotherapy) runs for an hour. During this time they monitor blood pressure every 20 minutes and monitor for signs of allergic reaction, since that is common with this drug. I did have some facial flushing at the beginning of the infusion, but that went away fairly quickly. They also put frozen booties and gloves on my hands and feet to help reduce the risk of neuropathy (another common side effect). This was the most miserable and unbearable part. My feet got so cold and painful I had to take the booties off and just set my feet on top of them. After the infusion is done there is 90 minutes of post cooling with the cold cap then once that's over about 15 minutes to allow the ice crystals on my scalp to thaw before the cap is removed.
Since I still get IV steroids on treatment days, sleeping was still a struggle Thursday night so I was very tired on Friday. Saturday, after a good nights sleep, I felt pretty good most of the day. I did start getting the sore mouth/sore throat/sore palms of my hands and feet Saturday evening and woke up today with some muscle and joint pain (yet another side effect).
I still continue to improve on the Occupational Therapy side of things. My range of motion on my right arm was at 90 degrees when I first started (i.e. I could only lift my arm about even with shoulder level), as of Friday my range of motion was at 175 degrees, which is in the "functional" range. 180 degrees and higher is considered normal. I was given some more exercises to work on to help with strengthening my shoulder and scapula and I don't have to go back for 3 weeks!
I got to have a week off of appointments 4/15-4/19 after my last round of Doxorubicin, which was nice.
I did experience quite a bit of fatigue and bone pain again with my last Neulasta injection -thank heavens those are done.
Last week was the first round of Taxol, which will be weekly for the remaining 11 weeks. Overall, treatment time with this medication is shorter. I get labs drawn, wait to see the doctor, then go back to the treatment chair to get the cold cap on. Then there's 30 minutes of pre-cooling, 30 minute infusion of premedication prior to the chemotherapy infusion (this includes Dexamethasone, Benadryl, Pepcid and Zofran), then the Taxol (chemotherapy) runs for an hour. During this time they monitor blood pressure every 20 minutes and monitor for signs of allergic reaction, since that is common with this drug. I did have some facial flushing at the beginning of the infusion, but that went away fairly quickly. They also put frozen booties and gloves on my hands and feet to help reduce the risk of neuropathy (another common side effect). This was the most miserable and unbearable part. My feet got so cold and painful I had to take the booties off and just set my feet on top of them. After the infusion is done there is 90 minutes of post cooling with the cold cap then once that's over about 15 minutes to allow the ice crystals on my scalp to thaw before the cap is removed.
Since I still get IV steroids on treatment days, sleeping was still a struggle Thursday night so I was very tired on Friday. Saturday, after a good nights sleep, I felt pretty good most of the day. I did start getting the sore mouth/sore throat/sore palms of my hands and feet Saturday evening and woke up today with some muscle and joint pain (yet another side effect).
I still continue to improve on the Occupational Therapy side of things. My range of motion on my right arm was at 90 degrees when I first started (i.e. I could only lift my arm about even with shoulder level), as of Friday my range of motion was at 175 degrees, which is in the "functional" range. 180 degrees and higher is considered normal. I was given some more exercises to work on to help with strengthening my shoulder and scapula and I don't have to go back for 3 weeks!
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