Day 146 | Third Taxol

Third Taxol in the books today. I'm pretty pleased that I am 25% finished with this flavor of poison. 

Overall Taxol Review

Vs. AC: Taxol has been easier than AC from the very first treatment. No more mouth sores. Some semblance of an appetite. Less fatigue. Better tummy (not 100%...but much better!). 

Vein Issues: The vein trouble has continued. The first treatment had eight sticks, with three nurses. The chemo nurses have a rule that they can only stick you three times each...so, three nurses tried to get a good vein without luck till stick 8, leaving me with some gnarly bruising. I will probably get a port placed before carboplatin.

Pre-Meds: ~30% of people have some sort of allergic reaction to the preservative in the Taxol, so the pre-med mixture for Taxol includes Benadryl. Reactions vary from some light hives to full on cardiac arrest. The first infusion requires a nurse to watch you very carefully, looking for any possible reaction. 

Luckily, I didn't have any side effects to the Taxol. 

...But the Benadryl, which during the first infusion was injected directly into the IV, was just awful. The room started spinning. I felt faint. I almost vomited. My mom and husband looked pretty worried. During the second treatment, my mom and mother-in-law were with me. I felt sick and then almost immediately passed out from the benadryl. 

Other Side Effects: The major side effects from Taxol are: low red/white blood cells, hair loss - especially eyelashes/brows, diarrhea, nail loss, leg/muscle pain. For me, my white blood count is HIGH! YAYYYYY NEUPOGEN! It's the highest it has been since starting chemo. 

Taxol has taken a toll on my red blood cells and hemoglobin though. If your hemoglobin drops below 8, they will not administer chemo. Mine is 10 right now....just needs to keep strong enough to "hit me again".

Here are my counts if you're interested:

I am also losing my eyelashes/brows. Here is a 'during AC' vs. a 'during Taxol' picture.

Taxol Today: Today, RBC was not too low for a chemogogo. It was the easiest chemo yet. No pre-meds. No sickness. Only one prick. Minimal bruising. 4 hours instead of 8 at the doctor.  

What's next?

- One more solo taxol treatments

- PET scan
- Port placement
- 8-9 Carbo/Taxol cocktails