Sorry to take so long between postings but the last week was kind of hard. After I finished taking the anti-nausea drugs last Monday by Wednesday felt bad and had some mouth issues and a ton of fatigue and was feeling down about stuff. Basically the last AC treatment kicked my butt a fair amount. On the positive side, after my doctor's visit today it seems the last AC also seemed to affect the tumor - its much harder to feel and get a sense of its dimensionality which probably means a fair amount of shrinkage.
Either what was happening in my mouth or what i finally realized was a new cold was causing a lot of phlegm and a fair amount of triggering of my gag reflex - so for the first time I had some nausea and some spitting up.
Happily the taxol treatment (or more likely the steroid, Benadryl and Pepcid given before the Taxol) seem to have had a positive effect on the funny taste in my mouth, my cold and sneezing and coughing and have generally perked me up, and I'm generally feeling much better. The mian down side was that treatment was long. Tracy came with me and I wasn't much fun. The Benadryl and my general anxiety made me less fun and then i slept and was generally spacy. It was great to have her with me even if no inappropriate words were shouted out.
Reports are Taxol is easier on the system and there are also no mandated drugs to take in the days afterward. I did take an atavan to hopefully lead to my going to sleep at some point tonight - yes the down side to the steroid. We'll see how the weeks progress.
I am happy to have gone through it and see what the pattern of the two weeks will look like with Taxol - possibly side effects can include some neuropathy (tingling/pain in feed or hands) and joint pain. The joint pain would be handled with pain relievers - starting with tylenor, advil or alleve but if needed I have some narcotics. (oxycodone) though if my past is any indication - the pills most likely will be thrown out after they expire. (I did this with percocet and others for prior procedures.)
Anyway - I'll try and write more in the next couple of days.
Kim
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Hi Kim! I love the photo! That's a snazzy cap you're wearing! I read about magic mouthwash in some of my books. I never needed it, so I'm curious about what it's like. Glad that the A-C is over! One Taxol down and only three to go. You're almost done with this phase of treatment! Stay strong. I'll call soon!
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for the update Kim. What a sucky treatment, but as usual you worked it out. Just like Julie wrote--stay strong, you are more than halfway through the chemos.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the post. I was getting worried... Sorry that it is getting tougher, but you are over the hump at this point.
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