Too sexy for my hair: a cancer blog

Tuesday, June 14, 2005

Day IV

For the last six months Taxol has been my poison and according to my recent c.t. scan it is holding the cancer at bay so this is good for me...Right? Yes, I know it is better than the alternative so I take my poison without hesitation. My regimen is three weeks of treatment, then one week off. After all this time I have noticed this pattern in my mood on the fourth day following treatment. I feel a sense of being completely overwhelmed and my anxiety slowly begins to rise. Soon after that I become this sobbing mess or I seem to shut completely down, even from myself. I will soon call my husband at work as I always do on this fourth day. He comforts me and trys to work me through my mental anguish. I wonder, Does anyone else on taxol experience this or is it just me? I also feel heavily fatigued this time around. Maybe its because I just had three weeks off . That gave me quite a bit of time to recoup. Now I am feeling slammed and I'm on my way to the couch to catch some Zzzz's..

3 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hey Lori,

I know when my fiance was having Gemzar and Taxol together it would really slam her blood counts, which would make her really tired. Maybe your counts are low?

Also I have noticed that sometimes with these drugs, the longer you are on them the more tired they make you.

Hang in there.

Chris

1:10 PM  
Anonymous christine farren said...

Hi Lori,

Christine here, who used to work at the Fox & Goose. I'm so glad Kizzy sent the word out about your blog. Can I tell you it is great without it sounding morbid? My mom was on Taxol for only 3 months last summer (following a previous 3 months with a different drug) fighting breast cancer, and it was brutal. She had the same emotional pits coupled with constipation and headaches. The worst was when she took a prescribed anti-nausea drug that had a bad interaction with Taxol and it sent her to the emergency room with a nervous system reaction similar to lock-jaw. Made me pissed that they medical professionals didn't warn her about the known interaction and totally scared. I'll send you her own "I'm too sexy for my hair" photos. Sounds like you are slowly but surely kicking this cancer in the ass, and I so appreciate you sharing it with us. Christine

5:35 PM  
Anonymous jamie said...

I had Taxotere, which is a relation of Taxol. I remember the same fatigue settling in a few days after the chemo. It seemed like I *might* not get it, then BAM, I'd had fatigue from it. I also had a horrible metal taste in my mouth as soon as they started the chemo and it would take about 4-5 days to go away. I think the anxiety / sobbing is a combo of the fatigue and treatment. I had it too. Antidepressants were my friends during that time.

12:17 PM  
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