Need information on Taxotere

[Guest Sally W]

My brother is starting Taxotere on Wednesday and will get it every 3 weeks x 3. Our doctor said that there is a strong possibility that he will lose his hair.

Can someone let me know what other side affects to look out for. He's not eating these days and is very uncomfortable. They've put him on a low morphine dose. Has anyone else had the same thing?

[shelliemacs]

ok, just from what happened with my mom when she got taxotere.

it made her legs swell, it made her weak, sick, and vomit. she did loose the rest of her hair and unfortunately taxotere did not work for mom.

It is a very powerful chemo though. It is used as a 2nd line treatment and can be quite effective on certain people.

[Hebbie]

Hi Sally,

I had chemo every week for 6 weeks -- every week was Taxotere, every 3rd week was Carboplatin. I didn't have NEAR as much trouble with the Taxotere that I did with the combo weeks. The Carbo is what seemed to make me the sickest. I believe Taxotere is a pretty quick infusion. I was told that I would "probably" loose my hair. I did get thin, but didn't totally fall out. I was also told that it could cause neuropothy (numbness in hands/feet), but that didn't happen. I did get nausea, but the Zofran they gave me for that seemed to help -- my advice is to take it BEFORE letting the nausea set in -- it's good at PREVENTING it, but not so good at treating it once it sets in! I learned that lesson the hard way....

I pray this treatment works well for your brother!

Heather

[Don Wood]

Hi, Sally! My wife had taxotere, along with carboplatin, every three weeks for six weeks. She lost her hair, she was nauseous (meds for that), she lost her appetite (I had to push purees and liquids), she had skin rash and mouth fungus (meds for those), numbing and necrosis of finger tips and toes (meds for that), diarrhea (meds). Was it worth it? Darn tootin'! She recovered from all that and is presently in good health after 13 months from diagnosis. Good luck. Don