The Terrors of Taxotere

I'm half way through the chemo.  Three down and three to go.

This is definitely a Good Thing and my family is continuing to celebrate the end of each cycle as I reach it.  This time we took advantage of the fact that I can finally go in water again for the first time since my operation three months ago - time for a family spa day!   Ahhh, luxury.

But the downside of being half way through is that I have finished with FEC just as I was getting into the routine of coping with it.  Now I start on Taxotere - the T part of FEC-T.

It's back into the unknown and a pretty scary one as the general opinion seems to be that Taxotere is more aggressive than FEC.  Muscle and bone pains seem to be the most difficult side effect with some people unable to cope with the pain.  Fluid retention, numbness in fingers and toes, loss of nails, nausea, diarrhoea....The list goes on.

Of course, everyone is different and no-one knows how I will react until it happens.  I could be lucky.   Perhaps it will go even more smoothly than the FEC. 

But the unknown is always more terrifying as we know from our nightmares.  Who has not shivered with fear of the unseen Thing Under the Bed?   So it is, perhaps, not surprising that I have reached the half way point with mixed feelings. 

I am facing the Terrors of Taxotere and it has left me oddly nostalgic for my FEC days.