Dear Gator ~
I think I can really help you here. I just finished all six rounds of high-dose chemotherapy (Taxotere) this past fall, given every three weeks, over the course of eighteen weeks.
My oncologist and chemotherapy nurses really helped me avoid neuropathy in my fingers and toes. PLEASE ask them to do this for you, as it really worked for me. I have friends that went through chemotherapy that struggled with neuropathy, so I know what it can do to patients.
Here is what they did for me and it worked VERY well. I had NO PROBLEMS with neuropathy at all because of this simple strategy:
As soon as the chemotherapy I.V. process was started, the chemotherapy nurses brought me Zip-lock plastic bags filled with ice cubes. They placed a pillow on my lap as I sat in the recliner chair. There were two bags of ice (one for each hand) and another two bags of ice placed on the floor for both of my feet. For those, you just take off your shoes and you keep your socks on.
As you sit there during the chemotherapy infusion, you keep both hands (fingers) on the two ice bags. Meanwhile, you keep your feet (toes) on the two ice bags placed on the floor. If your feet or hands get a little too cold, you just lift them up now and then for a little break, then place them back on the ice bags again when you feel comfortable again.
My oncology nurses swore by this method. I have the impression they have just recently used this strategy and they reported great success with it. I felt I had nothing to lose and everything to gain. I have to say that it worked wonders for me and I NEVER had any issues with neuropathy or even tingling in my hands, fingers, feet, or toes whatsoever.
Instead of using bags of ice cubes, some of the nurses just used ice packs like the kind you use for injuries. Those worked just as well.
This advice above is based on my own personal experiences. I hope this idea might be helpful to you or others in the same situation. Do a little research online and suggest it, if you feel it might help alleviate your symptoms. It's important for me to state that this "ice bag" treatment MUST be done DURING the I.V. infusion of chemotherapy, not later when you get home. My nurses all said, "We know this is going to sound crazy when we suggest this, but we are going to put both of your hands and both of your feet on ice bags when we start your I.V. today ..."
It really DID sound crazy at first --- but then when I thought of friends from the past that ended up with terrible neuropathy after going through chemotherapy, I felt I had nothing to lose and everything to gain. Please do a little research on this method online and then suggest it to your oncologist and give it a try. I just finished eighteen weeks of chemotherapy treatments and have NO neuropathy and I feel that I owe that success to the ice bag strategy that they used with me. It was really quite simple and worked wonders, I feel.
I hope this insight from my experience is helpful to you or others who might be starting chemotherapy. Bring 4 ice packs from home in a cooler, if you have to ! Of course, please seek the advice of your oncologist first ! I have the impression that many oncologists have never tried this method. I feel that I am walking proof --- and they were using this strategy with all the other chemotherapy patients who were in my same boat with Taxotere chemotherapy treatments.
Sent with caring thoughts to you,
Cyclone
Post Edited (ISU-CycloneFan) : 12/13/2014 12:47:06 PM (GMT-7)