Legs felt jellified

I had this on docetaxel, my muscles felt like they didn't work at all and it was a real effort to walk up the road and back (and I was still jogging 2nd half of EC cycles).

Jellified is a good way of describing it! I found that it took longer to clear each cycle  I had 3 EC and 3 docetaxel and it was only the D that I felt like that. But by the end, it took a good 5 or 6 weeks or so for legs to start feeling like mine again. I had my operation 4 weeks post-chemo and still felt very affected then.

Hi yes it's the docetaxel that did it plus my first session I came out in a very severe rash all over my body a wk after chemo. My oncologist said it was the docetaxel that caused it. I had my 2nd session delayed because of the rash plus I got tonsillitis as well. My 2nd session they gave me the docetaxel at a slower rate and had fluids in-between through my cannula. I'm on my 11th day after chemo and no sign of rash and hope it doesn't come back because that was horrendous. I have 4 cycles to go then I have surgery then radiotherapy. It certainly does knock the stuffing out of you.

I found docetaxel really tough and they ended up reducing my dose after the first cycle as I could barely rouse myself for 10 days. I had mild skin issues too that took a long time to resolve - my knuckles went red and dry/peeled and the inside of my nose developed sores. It's pretty yucky, but it really shrunk my lump more than the EC so I was happy (ish!) to have it.

Have you had any MRIs yet to see shrinkage? They give you a boost!

I too had sores in the inside of my nose and my mouth was very sore and felt raw. I have my mri scan after my 3rd cycle which will be 2nd of July. I saw my oncologist Dr just over a wk ago and he examined my breast and he said the tumour does seem to of shrunk from what it was so that gave me a bit of a boost but the scan will reveal more. How was your diet by the way, I'm still eating ok.

I found I felt really nauseous on EC for the first week (they had to give me stronger anti-sickness as I vomited for 24 hours after the first cycle and had to go to hospital to get an IV of anti-sickness!). I found my appetite quite poor on EC but I did force myself to eat three healthy meals a day, which I couldn't always finish. That was unlike me, my appetite is usualllu good.

On docetaxel, everything just tasted horrible and that got worse as the cycles went on. I don't have a sweet tooth but found that I needed to drink ginger beer or ribena as water tasted horrible as did all the herbal teas I usually like! And I found myself craving jelly sweets just to get the taste away. My appetite was better on docetaxel, but everything tasted horrible.

May I ask what your healthy foods were that you ate as I never seem to know what to eat.

I had similar food most days, but it seemed to work! Don't be too hard on yourself though, you might struggle to eat and so anything that you can manage would be good. I just wanted to make sure I was getting lots of nutrients Everything tasted pretty yuk anyway, so I thought I might as well eat healthy yuk!

My go-to foods were eggs, tinned salmon and lots of soups - soups became a favorite as such an easy way of getting loads of veg in and I could tolerate soups well for taste and actually eating them. I still eat an egg every day for breakfast and soup every day for lunch!

For dinner, I ate what I could - chicken, steak, vegetables, rice, potatoes. The steak was horrible as I like mine medium rare and we had to cook it completely as you're not supposed to have anything undercooked while on chemo.

We also gave up salads as I didn't want to risk food poisoning - we ate frozen veg instead.

Finding something that you can eat can be quite a challenge and a lot of the time, I couldn't finish a meal but I ate as well as I could.

I felt like that from the start. The second cycle of EC especially though, really wobbly and like jelly. Usually a sign to rest for me. 

Ruby xx

It's horrible isn't it, I get frustrated with myself because I want to do things but I just haven't got the energy. I get very low and upset but my macmillian nurse told me not to do more than your body is telling you. Xxx