Cycles

Hi if your mum is having treatment every week for 12 weeks wirh 1 week off , then she will be having 9 cycles ...Best wishes to your mum take care ....

Thank you for your reply

Do you know how is this decided that this is enough treatment?

• Hi  the oncologist would of set up an individual plan for your mum , because everyone's programme is tailored to the individual   hope this helps ... x

There are different ways of having paclitaxel for breast cancer - every week for 12 weeks in total (12 cycles) or alternate weeks 4 times (4 cycles). Your mum is having a break every 3 cycles for a week. There are often breaks in treatment for one reason or another anyway. Treatments have been thoroughly researched and what is offered depends on tumour type, grade, stage and so on. Your mum's oncologist/ breast cancer team will have carefully considered the best option for her. Every week is often better tolerated than every other week as it is a lower dose each time. The downside is having to go every week rather than every 2, but side effects relatively less with every week. If your mum has already had surgery, then she won't have scans during chemo. If she has not had surgery yet, then scans will be done to monitor the response to treatment.

I'd also recommend ice gloves and socks to limit damage to the nerves- available on amazon. Take the icepacks in a cool bag. Also some nail strengthener and dark nail polish to protect the nails from damage due to sunlight. And lastly an industrial pair of household gloves for cleaning/washing up as the nails don't like being soaked in water. I found the anticipation of starting chemo was way worse than the reality. I slept my way through paclitaxel as the premeds made me drowsy.

I hope your mum copes well with her treatment. The chemo nurses are really knowledgeable and a great support when going through treatment xxx

Thank you so much for your response. Mum has already her lumpectomy,  everything seems to be moving so quick, she has one session left of this cycle  before her week off. So far mainly tiredness  is main issue.

There is sometimes some confusion between "cycle" and "treatment." Sometimes, a cycle does indeed consist of only one treatment, but your description makes me think that your mother's cycle is 28 days long, with treatments given on days 1,8 and 15 of each 28 day cycle, bringing the total of cycles to 3.

I was told my 12 weeks of Paclitaxel was 4 cycles with infusions on days1, 8, 15. I suspect a week off in between may mean 4 cycles over 16 weeks (or 15 as you probably don’t need to count the last week). 

Thank you  for your reply,  I orinally thought it was 3 cycles  but then lots of people saying each treatment was a cycle.in my mums book for first treatment  it says C1 D1 and on second treatment it says C1 D8,so your explanation  would makevthis make sense x

• Hi I was at the initial  appointment  when oncologist  said it will  be 12 weeks but at that point I assumed it would be 8 weeks straight.  The next appointment it was dad who went and thats when they  said 3 weeks on 1 week off. I thought at this point like you said it would extend  the weeks but when mam said can she go to work through treatment, the nurse said I would take the 3 month off x

Yeah. The confusion stems from the fact that with some types of chemo, there is only one treatment per cycle. For instance, AC chemo has a 14 or 21 day cycle, with treatment only given on Day 1. And so, people started to equate "cycle" with "treatment." I expect your mother's 3rd treatment will say C1D15, then her 4th will say C2D1, and so on. Is she only Paclitaxel alone or in combination with something else? How is she doing on the chemo now?