Thats wonderful you can work a reduced schedule. And you are right! Taxol really was much more tolerable (for me). You can do it! And once you do, you will be so proud of yourself! It's amazing what we can do when we have to!

My Oncologist suggested I shower in the evenings so I didn't zap my energy first thing. I thought he was crazy and felt a shower helped wake me up, but he was right! It helped. I worked a desk job and never missed work except the afternoon of treatment. My wonderful husband kept up the laundry, cleaning, cooking, etc so I was very lucky. Everyone is different, but I experienced a lot of muscle soreness and only a tiny bit of neuropathy. Nails were weak and lifted (still!). And I was very tired. Came home from work and flopped on the sofa until bedtime. Best of luck to you! You may be one of those lucky enough to not have side effects! :)

I worked the whole way thru chemo. But I have a desk job... so I could cope with some of the physical stresses of chemo better than someone who would be on their feet all day.

In terms of weekly taxol treatments and side effects, this is a double edged sword. Taxol is, in some ways, significantly easier than AC or other chemo drugs. The fatigue and chemobrain are significantly less. I kept my appetite the whole time (gained like 15 lbs actually). My hair started to grow back a little... not enough to be super noticeable, but a little.

However, Taxol comes with it's own set of side effects. The most common are neuropathy (tingling/numbness in your hands and/or feet), bone pain, and issues with nails lifting off the nail bed. I'm sure there are more... but I forget what they are.

Upside is that not everyone has issues with these. I know several ladies that breezed through Taxol with absolutely no side effects. I wasn't one of those. I had neuropathy in my hands, which kind of felt like they were falling asleep and waking up over and over again (that "pins and needles" sensation). I also had bone pain that made me feel like a old lady. And my fingernails started to lift off the nailbeds (but they never fell off).

I'm not sure what you do for a job, but if it requires you to work alot with your hands or be on your feet alot AND you do have issues with neuropathy (you might not), it could impact your ability to do work.

If you have a desk job like I do, then it may not inhibit you from doing your job... but it will be really annoying. That was how I felt about Taxol. None of the SEs were life ending or altering, they were just seriously SERIOUSLY annoying and made me feel like I was falling apart.

In terms of timeline and when they kick in. I didn't have many issues for the first 2-3 weeks. Then the neuropathy kicked in. It generally starts a day or two post infusion and lasts right up until the day before the next infusion. The bone pain started around week 3 or 4 and got worse the more infusions I had. It lasted 2-3 days each week and I could control it somewhat with Tylenol. But by the end, I was using the big 800mg ibuprofin to keep it in check.

I hope you are a lucky lady whose side effects are non-existant :) Keep your fingers crossed! And possibly talk to your doc about taking B12 (or B6) before you start Taxol to try to avoid neuropathy, it's proven to have some effectiveness with controlling it.

It seems that many women take a leave of absence from work when undergoing chemo. And if I did not work from home I would too. I had four rounds of AC and so far one Taxol infusion. I experienced a lot of nausea with AC and could not work for 3 days each time. On day 4 after my first round of Taxol I felt like I had whiplash over my entire body and there was no way I could work. By day 5 I was better but still very sore. I was given dexamethasone (steroid) the day before, day of, and day after my taxol chemo. I assume that once the steroid is out of your system, the side effects of the chemo can hit you hard. Perhaps those women that have no side effects are doing something different or taking supplements or other meds or their systems can handle it better than others.

Thanks @A MyBCTeam Member! Can I add you to my team?