[Jean]

Lida,
Low blood counts is common with Carboplatin occurring in greater than 30% of patients.

Your Dr. will treat you for low blood counts. It is rare to require bood transfusions as your dr. will be watching your blood counts and if they do become too low even with injections, your dr. will re-schedule your TCH treatment for a week giving your blood counts time to rise. Don't stress on low blood counts your Dr. will be checking you prior to each treatment.

I found the metal taste could be helped by having rasberry sherbert, it refreshed my mouth and just felt good. Salad dressing and vinegar especially was something I had to eliminate during treatment. Rice,
(brown) was very helpful. I also made sure I had yogurt at least once per day. I never did have mouth sores....I believe the yogurt was helpful.

I was very careful with my food choices since I wanted to get the best nutrition possible. I did eat protein rich foods and lots of fresh steamed veggies and raw carrots, apples offered pleasant tastes. Since everyone is different you may not have these issues...but at least you can try some of the above....the rice I found to be really tasty. You may even discover one food source that works best....stick with it. Don't worry about weight, if you gain weight it will come off after treatment. I did gain weight but after chemo I did drop the weight. I found that walking even if they are small walks was very helpful, fresh air and sun are the best.

Acid reflux can be a problem, I did take an over the counter product called Prilosec which is time released so you should take them prior to treatment (a few days)and continue after...my dr. had me double the pill for the first few days...it worked as it stopped the heartburn.

I didn't have problems with constipation I did drink a green herbal tea which helped.

The Taxotere also causes low blood counts also, hair loss like Carboplatin. Taxotere will cause muscle ache and bone pain...I took Alieve and also elevated my legs at night....also used a heating pad on my shins as the bone in my shins would feel painful..this was comforting.
The muscle and bone pain does not last the entire time
the day after treatment you will feel fine, I would feel this by the 2nd and 3rd day...by the 4th and 5th day this would lighten up and I would be feeling better.

Your nails may change also with the Taxotere, mine did get very soft . I cut my nails short, I would use a nail polish hardner. They did not turn color (some women have noted their nails turning dark) mine did not.. but funny after my last treatment my toe nail did change and half of it turned dark, turned soft and more or less fell off, the nail grew back just like normal. I have heard some of the women put frozen packs of peas on their nails while having their treatments to avoid nail problems. I also experienced cracking skin around the tip of my fingers..for this I used neosporin which helped
heal the cracks quickly.

The most important part as with most chemo's is to check your temperature for fever....which means you have an infection...I am sure your onc. will give you instructions about taking your temp and checking it.

Water retention, do not eat foods with high sodium and watch your salt intake. Make sure to drink fluids to hydrate your system to help flush it.

I wish you well with your treatments...if you have any questions, reach out...many of us are here to help you.

Kindest Regards,
Jean