My mother's last chemo treatment of carbo/taxotere was about a month ago and her last CT scan showed no evidence of her cancer. She had been on prednisone for a few months since she had developed radiation pneumonitis back in June and the dosage started at 50mg, then 40mg for a month, then 30mg for a month, then 20mg for a week and the final week she was at 10mg. She just finished her 10mg last week and, almost immediately after, she developed swelling in her ankles and feet, sometimes accompanied by pain in the front of her lower legs upon standing or walking. This has been going on for about 3 or 4 days with little relief so today I called her pulmonary doctor because I was concerned. While in the hospital for the pneumonitis, they found a couple very small blood clots in her lower lungs so she has been on blood thinners but a mere 2mg. Before she left the hospital the doctor said the clots had already started to break up.
Mom has been feeling pretty good lately, other than the continuing fatigue, and the only meds she's on are her nebulizer and the blood thinner. Her doctor seems to think the swelling may be an after-effect of the steroids and put her on a water pill for a few days. I apologize for this being so long but I was just wondering if anyone else out there has experienced this. I have read taxotere can cause fluid build-up also but she has been off of chemo for almost a month. My main concern was a blood clot but I've also read that both feet usually don't swell with a blood clot. As I said, her doctor didn't seem overly concerned but I'm just curious of others experiences and I will definately keep a close watch on her. I can still here my mom saying to the pulmonary doctor when she initially found out about the blood clots, "I didn't fight this cancer so hard to die from a heart attack!" That's my mom!
Liz
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