Swollen Feet

Today I thought I’d talk about my swollen feet. My swelling problem has gone up and done since I started chemo in August of 2008. At one point when I was on full dosage of Taxotere, my ankles were swollen to the point that I had to cut the sides of my socks because the elastic at the ankle was too tight. Then as we decreased the Taxotere dosage, the swelling went down to the point that I thought was almost normal. I started wearing some of my nicer tighter fitting shoes.

About a month ago I notice that my left foot started swelling ... back I go to my looser shoes. Shortly after that I started Xeloda and noticed my right foot started to swell  Feeling a bit frustrated ... last night I jumped on the internet and searched other people’s experiences. Looks like Xeloda can cause swelling of the feet ... darn it ... to the point that I may have to buy bigger shoes. It was also recommended I purchase insoles to help protect the bottoms of my feet. So my short-term plan is to go back to my runners until the swelling gets too much and then I’m going to shop for new shoes.

In the next few days I’m going to go look for some indoor shoes. At one of my oncologist visits the doctor recommended I wear good shoes indoors and outdoors. What she meant by that was that my toes need to be well covered and protected. Why? Because the hand/foot syndrome has given me poor feeling in my feet and there is a tendency for me to whack them into corners of furniture, walls and such. If I’m not careful I could really do some damage to my feet.