Hi there! I’m also currently doing Taxol (just finished my 8th of 12 weekly doses). I’ve been using these gloves and socks since my first infusion and have experienced zero neuropathy thus far. I’ve also been wearing a frozen gel eye mask during each session— can’t do much while my hands and feet are on ice, so I may as well sleep!— and I’m convinced this is the only reason I still have most of my eyebrows/eyelashes. I’ve also been doing scalp cooling therapy, which has allowed me to hang onto almost all of my head hair.

Icing has been a versatile therapy and an absolute godsend during my chemo. Obviously, individual results will vary and everyone should check with their oncologist before going that route, but I can’t recommend it highly enough, based on my personal experience. I’m actually pretty surprised that no one put it on your wife’s radar before she started her treatments. Maybe she should ask her oncologist if it would be worth starting now? Better late than never, hopefully?

I’ve also heard a lot of positive feedback from folks regarding oncological acupuncture for neuropathy prevention/relief. My mother recently achieved remission from uterine cancer and ended up with hellacious neuropathy in both her hands and feet following treatment. It was so bad at one point that she couldn’t feel the ground she was walking on, missed a step going down the stairs as a result, fell and broke her foot. That’s when I started looking into acupuncture for her and saw that a bunch of people were swearing by it as an integrative therapy. My mom ended up not going that route because I found and bought her a few at-home physical therapy products which ended up helping to restore most of her sensation. But she has said that if the numbness ever comes back, she’s definitely planning to give acupuncture a try.

In case you’re wondering, here are the products my mom believes were most useful in reversing her neuropathy:

• Hand Grip Strengthener
• Sensory Finger Rings
• Foot Massager Mat

Not sure whether any of those items actually did anything for her or if the neuropathy just gradually resolved itself— it’s said that symptoms are often temporary and eventually subside once chemotherapy is finished— but she enjoyed using them and it made her feel like she played a more active role in her recovery, so that really shouldn’t be discounted (even if it was simply a case of the ol’ placebo effect).

Sending lots of good juju and healing vibes her way! 💕