Start Tasotere

[tarasteph]

This morning I am to start Taxotere. All other chemo pills have stopped working.

Has anyone done this and what is your opinion on this.

[Dan59]

Lots of us have had taxotere, what are your concerns?

[tarasteph in reply to Dan59]

Does it do anything in lowering PSA and or get rid of the cancer.

[Dan59 in reply to tarasteph]

It is systemic treatment, I should reduce your cancer, and lower your psa, It has been shown to increase survival. Are you doing anything to mitigate side effects?

[Litlerny]

I’ve been on ADT (Lupron + bicalutamide) for 3 years. Did a course of chemo (6 cycles at 3 week intervals) 11/17-03/18. PSA is still undetectable, Testosterone 7, and my one pelvic bone met has ceased to light up the PET scan for 2 years, including one done last month.

It is my understanding that the docetaxel (Taxotere) is a systemic treatment that kills microscopic circulating tumor cells. It should improve both the efficacy of ADT and lengthen the progression free survival time. It should also kill off (apoptosis) microscopic circulating cancer cells so they can’t grow, divide, and multiply. The results of the Stampede clinical trial showed that PCa patients with a large tumor burden 4 or more) had a significant increase in both progression free and overall survival when docetaxel was used early in the treatment, rather than later when the cancer has become castrate resistant. Oligometastatic patients like myself (1 to 3 tumors) had a less significant improvement, but still enough to warrant early use of docetaxel.

I had a chemo port installed prior to starting treatment, and highly advise it. It can be used for both the chemo infusions, eliminating the risk of chemo burns at the injection site, having multiple pokes done, and can also be used to draw labs.

I didn’t use a cooling cap, gloves, or socks...wish I had. I lost a lot of (but not all) hair, and still have some residual minor neuropathy issues in my right thumb and a couple of toes on my left foot.

Learn to anticipate the side effects you might get. These vary for each individual. You will likely be given a dexamethasone infusion prior to each treatment, and pills to take on the 2nd day following treatment. So you will feel pretty good for a couple of days after each cycle. After that you can expect t to feel crappy for a week or so, gradually improving so you will feel relatively good again for several days before your next infusion. Most of the side effects can be kept minimal with OTC meds. They will monitor both your white and red blood cell counts. If you become neutropenic you may be prescribed a drug like Neulasta to help minimize that problem. My WBC’s dropped somewhat, but not enough to need Neulasta. Your red blood cell counts might also drop. Again, mine did go down below the WNL level, but not enough to need a transfusion.

Go for it, and best of luck to you. I hope your side effects are minor. 😎

[dmt1121]

Did six treatments three weeks apart with Lupron. Had Neulasta for WBC booster after each treatment. My PSA was below .01. Within seven months, it began to rise again. Within a year, it was classified as biochemically recurrent (.51 at that time) and I went back on Lupron for six months. I am now off Lupron again and my PSA is .11. The doubling time the first time my PSA first began to rise was less than two months which is very short and a sign of aggressiveness. Taxotere is a good option when combined with Lupron (Stampede study). You take your best shot and keeping doing your research and taking your best shot, one after the other until you're out of ammo (so-to-speak).....