Keytruda failed on trial, now chemo

[Judymin]

psa now up to 19 so obviously the trial is a failure. He is now going to start chemo, we assume doxetaxol. Any thoughts as to chemo, does it generally work? do you continue with xtandi, Lupron while taking it? thanks judy

[Bird8]

Hi Judymin! My hubby started with chemo (docetaxel), casodex and lupron right after he was dx. At dx his PSA was 718 with extensive mets to bones and lymph nodes. This combo gave him 22 months of cancer being in check. PSA dropped down to .14, bone mets and lymph nodes were stable. Lots of love and prayers being sent your way.

Nikki

[Judymin in reply to Bird8]

Thank you so much. How did he feel during chemo?

[Bird8 in reply to Judymin]

He tolerated it very well. He wasn’t sick, never stopped working. He did have mouth sores which were alleviated with a medicated mouth rinse (we used a product called Gelclair). At times he had more energy. Wishing you both the best!

Nikki

[Bird8 in reply to Bird8]

I should also mention, my hubby was dx at 44 years old. He had hair loss but was practically bald to begin with. As some have already mentioned icing hands and feet during infusions may help with neuropathy. Cold capping may help with hair loss. Mike sucked on ice chips during infusions to preserve his tastebuds.

[paulcross4]

Docetaxel working great for me. Side effects are there but manageable. Quality of life during treatment is great. Still on Lupron and Xgeva. PSA down from 275 to 80 and still dropping after 6 cycles. I would say go for it.

[paulcross4 in reply to paulcross4]

Oh I forgot. Pain from mets evaporated the day after I started and I haven’t needed so much as a Tylenol since.

[Fairwind]

Another taxol drug, Cabazitaxel also called Jevtana worked for me better than Docetaxel did with fewer side-effects. With Doce, I had total hair loss and some neuropathy which makes your feet and hands numb. The chemo gave me about a 14 month remission..

[dockam]

Hey, I had 15 Taxotere (docetaxel) sessions in 2015. I was at # 5 but PSA was still in teens and MO told me, despite no Tumor Board members agreeing, that he would continue the chemo until the PSA plateaued or I said to stop. So, he allowed me to have 9 more. I went from PSA 840.2 down to 0.7 that year. Also had Lupron and Casodex for 30 months. PSA went back up tho, so back on the Lupron Train

My best to you both. Fight on

Randy

[Hidden]

Docetaxel was very nearly a total disaster for me (and still recovering after 2 years), but I do recognise that it has worked well for others. So the problem is to pre-select who will benefit, and who will not. More work needs to be done to identify good candidates (I suspect less than 10%). The overall numbers are awful.

In the bigger picture, anything that compromises the immune system slows the killing of cancer cells, and such treatments should be gone into with your eyes open. Docetaxel almost totally destroys the immune system for some time, and does not kill any cancer cells (apparently it just slows new growth when it works, accelerates growth when it does not).

[Rexwaterbury in reply to Hidden]

Sorry, but I do not agree with this statement at all.

[CalBear74 in reply to Rexwaterbury]

Rex, please elaborate on your points of disagreement with David. We can handle it.

[Hidden in reply to Rexwaterbury]

Rex - This was my experience, and I acknowledged that for others it is different. If you have some inside knowledge of how and why Docetaxel differs from the "text-book" way it is supposed to work, I am sure we would all be interested. Especially if you know how to filter out the ones that are not going to survive treatment. I regard this inadequate pre-selection of candidates as malpractice. After 20 years of use, one would expect a long list of clear guidelines in the selection process, and a whole lot less "errors".

I never did find any literature that looked like my experience - except a few hints from others in this forum who also had a bad experience. Go for it - we are tough guys, but if you repeat the "usual" story I may be tempted to shoot you down in flames. Your homework had better be good. This very debate is a life and death decision for most of us in this forum, and I am sure we would welcome some reliable information.

[monte1111]

Some side effects to chemo, but had results, would do it again. Have foot neuropathy, so may consider icing feet. Will stay on lupron I am sure. Know of at least one person here who had chemo and Xtandi at same time, but guessing not.

[immunity1]

Rex, David and others. I have CRPC and have previously postponed docetaxel therapy and substituted radiotherapy (Lu177). However, my time may have come for it. So I would be grateful of a range of our readers' opinions, of the effects of docetaxel, in addition to the usual medical blurb that I know. I also know that the topic has been covered numerous times in the past, so sorry for the repetition. =Rob.

[riichardd]

Hi,

I had Docetaxol after I was diagnosed in Jan 18. It was more tolerable than I thought it might be. I had 6 cycles, the main problem I had was fatigue but some of that may have been due to the zoladex I was on at the time. I followed advice from people on the forum and used ice to help prevent neuropathy which seemed to work. I did lose some hair but most of it grew back again.

Drink as much as you can and exercise this will help you get through it.

Unfortunately it didnt work for me the cancer progressed through the treatment. Ive also had a poor response to enzalutamide. I have just started Pembrolizumab second dose on Friday. Have you any advice to give me regarding side effects and how to mitigate them?

Best of luck with your treatment going forward.

Richard