John just started a carboplatin and cabazitaxel combo chemo Tuesday. Between the anti nausea med and the overall side effects the first three days after were pretty awful. He was so groggy and sleepy and fatigued.
Any suggestions other than acupuncture which we will add soon? Maybe it’s time to check out BIRM!?! Or?
BTW before anyone asks, PSA 1300, Gleason 4+5/9, bone Mets, lymph, no organs.
Was on firmagon/Xgeva , now back to Lupron just to keep the testosterone low - his is under 7.
Zytiga did nothing
He had 9 sessions of Docetaxel with Dr Tagawa -Weill Cornell- and it was a walk in the park. Only felt good. Some lymph tumors diminished but a new adrenal showed up, hence the change to the carbo/cabazi (Dana Farber-Dr Chris Sweeney)
( we relocated to Cambridge)
Also going to see Dr Drake to see if immunotherapy would do anything for John’s situation
Any thoughts?
Grateful for y’all
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WXYZ123
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You are receiving excellent care at present. At this stage IMO there is at least as much to lose as to gain by changing medical providers and treatment protocol. All the best to you and your husband, judg69
My hubby had 9 of cabazitazel + carboplatin last year. He was “lucky” that the only side effect was fatigue. Days 3 and 4 were the worst. Absolutely flattened him. Slept close to 20 hrs day.
We have 2 oncologists, one local for most treatments including chemo, and Dr Aggarwal at UCSF.
His last infusion was Oct 31st. His scans were stable until the last ones the end of June which showed a little progression. He never had any pain until recently and is able to manage it with ibuprofen alone, and never more than 2. He’s been getting Keytruda infusions and has another set of scans tomorrow. His PSA is higher than it has ever been, 80 something, but we new Keytruda was unlikely to result in a decrease, and Dr A puts more faith in the scans and pain level. We see him on Aug 6th and we will go from there.
Ginseng is an herb not recommended actually. Check out the Memorial Sloan Kittering herb site. It will tell you about each of the herbs out there and their interaction with conditions and treatment. Fatigue is tough to battle. One suggestion that can help is to have a scheduled short walk three times a day to get some exercise and fresh air. Stay strong
I saw BOOST aviator oxygen on the forum and tried it. Helped a little. Buy cans of it online. Not expensive. I used NuVigil broken in half sparingly in the morning a years ago. Took a full one on vacation in 2008 and stayed up 2 days.
Sorry John has been feeling so bad. However, the side-effects you describe are quite normal with this kind of Chemo combination. So I would stick with it for now in the hope that it really helps and does more than Docetaxol was able to do. Get plenty of rest, a little bit of gentle exercice, eat well, drink plenty of water, and try and keep a positive mindset all helps I am sure.
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Oncologist/chemo treatment 
Chemo
PSA Doubled in 2 Months 
PSA doubling as Zytiga failing
