Some of you may remember that I decided to do chemo even though Lupron, Prednisone and Zytiga have me with a 0.02 PSA and a T <10. My only side effects are manageable hot flashes. Today my bone scan showed no new activities and some Mets that seem to b disappearing. My current MO talked me into staying with Z n P. Since the hormone therapy works so well on me, I am going to stick with it.
Because the MO that suggested chemo asked me to stop taking Z and P, I haven’t taken any pills for the past 2.5 months. Interesting that during this 2.5 month drug vacation, my PSA stayed at .02 and my T went down. None the less, I am going to start taking my Z n P tonight.
Some other brave Guys, like Dark Energy, are doing chemo plus hormone therapy. It still makes sense to me but with my first chemo infusion appointment only 8 days away, I chickened out ...... or did I just make the correct decision?
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Fitzbruce1
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If I were you and had 0.02 PSA and T less than 10....I will continue with Z+P as long as PSA does not start a steady and clear upward trend.. Keep doing what is working.
There are men who stayed in undetectable PSA with Z+P ..for many many years.
There is not cure for metastatic prostate cancer. Quality of life matters and negative side effects should be considered when deciding treatments. Chemo could cause permanent peripheral neuropathy. The neuropathy is usually a sensory neuropathy but it could be associated with motor problems reducing strength and mobility.
Some opinions about chemotherapy treatment in PC by a real expert:
"What kinds of side effects can patients expect from chemotherapy? What are you hoping to reduce?
Dr. Dorff: One of the most concerning side effects is the peripheral neuropathy, which can become permanent, but I don’t want to scare any readers.
Can you explain what that is?
Dr. Dorff: It’s damage to the small nerves out in the fingers and toes that can manifest as numbness or pins and needles, burning kinds of discomfort. That can be permanent.
Is there anything patients can do before or during getting chemo to reduce the likelihood of that happening?
Fitz, that's great your PSA is still 0.02 after stopping ZnP for almost three months. Probably Lupron has helped keep it low? Would it be worth asking your MO if you should just stay on Lupron only?
I noticed something similar, I was on ZnP and Lupron together for three months heading into radiation, and my BP went sky high, from 110/70 to 165/98. I stopped ZnP two months ago, and continued with Lupron, and BP has dropped to 140/91 and PSA is steady at 0.03. I don't want to go back on ZnP, I didn't tolerate it well, at least with Lupron.
Although I do tolerate Z n P well, I feel like you do about at least cutting back on them or at least doing drug vacations from them on occasion. I didn’t take over 300 Zytiga pills or 75 Prednizone pills and everything was still good. A bit perplexing!
My Mets went from very visible all over all my bones and psa of 500 to not visible and Psa of ND by doing all of this, albeit in different stages. I’m almost three years in and wouldn’t have changed my treatment at all. No neuropathy for me. But your conditions might be different.
There’s nothing chicken about you. This is tough stuff. Hang in there.
I did taxotere and carboplatin simultaneously while on casodex. I rolled from casodex to Z and P with Lupron in 7/17. The monitored me very closely I admit since it was a lot at once. My thoughts are with you!
I just finished 6 Chemo sessions with Docetaxel and it helped to bring my PSA down to 0.1, so yours at 0.02 looks pretty good to me. What rationale was touted as the benefits for you to have chemo? 😎 DD.
I got a second opinion by driving to the Moffit Cancer Center in Tampa. The Oncologist that I met with said that the Zytiga had already done its job, and that continuing w Zytiga was not going to better my situation. He believed in hitting it hard with a different approach (Docetaxel) would be best. I was on board but bailed out a month before the start of treatment, in large part to the voices on this site.
I needed the Chemo to kill and shrink the tumours in my prostrate and bladder, as well as the mets on my pelvis. The one in the bladder grew over my left ureter which blocked off the flow from that kidney. This was the urgency in my case, as there was a good chance of me losing my bladder. So I had limited choices.
I had an antegrade stent put into my ureter and started chemo. I got through the 6 sessions but my white blood cell count did not bounce back as expected last week (neuropenia) so I had to have 5 daily injections of Filgrastim, I'll see if it worked next Tuesday when I have my next blood test. If it did, I'm scheduled to have a cyscotopy next Thursday to see if the Chemo got all of the tumour and if so, I can get the stent out. Fingers crossed 🤞.
Finally, I have a PSMA PET scan lined up in two weeks to see how I'm looking overall. So the Chemo was bearable. I lost my hair, lost my appetite but I didn't vomit or have any diarrhea issues. So not so bad. You should be fine, cheers 😎DD.
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Diagnosed almost 3 years ago
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