First infusion was Wed July 29. I felt great on Thurs and Friday and did a big bike workout each day. Saturday thru Thursday I had GI issues, some moderate diarrhea for a few of those days, no nausea but weak and tired. By Friday I was much better and Saturday felt great (day 10).
Next infusion Wed Aug 19. I'll be on the watch for GI problems and will eat to attempt to avoid or lessen problems.
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PeakClimber
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Undetectable Psa in Australia means less than 0.01. In other places its 0.1, but what happens below 0.1 is important.
But Pca which does not make Psa is a real worry. I've had a lot of PsMa Ga68 scans to monitor my Pca status, and so far all my Pca has made Psa and also PsMa so Lu177 has so far worked far better than chemo, which failed after 4 shots.
But I also had an FDG PET scan which uses radioactive sugar to make the scan to see if I had any Pca which was not making PsMa, and that was negative, so it seems true so far, that Lu177 will work again on another round of treatments. But I can only guess that all my Pca makes Psa ( different stuff to PsMa ) . Docs have not told me otherwise.
But I guess to that PET FDG scan may work to show Pca mets with no Psa, or very low Psa. Without scans that can see the Pca, doctors are working with a blindfold on.
But today, I am talking to a geneticist about having DNA examined to see if I am Brca1 and 2 positive and thus be suitable patient for use of PARP inhibitors such as olaparib.
This is thought to be ideal adjunctive treatment for me while having Lu177 and and reduce my Pca to undetectable levels with Psa < 0.01, something I have never ever had.
However, I have seen PARP treatment make Pca worse and a friend had it and his Psa went from 40 after failed 10 shots of chemo to 430, and new mets began in his liver and PARP failed, even though he was Brca1+2 positive.
Pca wins when the docs find that nothing works, and Pca develops very fast, and often mutates into some non-treatable form of Pca. My fried died last year, less than 3 years after diagnosis, and RP didn't work, ADT worked only 3 months, Cosadex increased Psa, chemo didn't work, and made him so sick he could not get Lu177, and PARP made Pca worse. It was the kind of nightmare outcome, and he was such a nice man, under 60, with two kids and a nice wife, and his passing was a disaster for his family.
But even at diagnosis in 2009, I had a Gleason 9 tumor at PG which was inoperable, outside capsule, "aggressive and young mans's type of cells", but Psa was only 6. Here the docs only take action to examine for Pca if Psa goes over 5, which mine did in late 2009. In other men, their Psa may have been 50 for the same size and development of tumor at PG, so in effect I was diagnosed about 4-5 years too late, because I bet I had Pca start in 2004 or 2005, when Psa was 3, and when a Gleason 5 might have been found, with no small mets which all scans at that time could see.
If I'd had an RP in in 2004, it may have been successful, ie, stop Pca developing any further from operation site and prevent the start of any distant mets which seems to always happen if a PG tumour goes to Gleason 9 size.
So I had EBRT and ADT and lowest Psa I saw after that was 0.08, but when I finished the the 2 years of ADT the Psa went to 8 again within 6 months, and then my oncologists said I'd have to have ADT for rest of my life and that I may need chemo etc.
That was in 2013, and after re-starting ADT Psa went to 0.2 nadir, but by 2016 it increased and Cosadex, Zytiga were used to suppress but not kill Pca for a further 14 months. These had become drugs not known about when I was diagnosed. Xtandi also became available. Provenge immune therapy looked hopeful, but initial 1 year mean benefit was down graded to 4 months, so it isn't very effective for many men, and extremely expensively. One man emailed me to say it worked for him because Psa stayed very low for 9 years, so he'd had Provenge during time of its development, and his immune cells were able to keep reproducing with the Pca fighting ability. I guess that if his modified immune cells did not pass on the alteration to succeeding generations, the Pca fighting ability would not last and hence give only 4 months of time to kill some Pca cells but not all. There has been huge research been done elsewhere on IT but no widely known and affordable effective treatments have become common clinical treatment widely available so if chemo does not work, and this is very common, and if Lu177 does not work, then a man is in Deep Donga with his Pca, which can win rather too easily.
My PSA has been <0.02 for 12 months, which Dana Farber calls undetectable. I'll need to read your history detail later but thank you so much for the input.
Had my 1st Docetaxel + ADT in July and like you, next 2 days were fine but 3-7th days really suffered (tired, nausea etc). Last week (Aug 13th) had 2nd infusion of just Docetaxel. However, my wife had come across interesting article promoting FMD (Fasting Mimicking Diet) that suggested dieting 2 days before + 1 day after, made chemo more effective dealing with mets. Gave it a try and found side effects were more tolerable and was back on my feet earlier. Will continue FMD process at beginning of next infusion (Sept).
Check out the article link below by Tanya Dorff. You might find it helpful.
Hi, my Dad has his first round of Docetaxel and eligard on Thursday 08/21. He felt great after it on Thursday and Friday. He received the Neulasta shot on Friday at 8:00 PM it has been a down hill roller coaster since. He’s had very little energy and trouble walking. He said his hip and lower spine is hurting. Wondering if this is your case? Seems like he’s been pretty weak Saturday -Wednesday!
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