My wonderful, loving husband, Steve, will have his final Docetaxel treatment today, Dec. 3rd. Yay! As those of you who have been down the chemo road know, it hasn't been a picnic so he's happy to see this day finally arrive.
We read all the chemo tips on this site and others before he started treatment and we are sure they helped him avoid some of the worst side effects. He iced his feet, hands and head, although 13 days after his first treatment his hair fell out so the ice cap wasn't used for the subsequent treatments. By icing his feet and hands he's avoided neuropathy, except for a little bit of numbness on the bottom of his feet. He also did a modified fast before every chemo treatment too, which we hope will aid the effectiveness of the chemo. We won't know until he has his first scans next month to see if treatment has helped with his bone metastases.
Since the chemo is cumulative the side effects he's had have gotten worse each time. The worst for him has been thrush. He used Nystatin at first but it never fully went away so his MO added Kessler's Cocktail ( a compound pharmacy concoction of Lodocaine and Mylanta, aka Magic Mouthwash) now he uses both medications. His thrush after his 5th treatment was particularly bad so he's expecting this last treatment to be about the same. He always feels great the first 3 days after chemo because of the Dexamethasone they give him before his infusion but about the 4th day he has a chemo crash. This last time he also had a little nausea for about 4 days and that was the first time he ever experienced that. He took medication for it which helped. He also developed a rash but it is not caused by the chemo but by the immunotherapy drug (Opdivo) that he is taking as part of a Phase 2 clinical trial. The rash always starts to clear up just in time for the next treatment. Once his chemo treatment ends he will be on Opdivo once a month for approximately 2 years, as long as it seems to be working. His PSA has not reached his nadir yet and continues to go down every 3 weeks which is a good sign. His PSA as of Nov. 12th was 0.11.
Steve participates on this site (under the user name Stevana) more than I do so if you have any specific questions, feel free to contact him directly. I wanted to write because I am so very proud of how he has gotten through this. After being married 43 years I am learning even more reasons why I love him. He's handled this shocking diagnosis with bravery, humor and his usual good nature. I bought him a ball cap inscribed with “Chemosabe”, but the young nurses just didn’t get the cultural reference. Here’s to his last chemo treatment and continued good progress!
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Avanat
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Thank you Whimpy. My wife has really helped me through it thus far. Still not happy with ADT (Firmagon) effects on muscle mass loss. Once last dose chemo wears off plan to start hitting the weights and regaining my strength. Your posts are both funny and heartfelt and have always left me encouraged. Keep them coming. Best of holidays to you and family.
Muscle mass, what’s that? I can barely recall ..it’s been so long .. I always say “ without her , there would be no me” love is the cure amigo . You’re fighting for life and to be with her . These are the reasons to live . Peace amigo , great job doing chemo, I’ve yet to have that pleasure ,but rest up recover well and let that chemo send those little bastards back to the hell from which they came .. 💪😷🏋🏽♂️👍
My husband is gonna start chemo in few weeks , I’m so worried since I have no idea of what to expect! He also looks sad and unsure. May I ask beside loosing hair, nausea and numbness, what else I should be aware of? Are they able to have a normal life during months of chemotherapy? Like eating , walking, working, sleeping, ....? I really appreciate if you share your experiences with me.
To answer your questions. I was able to work through chemo but was weak starting third day after chemo. Then had to take 3 days off. Walking became more difficult as I progressed though cycles 7,8 and 9 and I needed help getting my grip and lunch box up into my locomotive. Had to add a lot more spice to my life for eating, kielbasa and sauerkraut , rare cooked steak and eggs, and ice cream sandwiches were some of my standard fair. Sleeping was always a problem as I was on call 24/7 and had no normal schedule. Added Xtandi to my mix after PSA rise after cycle 4 and it really pounded me. After chemo I had two surgeries and had to take 6 weeks off work. By week 4 xtandi made me a complete invalid and had to cut dosage to survive. Two weeks of lower dose and I was able to go back to work. Don't know how I could have made it through without loving care from my wife of 42 years. Now 2 years later I still have neuropathy in hands and feet. Gabapentin helps with burning pain and numbness. Black cohosh root for hot flashes helps with sleep. (Megace worked better, but affected my driving ability). Wow, too much info. Best of luck to you and yours.
Did 6 and handled them well. Continued through 9 cycles three weeks apart and stopped acct xtandi and docetaxel side effects together were debilitating. Beat me up pretty badly, but pushed cancer into remission.
When I went through chemo at age 64, I ran 5 miles 4 times a week. I also lifted weights the other 3 days. Towards the end of treatment I started to wear down a bit. In a nutshell I lived life normally during my infusions.
Hello Seabird,I’m sorry I haven’t responded earlier. My husband will be responding so you can hear (or rather read) it firsthand. As you can see from the responses, side effects can vary with each person. We read this forum and other sites to find out all the things we could do to help mitigate some of the side effects. I would definitely get ice socks (chemo socks on Amazon) and have your husband ice his hands during chemo. Steve used frozen water bottles which he held while wearing light weight gloves.
Here are two links of helpful hints regarding chemo along with many replies. I hope your husband fares well with the side effects. Good luck!
Hi Seabird, Sorry for late response but better late than never as they say. As you can tell my wife is pretty involved in my journey. She’s the reason I have hope and keep fighting on. I couldn’t do it without her. So your involvement is a crucial asset to your husband’s mental and physical well binging. He’s lucky to have you as a partner in his corner. As Alana said in her post I just finished my chemotherapy (six cycles of Docetaxel along with a clinical trial drug Nivolumab) about 10 days ago
You should first understand that most patients' experiences on chemo vary in what side effects they may experience. My wife's post pretty well explains my experience. I would only add that the fatigue increased considerably with the past two doses. In the first four cycles the dexamethasone (a steroid, three-tablet dose I received right before the chemo injection was started) really helped give you an energy boost for 2-3 days after. Your husband should take advantage of this time to do some good strenuous activity to help sweat out the dead cancer cells and reduce the side effects of the Docetaxel. He will crash later, but the severity of the fatigue will be lessened. In my last two cycles, despite receiving the usual dose of dexamethasone, but because of the cumulative effects of the chemo, I just didn’t have the energy to be as active.
The Nystatin I was prescribed for thrush (and your husband may not experience this since it a low percentage side effect) works well. If he develops thrush I’d highly recommend asking for a prescription. You just swish it in you mouth and either spit it out or swallow it. Since the fungus that causes thrush originate in your gut and travels to your mouth I swallowed it to attack it at the source. However, I’d causation against over doing this as it can cause intestinal discomfort over time. I did experience some minor nausea and vomited once early on. Later, in the last two cycles I had some minor nausea (this could have been from swallowing too much Nystatin) but never threw up. It’s since cleared up once I stopped swallowing the Nystatin, so it may not have been related to my chemo treatments.
Right now I’m slowly feeling better each day and hope to have my taste buds back soon. I’ve experienced some minor neuropathy in my hands and feet (despite icing them during treatments) but that is starting to subside each day. I hope this bit if information will help your husband with what to anticipate with his chemo treatments. As I said earlier, experiences can vary per individual. Hopefully his experience will be as relatively minor in terms of side effects as mine has been. Good luck to both of you on your journey.
Happy Holidays to you and family. 💪🌈😍
PS: drink copious amounts of water everyday while on chemo. It dries you out like you have been placed in a kiln.
Great treatment response and good news. Seems like we don’t have enough good news here as much as we need. Steve has to be really encouraged with that low psa. Steve’s best asset is you , a great wife and caregiver to be so knowledgeable and involved in Steve’s treatment. How good is that !! Been married 42 years here myself.
Hello Avanat wife of 43 years to Stevana, Good news...and great detail for anyone who's going to be chemo-ed....
Just to let you know that the young nurses you mentioned are the new normal (no sense of humor) and that they heard that the Indian (Indigenous People - more new normal) word “Chemosabe” means son of a bitch in English.
Steve must sing "Want a good life get a good wife" every time he takes a shower.
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