I know everyone doesn’t respond the same but here is my experience and what I went through with 10 rounds of chemo. Before I started I had already been on Lupron for five years, I had radiation to multiple bone Mets, took zytiga/xtandi, had Provenge and did a clinical trial. October 26 2023 I started chemo as my cancer was progressing. My PSA at the start was 17. I won’t know the PSA result after the 10th since I just had the 10 treatment 3 days ago but here are my readings from October 23-May 24 being checked every 3 weeks
17, 9.6, 6.4, 3.6,2.8, 1.8, 1.6, 1.6, 1.4, and the last 1.6.
The side effects were very tolerable, and other than one night when I ran a fever and spent the night in the hospital ,I did not miss any work except my treatment days. I was 51 and turned 52 during treatment and still raising my twin boys with my daughter away in college (single parent). I was able to exercise throughout until a hipimpingement sidelined me last month. Probably a result of previous tumors contributing to that. For me the worst part was had an allergic reaction every time during my treatments,but the nurses and doctors were able to keep it pretty mild with extra drugs. I had fatigue for about four or five days after treatment. My taste buds are pretty rotten for about 10 days after treatment and then they start to come back.. before chemo and since my diagnosis, I have been very active, eating very healthy and exercising regularly. And again I was able to maintain that until my hip bothered me. I’m getting an MRI to check that out, but God willing planning to get back active. All in all it was not as bad as I thought it could be.. I did not lose all my hair, but it is thinner. I’m hopeful to take a break, but realistically it may not be a long one before the next thing which will probably be pluvicto. So for anyone dreading chemo, I dreaded it for five years and I won’t say it was easy, but it was very tolerable. And it at least did its job. I am thankful for that and good luck to all your warriors out there.
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Oct18
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oh yeah, that was the main reason I meant to make my post and I completely forgot. Again this is just my experience so take it for what it is worth. I didn’t no ice to my feet or hands or head, I had no neuropathy and kept most of my hair, I did ice chips in my mouth nine times and taste buds were awful so I really don’t believe ice made any difference for me whatsoever .
similar experience. i did lose most of my hair and all but eyelashes are back about a year later. hair turned white after growing back.
unfortunately chemo did not do too much other than possibly delaying progression a little.
followed with Pluvicto but that is on hold due to bad blood levels. Targeted radiation next, not really sure why this was the next choice but I think I have a good team making the decisions.
Thanks for the info. I start docetaxel chemo a week from tomorrow. Trying to anticipate all the contigencies, but you can't. We'll be prepared as best we can and roll with it!
i had my first round of docetaxel a week and a half ago thursday. friday was ok. saturday was so so. sunday was extremely tired. monday and tuesday were the worse. wednesday started feeling better again.
my taste buds were shot. drink drinks with vitamin and mineral it helps. milk and yogurt and soup got me through it. very little nausea
coffee made me sick so hot chocolate was my morning drink. i still can’t taste salt but anything sweet works well. i hope some of this helps you.
Thank you for sharing the experience. Very helpful. I am in my 8th year and have avoided Chemo for many reasons including hair loss. I did 3 rounds of Pluvicto and was about to do my 4th when I learned that it was not working on the non PSMA cancer which had now spread to the liver. So, I have agreed to doing Cabazitaxel. Not sure if I will be doing the 4th round of Pluvicto or adding other treatment to the chemo.
What is selective internal radiation therapy (SIRT)?
SIRT uses radiotherapy to control cancer in the liver that can’t be removed with surgery. It is a type of internal radiotherapy. It is sometimes called radioembolisation or trans arterial radioembolisation (TARE).
Since I posted a short while ago about my fears of starting chemo, and received a lot of encouragement from you all to proceed, I thought I would add to what you have just said. I have now had 2 of my anticipated 6 docetaxel infusions and the side effects are far less than I anticipated. SEs limited to inflamed nasal passages and some intestinal irregularies but all manageable. Low energy at end of first week is a small price to pay! BTW, I did not use ice gloves or booties or suck on ice chips. Both oncologist and infusion nurses advised that patients did not find it useful, and was uncomfortable (altho they offered ice if I wanted it). The only thing I don't know is if it'll stop my meteoric rise in PSA. Labs just before 2nd infusion didn't show improvement yet....
Thank you for sharing your chemo experience. Your contribution to our Pca group his very helpful to members who are contemplating a chemo route. God bless you and your dear children.
thank you! My boys got their drivers permits few months ago, and that has been the scariest ordeal of my last nine months. The chemo pales in comparison.
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