Port Installed

Hi David,

I hope things go well for you now that you are starting chemo. I also want to Thank You for all of the attention you bring to prostate cancer. I have your site saved in my favorites and refer to it quite often. When I think about how this cancer affects the lives of so many I get really angry that there is not more attention brought to this subject. You would think that since this is a couples disease it would get more media coverage, but it is so rare to hear anything about it on TV.

Thank you for all the work and time you put into this, we all gain more insite from people like you.

Warmest Wishes

Diana 

David,

As for the side effects from the chemo:

1. Loss of taste buds. You will have a weird feeling in your mouth. Flavors are very different or non-existent. I have heard that eating ice while taking the taxetere will reduce this effect.

2. Nuropathy has not been a problem.

3. This one is important. Go online and but some Elasto-Gell mittens and wear them when you get the Taxetere. In a recent study the Oncologist found that cooling the hands will reduce the chance of losing your nails. I have done this since day one and have only experienced some nail pain, but no discoloration or loss.

4. Another importane issue. You will most likely get Decadron as part of the proceedure. Got buy some Zantex and take it every day, This steroid can cause some pretty bad heartburn.

5. The Prednisone will change your facial features, more rounded. It will also increase you appetite. I have gained an average of 8 pounds since we started the Prednisone.

6. I get the treatments every 3 weeks. It takes about 1-1/2 to 2 hours to run everything in. They start with the anti-nausa drug, the Decadron, Zometa, and then the Taxetere. We finish of with a flush of saline solution.

7. Hair loss. The hair on my head started to come out 13 days after the first treatment so I went ahead and shaved it off. I can see some growth back, but it is very slow. The grey ones seem to grow faster. I have lost all of my body hair. The ones that rdiation didn't get.

8. Here is my biggest one. Fatigue. It is building with every treatment. In y case it starts on week 2 after the chemo and lasts for around 2-3 days. The energy level never returns back to what I had before each round. I just try to push through and take some afternoon naps.

I read a great article yesterday about Avastin. It has been received accelerated approval for advanced HER2-Negative breast cancer. It is being tested for prostate cancer now. The studies for breast cancer were listed as Ribbon1, Ribbon2 and AVADO. Conducted at the Sarah Cannon Research Institute. Check it out. My article was in "Birmingham Medical News". www.birminghammedicalnews.com.

I hope this helps, brother.

Still in our prayers,

Walt

Hi David,

I'm so glad you're feeling good and it is great to hear you're getting on a good track for your treatments.

I wish you the very best as your forge ahead.

Thank you for keeping us up-to-date.

Kind regards,

Barry