Starting Chemo what we're your experiences

kak,
I am also young and have adv PCa. I went through chemo in June 08 to Jan 09.

For me, it was very tolerable with just a few side effects.
Here are the things I experienced:
- hair thinning, not complete loss
- fatigue, usually the weekend after treatment, not real bad and not every.
I remained very active.
- the night after treatment was always a sleepless night. They will pump him up with a lot
of steroids. I watched A LOT of movies.
- I did experience metallic mouth. this woudl start the week after treatment and last 7-10 days.
Avoid hot liquids. Some of my favorite foods tasted horrible for months. I did not however experience
loss of appetite.

I purchased frozen packets that I wore on my hands and feet. I'm not saying this works for everyone but I
after doing this I experienced no neuropathy.

Let me know if you have more questions, I'm happy to help

what a heartbreaking thread.  i wish the very best for all you brave guys!

ed

 

F8,
At first I used to think about the ongoing heartbreak. But I've been following David for years now and guys like him have inspired me to no end.

I consider him a very dear friend and such a beautiful man.

Tony

Post Edited (TC-LasVegas) : 1/12/2011 9:13:36 PM (GMT-7)

Hey kak,

I did not have chemo as a PCa treatment but did have it for lung cancer.
Of course the chemical mixture is different but I experieced about the same side effects as David above.

Loss of lots of body hair and about half of my head hair which is now a lot thinner. I plugged the shower drain a couple of times.

Severe fatigue and nausea. A few days after the infusion it would hit and I had to go to the center for help a number of times. They have some magical potion that took care of it. They can do a lot of things to relieve the side effects so don't be afraid to ask when things get rough.

Mouth sores. They gave me another magical potion in a bottle that handled it pretty well.

Metallic taste and loss of appetite. Between lung surgery and chemo I lost 30 pounds.

Some nerve damage. It really set my ED recovery from the prostatectomy back to the start. Had the shakes a lot but that has nearly gone away.

The key in getting through chemo is to talk to the oncologist and infusion nurses. Make a list of the side effects he has in order to be prepared for the meetings. They have meds for nearly all the sides - take advantage.

Best of luck to you and him.

Jim

Hi, kak.  My husband is 57 and recently had his third Taxotere treatment.  Side effects have been similar to what David described.  For my husband, the worst seemed immediately after the first treatment.  He was extremely tired and miserable with severe constipation.  He now makes sure to take a laxative around the time of the infusion. 

He had a Neupogen shot a week after the first treatment and experienced severe bone pain.  The most recent course of chemo, his white count was sufficient so that the onc. did not require him to have the Neupogen.  If needed again, we will pretreat with painkillers to avoid this severe reaction. 

We are concerned about colds and flu and try to do a lot of hand washing - my husband does wear a surgical mask in public if he goes out when his blood counts are low.  So far have been lucky. 

For my husband at least, the side effects seem to have gotten a little easier.  We are hoping for a good PSA this time around to really lift our spirits.  My husband is retired but I do know many continue to work through chemo.  If your husband has some flexibility in hours and his job is not physically demanding, I think it would be very possibe.

Good luck to you and your husband - let us know how it goes.

Danielle

Post Edited (DanielleS) : 1/13/2011 7:43:05 PM (GMT-7)