Exhausted during chemo

My dad's going through chemo every week now. He started in the end of april and will keep going until the end of july. He is really exhausted and is sleeping all the time. Food doesn't taste anything so he's lost his appetite as well. He has lost about 8 kilos since the beginning. (1 kilo every week). He had a few kilos extra, so at this point he looks quite normal though.
He's been through chemo several years ago, but he's more tired this time.
Is it possible to die of chemo treatment? (without infections etc)

Are these expected side effects? Should he just man up and finish the treatment?

Now he uses only prednisolone and Taxotere, but I think he's starting Zometa soon

Hello .........

   First of all - table the "man up" thing!

   I've been on taxotere - 30-weeks worth last year! And of course, that included prednisone - in addition to lupron. That's pretty much a standard chemo/HT combination.

   Now - here's where we all differ greatly. Side effects and effectiveness of the treatment.

   On taxotere, my appatite was not affected ... my PSA did go down ... and my catscans showed some improvement. I did have some serious GI problems that I still have now.

   I would certainly guess that the doctors thoughts were to reduce the quantity of the taxotere per infusion - but increase the dosage frequency. His PSA numbers were high and may have required some non-traditional use of the chemo - in other words weekly instead of every three weeks.

   I currently have appatite problems - and that's after 4+months of being off chemo in a "wait and see" period. And I once had them when using Zytiga.

   Again - we all differ!

   Wishing him well on the taxotere.

Rob & Gizmo