Seeking your experiences with Taxotere

Hello Deannakay,

My Dad had a very short sucess time on hormone treatment, but some men have had great results so please don't be down hearted hope for the best.
unfortunatly my Dad already had a PSA of 800+ bone mets before being diagnosed. Had Kidney Stents fitted and started on hormone injections every three months, at 6 months his PSA was 20, three months later PSA 80 he was then put on casodex for 6 weeks PSA 600+ by the time he started Taxotere PSA around 1000.
Now the good news Taxotere has reduced his pain by 90% and he now has much better mobility he is also eating much better (had lost loads of weight). First 2 Taxotere treatments PSA still rising but slower 3rd treatment PSA drop (small). Last week Dad had radiothearpy to hip and pelvis.
Tomorrow he will have his pre treatment appointment and we are hoping for a further PSA drop. Thursday Dad will have his 5th Taxotere treatment.
I have gained a lot of information from Healing Well, It helps me to know what treatments are available, I like to be prepared for the worse and hope for the best. I understand when you say you want the truth but there are no clear answers as you will have seen from the posts everyone is different.
Best Wishes to you. NO ONE FIGHTS ALONE!

Hi Deanna,

I was diagnosed a year ago with prostate cancer. I was started immediately on Lupron shots. My initial PSA last year was over 100. This summer, I was approved for the additional TAXOTERE chemotherapy treatment, in addition to the Lupron hormone shots. I am still in the middle of the TAXOTERE treatments, but my PSA has gone all the way down to less than 0.10 these past few weeks. My side effects from the TAXOTERE have been mild, and I go to work every day, for which I am thankful.

My urologist oversees the Lupron treatments, while my oncologist oversees my TAXOTERE chemotherapy treatments.

I want to send this as a message of hope, support, and encouragement to you and your husband. I am mindful of all that you are facing.

Deanna,
My husband just did chemo #4 a week ago. His PSA when he started was 14.82 & a week ago it was 1.9. The CTC (Circulating Tumor Cells) blood work pre chemo was 16. A much better prognosis would be to have it below 5. The CTC result last week was 0. Amazing, right?
Two more treatments to go.

I believe there are clinical trials out there for men who have a rising PSA after a number of treatments have failed. Some of the men here are pretty well versed on these matters and I'm sure someone will get on here to help you out with some info.

I understand you wanting to know what to expect and to some degree you can learn what may happen. How your husband may react to a particular treatment. But the one thing that can change everything is this - everyone is different.

You can see by the signature below, its been a long road for us but what you can't see is this: A life being lived that has it's share of tears and pain but much more so, laughter and love. Marriages have taken place, dear family members have passed and babies have been born. Life has happened and we have had the enormous gift of being a part of all of it together. We don't know how long this will last but right now it's where we are.

Part of what has gotten him so far is his attitude, the support & love of family and a good team of doctors.

I join the others here in saying, you have my support - my email is available.

Deanna I wish you all the best,
Susan (myman)

Deanna,
Here's my taxotere story.

In July of 2012 (at age 54) I was diagnosed with stage 4 prostate cancer. Gleason 8, PSA 11. I was fortunate enough to be admitted to one of the last groups in an NIH clinical trial at the Mayo Clinic which administered Taxotere on the "front end" of treatment along with the hormones (casodex and lupron) which were started immediately after my diagnosis.

I had six chemo sessions, starting in October and ending in early February 2013.

By January my PSA was non-detectable and my bone scans were negative.

Then in March I had a relapse. My PSA was .11 in March in .14 in April (Yes, that's a "point 11"...I have one of low PSA but aggressive tumor types). My bone scans were still negative but the tumor had started growing again and had gone from the prostate and lymph node into my bladder.

In May 2013 I had TURP surgery (my urologist confided to me afterwards he had "scraped the crap out of the tumor"...I assume that meant he removed more than was typical for a TURP surgery?) Then in July/August 2013 I had 33 sessions of IMRT radiation.

Since September 2013 my PSA has been non-detectable and there are no signs of cancer anywhere in my scans. Even the lymph node has "shrunk back to normal size."

In conclusion I believe the taxotere on the "front end" of therapy in combination with the hormones is what saved my life, or at the very least greatly prolonged it. My theory is that while the tumor had invaded the bone surface the taxotere killed the tumor before it made it to the marrow.

The NIH recently released the results of the clinical trial, which began in 2006, and reported that administering taxotere on the "front end" of the therapy with hormones had resulted in a 50/50 chance for stage 4 patients to still be alive after 50 months, a 14 month increase over the placebo group. It's a mystery to me why it took the medical community so long to realize the benefits of applying chemo on the front end. It's not like docetaxel hasn't been around for a while.

I wish you and your husband all the best. Keep in mind in the early stages of my diagnosis I was told by various doctors at the Mayo that I must "assume the tumor will eventually be fatal", "It's not a matter of if, but when this thing kills you" and "There is no way you're going to be alive three years from now."
Then last year when all of my scans came back negative and my PSA was non-detectable I was told "Congratulations! It is now likely you will die from something other than prostate cancer."

Keep fighting. There's no telling what the future will bring.

Post Edited (BlueCoyoteAZ) : 10/22/2014 11:35:12 PM (GMT-6)

Thanks SO MUCH for your replies.
Adjust, you gave me exactly what I was asking for. It is hard for me to explain to others, but we are blessed to have a very supportive group of "cheerleaders" around us. My husband and I have six children between us, and they offer positivity and support. That seems to be what my husband needs. What I need is probability, based on facts. I want that along with equal doses of hope. I fell into such a dark hole at the initial diagnosis. I think I cried the whole months of April and May, that I NEVER want to go to such a bad place again. I want to live life fully today AND to be prepared with knowledge of what "could come", and what maybe "should be done", ... it makes living life right now easier for me.

TheresaXX, sounds like your dad and my husband started off at about the same degree. I will be pulling for him, I know it is tough.

SpecialLady, thanks for your reply. It never dawned on me that I shouldn't be negative towards Taxotere, based on his quick failure on HT. Thanks for bringing that to my attention, it helped. I will be pulling for you and your dad.

ISU-Cyclone, I am really happy you started Taxotere with the Lupron. I wish my husband had. We started with a urologist in April who did not mention it, though it WAS mentioned to me on this forum, and I wish I had pushed my husband more. At the time, he was fine with just starting with the HT. Once the HT started to fail quickly, we started with an oncologist in August who mentioned that starting the two together gives the best results. BTW, I live in NV now, but will always be an Iowa Girl at heart. Though it is "go Hawks" for me. Thanks for your reply, and I will be pulling for you.

Kuku, I have followed what you and Paul have been experiencing, and I will be pulling for the two of you. Remember, that No One Fights Alone, and I know he is blessed to have you.

Myman, Thanks for your your kind words. I will be pulling for you. Even in our oncologists office he has a sign that says "ask about clinical trials", I don't know why it is so difficult for my husband to get there. He definitely wants to beat this for as long as he can, he just puts so much stock into following protocal. I read more, I research more, and I need him here with me, so I just would love for him to "think outside the box" and be THAT ONE you hear about. He is willing to drink more carrot juice than anyone should be willing to. I think he does it to make me feel like I am doing something. :)

BlueCoyote - your story is completely inspiring, and I am sooo happy for you. I wish that for everyone here at Healingwell.

So far with three treatments of Taxotere, he has become a little more fatigued with each treatment. He says he feels like he has emphysema , and he has never been a smoker. It is hard for me to see. He has continued to work each day, though not as long. He has had a few mouth sores, and says food all tastes like metal to him. He has neuropathy in a few finger tips. He did mention after treatment two that his fingernails were starting to feel loose, but he has not lost any. He did lose all his hair after the first treatment. The worst pain came from the neulasta shots, and we have been able to keep the pain down the last two times, more than the first, which was very intense. My husband is a ROCK, but he has had two emotional meltdowns in the middle of the night about 14 days after each treatment. This is has definitely been the hardest part. I will add, last Saturday, this same man and I went walking through the woods in Lake Tahoe and came across a bear which we watched until he awoke, and then we cautiously followed him down to a stream and watched him fishing for trout for an hour. We ARE living life.

Once again, I appreciate all of you here, thank you for giving ME what I needed.
Deanna

No One Fights Alone!

Thanks for the reply Tednsal. What a long battle you and your husband have had, I am glad the PSA is going in the right direction. No one fights alone!!!