Taxotere Begins Tomorrow 5/4/2016

Well the date is finally here, tomorrow I begin the 6 treatment schedule of Taxotere.

First, I would like to thank everyone that has posted, responded and detailed there journey through this course of action. I feel completely informed from your posts, just like I did for surgery and SRT.

I will be combining Lupron (had the shot Mar 2nd) and Taxotere. My last Tax treatment will be on August 17th, my 68th birthday. Hopefully this will be a birthday that I can celebrate for a few years as a result of this treatment knocking my Pca down for a few years and not requiring me to be on drugs. You never know, I could be one of the lucky ones to get a few years out of it.

Thanks to your posts about Tax, I feel I have a plan:

Bought a crap load of 16oz water bottles. I really dislike drinking plain water from my experience of spending 20 years umpiring on the college ball field and needing to drink 4-6 bottles during every game. To me it is just boring. My plan is to consume at least 8 per day for a total of 128oz.

My Personal Trainer Certified son has recently moved back home from Los Angeles and says he has developed a plan for me to move and try to keep some strength and muscle. This could turn into a love/hate relationship, but I will definitely give it a try.

There has been much posted about minimizing neuropathy so I have attained the following info from the infusion lab;

>They are equipped with an endless supply of hands and feet ice packs to help with this issue. The medical explanation for this is that the ice helps to close the capillaries in the extremities preventing much of the Tax drug from getting there. Sounds good to me as long as it doesn't result in frost bite. They do this with almost all of their chemo infusions.

>They also have constant crushed ice to chew during the infusion to minimize the mouth sore and taste issues.

Chemo Crash

This is something I have a little personal knowledge and experience with. My late wife was on chemo/pills for a number of years and one of the components of her treatment was Dexamethasone. This is the steroid that is infused at the beginning of each treatment. She took her Dex pills on Friday morning and by the afternoon "Steroid Stella" came to visit for the weekend. She had more physical and conversational energy than she had every exhibited. Some times I just had to leave for a while to give my ears a rest. So I am ready for this and have warned the family. That also means that my crash days will be on the weekend. However in my world of retirement every day is a Saturday. In fact the clock in my home office only shows the day of the week and whether it is daylight or dark. I plan all of my activities based on this clock. Having crash days on the weekend works for me because there will be baseball and sports on TV to watch. I can't imagine having to rest up on the weekdays, soap operas and such just don't work for me.

I am also prepared for the hair loss. Recently I hosted about 30 of our fellow HW members at my home and during their stay here we had a head shaving party. The one side benefit of this that I have noticed is the minimizing of the duration of hot flashes I have begun to experience as a result of the Lupron. The flashes aren't severe at all, but they seem to pass more quickly without the hair holding in the heat.

I don't believe I missed anything in my preparations, but feel free to chime in if you feel there is something I should know. This place has been a tremendous wealth of information and support to me since my diagnosis almost 7 years ago and now it will be once again.

I plan to post after each session for those that may also be traveling down this road in the future.

And YES, "Every Day is Still a Bonus in My World", it is just that some are better than the others.

Sonny

We are rooting for you Sonny, and you sound well prepared. If that Personal Trained doesn't work out, just fire his butt. In all seriousness, I will be watching your posts closely as Chemo is part of my near time future.
Michael

Best of luck Sonny.
I did my first infusion exactly a week ago......my lab doesn't provide ice so I brought my own for my feet, hands, and ice chips for my mouth.....not sure this helps since I already have neuropathy, but it makes me feel better. The first couple of days were very easy....then wham Fri, Sat, Sun the chemo crash, loss of appetite, change in taste buds.....all in all a most miserable experience. Today feeling much better, appetite returning but still feel fairly weak.

You've read some of ISU's great suggestions.....especially the water.....hard to drink so much since it tastes like @@@@, but still forced myself.

I'll be following your posts...to see how we each fare.

Mel, I love a good craft beer...actually brewed my own for almost 10 years, but when the chemo blahs/crash hits nothing sounds good. I did get a MM card, but didn't feel like trying any !!

Here's hoping it all goes as planned.

and sorry about the water.

Andrew

Good Luck. about to go through the same myself. 6 week treatment followed by HDR and EBRT for 5 weeks. All the while taking Casodex. I am happy about the plan because of my IDC-P and the lack of any real known treatment plans since most everyone had a reactive plan. Hoping for the best with SE's'

Todd

Hello Sonny,

You've got a cheering section here, already rallied around you ...

Yes, the water ... but go ahead and try some water spiked with fresh lime or fresh lemon wedges, just to mix it up a bit --- herbal teas WITHOUT caffeine, since caffeine dehydrates your system --- fresh fruit juices, from the store or from your kitchen blender --- all these combinations to stay naturally HYDRATED. So, you've got a few options besides just water ...

Glad to hear your clinic has the ice chips and ice bags all ready to go --- a friend of mine did not have that offered, and neuropathy in the fingers followed suit --- another friend of mine forgot to ask for ice chips and he paid a price for it --- he went to a Mexican restaurant a few nights later and couldn't taste the spices for a while. He kicked himself in the pants for that oversight ... the ice chips DURING the infusion seem to preserve the taste buds, somehow, for many chemo patients ... WHATEVER WORKS, right ?!!

Towels were placed at my feet --- ice packs laid on the towels with my feet resting on top of the ice packs --- ice packs placed there for both my hands, as well --- I had NO neuropathy at all --- the method can't hurt, and certainly might help --- I will say that it seems this practice is becoming more prevalent over time --- my oncologist insisted upon it --- it sounded a little far-fetched to me at first, but I'd swear by it now, compared to other friends who didn't have that presented as an option ...

If you discover some further strategies for minimizing chemo side effects, we all would benefit from knowing that --- with all the friends I have in the battle, I am always listening for more techniques that would benefit others ---

You'll feel like an experienced veteran after your first treatment, Sonny ---

Wishing you well with your treatments,

"Iowa State Cyclone" ~ Iowa State University

Sonny, it's so weird, about two hours ago, it popped into my head, "geez, tomorrow is May 4th, Sonny's starting chemo". Then I just noticed this thread.
I'm with the rest of the brothers and sisters here, pulling for you, and Sarina is thinking of you as well. No doubt you'll handle this as well as anyone possibly could.

Your attitude inspires me and psyches me up to handle mine like a man.
Go get em, you'll kill this beast! And you'll have many more bonus days.

Ken.

Sonny,

That's a great plan on the water but as the guys mentioned, it might be hard to get down just the same. It was for me.

There are 2 things that I could almost taste during my chemo rounds - 1. Fish. The flavor of fish was ok to me and sushi was the best. 2. Beer. The skunkier, the better. Something like Heineken was the best for me - sorry Heineken drinkers about the skunky comment.

One more thing - chemo rooms can get cold during your treatments so having a beanie or stocking cap helps a lot. Plus, you'll look like a real hipster!

Good luck Sonny. I'm sure you'll do great!

the best to you Sonny ! i'm not going to say "luck" because luck is for the guy who doesn't have a plan. I will be pulling for you !

ed

Thank you all for the continuing support. We are leaving now for MD Anderson. Treatment is to begin at 10:30am EST. I will report on the first infusion later.

It is raining like hell out there today, hope this isn't some sort of sign. And it is a 45 mile one way trip to the facility.


Sonny