Hi Nidge
After chemo I had 6 big doses of radiotherapy to the prostate as my onco said there was "some evidence" that even though like you I have mets bashing the mother ship could reduce PSA increases initial severity. After that I had a MRI about 3 months later to compare with the MRI pre treatment. It was good news for me as it said " there are no visible signs of cancer" my lymphs had shrunk from a cancerous 3.5 cm to normal size of less than 0.5 cm. I was then on 3 monthly PSA checks but then it rose from 0.3 to 4 so they started me on Abbi which seems to be working as now back at 0.5. I asked about another scan but they said they don't do any more until PSA is increasing. That does worry me a bit as I have read about further spread without an increase in PSA but onco said as my presenting PSA was so high (342) that my cancer appears to be closely linked to PSA whereas some men have a PSA of 1 and get PC and in that case they would scan more as only way to see what was really happening.
Hi Jim, I was very lucky on docetaxl, side effects, hair loss 50% , taste buds dented ( tongue went black for 4 days initially), fragile nails and skin on hands/feet ( used nutrogena a hand and nail cream twice daily which improved things), numb feet ( still no feeling a year on, most other side effects gone), hot flushes ( still here now and worse but may be hormone invoked rather than chemo I guess), don't sleep very well, nose bleeds whilst on chemo ( I say nose bleeds but really I would wake with nostrils full of dried blood that's all). I did feel sick on day 4 of first chemo so doc said take anti sick pills for 6 days as they are otherwise harmless so I did and never felt sick again. I did not put on weight although my face puffed up due to steroids, I also ran most days and did a couple of marathons whilst on weeks 13 and 15 of chemo. I stopped working because I could as I was 49 and my employer left me on full pay, if they had not done that I could have gone in most days to a desk job I think although mentally I was not in a good place then so if you are like me i would recommend not if you can avoid it. I also had an occasion when my temperature rocketed due to injections to stimulate red blood cells, went to a&e and was on antibiotics through a drip within an hour plus lost of morphine as I had a bad reaction to the blood cell injection but all delt with over 1 night.
An advantage of early chemo is that you can have it again later on( and again) when the cancer returns, I am pleased I had it and all the above were minor niggles rather than real issues.
I feel good now 18 months on , still running , still working ( but part time as mental stuff still my issue).
Kev
Edited by member 26 Jun 2016 at 08:31
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