Good morning
Thought I'd jot down these thoughts and observations in the hope that they might help others through their difficult times.
Aged 55 I was first diagnosed with Stage 4 PCa at the beginning of September 2016 after having it confirmed with a PSA >1000, Bone scan, CT scan and an MRI scan. Up until this point I had not symptoms at all; no pain from the prostate and waterworks starting/stopping fine. It was a real shock as the pains in my hips, thighs, spine and lower ribs were incorrectly diagnosed as Vitamin D deficiency!
I was quickly started on five weeks of tablet hormone treatment after which my PSA dropped to 156. As my response was so positive I was then put on tri-monthly hormone injections and tri-weekly Docetaxel chemotherapy.
Just like everyone who hears the word 'chemotherapy' I was very apprehensive about what lay ahead especially given the extensive paperwork addressing the main, often debilitating, side effects. Thankfully a course of Dexamethasone pre/during/post chemo seemed to keep all the worst side effects at bay, but the pains in my hips and thighs increased to the point where I couldn't walk unaided and I developed a fever. After a blood test it was found that my white blood cell count was almost zero and I was given an injection to boost them; thankfully this very quickly resolved both problems.
My second round of chemo, again with the Dexamethasone side order, was less traumatic as I was given a prophylactic white blood cell injection twenty four hours afterwards and, apart the usual tiredness and fatigue, the side effects were negligible. My pre-chemo PSA was now 153. Not as dramatic a drop as previously but still moving in the right direction. The only downside to this chemo session was that I developed a very painful perianal abscess - think red hot mole grips on a very sensitive part - during the third week recovery period. As it was an area of potential infection my consultant was concerned enough to delay my next round of chemo for a week. During that week it seemed to start healing enough to continue with the next chemo session.
But on the day of this third chemo session the abscess started to weep again and was very painful, and mindful that it could have become a fistula, the chemo was again delayed. This was disappointing but there was a silver lining. My pre-chemo blood test showed that my PSA had now dropped to an incredible 0.417! We couldn't believe it; has the PCa been beaten into submission so quickly? My consultant was so pleased with this huge drop in PSA that my next chemo session has been delayed for three weeks in order to try and rectify my abscess/fistula problem. We are obviously over the moon at the results in such a short time, just over three months, and with minimal side effects.
I should add that all the brilliant medical in-put has been augmented by us with the following; which may or may not have played some part but certainly hasn't done any harm:
1. from day one of diagnosis we adopted a totally vegan diet
2. high intake of red/purple antioxidant foods - blueberries, red currants, red cabbage, red peppers, tomatoes etc.
3. lots of spinach and lentils for iron to support blood
4. daily supplement of Turmeric 450mg and Coriolus 300mg (also known as Trametes Versicolor/Turkey Tail).
Obviously can't say for certain if any or all of these help but as I said previously I'm sure they haven't done any harm!
So that's it to date. Obviously we're all very individual and each of us will react very differently to both conventional and alternative medical interventions. Hopefully these jottings can help others and maybe give you some ideas for 'self help'.
Wishing you all the best during your difficult journeys
Boyd