Psa and docitaxel

whats ur gleason score and do you have spread ?

Gleason 9 

spread to nodes 

Hi

usually it’s six cycles every three weeks which mine was plus being on hormone therapy, then followed by radiotherapy therapy. PSA can fluctuate while having treatment, did they say if there was any metastatic anywhere like in the bones or elsewhere ? I cannot see why they would not give radiotherapy as it’s a standard procedure, sometimes they will give this instead of chemotherapy so I think that will happen, have they said any to the contrary ?

stay safe

Joe

Sorry, I'm not clear how many of the six you've had so far, and how many degarelix injections you've had, and the time scales.

It would probably be worth you putting them in you profile.

Hi Joe

How did you get on with the six cycles of chemo? I start mine on 1 March. What happens at the end of the six cycles? 

I've already had 3 injections of the hormone therapy, which I started in December. My PSA levels back then were apparently 3000. As of last week they are now 922. 

Hi Raffles

I thought my PSA was high at 893, still it will come down even further after all the treatments finish.

Remember everyone is different, what my side effects were may not be yours. I had my hair cut right back as I knew loss of hair is a definite, unless you get a cold cap. The first two days after my first chemotherapy I thought what’s all this about, then that night wham, I was in bed and for eight hours all my body felt like it was on fire, full body sweat, I could barely move. The next day  I was a bit wobbly but more fatigue and tired. Don’t know if it’s changed I had tablets and had to inject myself around my beefy button area. From there mega hot sweats. I took my temperature twice a day morning and night.

The second was simuler to the first except not as bad at night still plenty of hot sweats and hard to sleep. The third was not so great although I stayed in as I knew my blood cells would be low, my temperature went to a hundred and two maybe a little higher, off to hospital where I had to stay in an isolated room, put on a drip vitals checked every few hours, seems I had sepsis, but I felt ok.

They wanted to stop my chemotherapy but I insisted about going on, they did at a slightly reduced dosage, so they agreed. The next three sessions went ok apart from the last, when having the chemo just three quarters in the pack clogged up, lots of people looked at it and I was assured the dose I received was ok.

The side effects while on chemo were hair loss, loss of taste, brown nails, tiredness, fatigue, hot sweats, lack of sleep, plus a couple of trips to the doctors.

I hope this does not put you off, remember we don’t all get these side effects, one thing I tell everyone take your temperature they say once a day is fine, I did two.

Stay safe

Joe

Hi Raffles

As you know we’re all different, what affected me, does not mean the same for you. Anyway the first is the worst, after two days  it hit me, very hot flushes, full body sweats sleeping none existent, fatigue and tiredness, then there’s the loss of taste, nails go brown, the odd headache, peeing a lot loss of hair, being very careful about not bumping into people with colds etc as your blood count is low. On my third session I caught sepsis, which I was in hospital for four days. Fortunately I took my temperature morning and night caught it straight away when my temperature went over a hundred, doing this is a must.

There may be a few other things, check my profile, remember this does not happen to everyone, you must be clear of any colds or whatever before they give you chemotherapy, they check your bloods make sure your up to each session, it’s a back and forth game to the docs or hospital for that. Hope this helps.

Stay safe

Joe

I had 10 cycles. It was arrested slightly and then slowly rose to around 100. My Onclogist tells me not to be too worried by the numbers but I'm about to be sent for a new bone scan.