Docetaxel - Experience’s

Hi, my husband finished 6 rounds of docetaxel in dec.  I found it helped to write  down daily how he felt in terms of mood and pain etc so we had an idea how he would be after each round and what pain relief worked at which time.  
apparently chemo can affect people in different ways and some have few symptoms at all.  my husband found the first week the worst in terms of pain, in particular days 3 through to 8 but coped well after those days but was extremely tired, he found the week before the next round the best so planned our lives around that time.   He didn’t lose the hair on his head but he lost a lot elsewhere and had patchy eyebrows and beard.  he had a lot of other side effects including numbness/pins-neuropathy of feet and hands, he still has this, rashes and many more.
I hope all goes well nut  please feel free to ask anything and if I can answer then I will

wishing you the best 

Hi JNC, thank you for sharing that.  That is really helpful information and advice.  I keep a daily journal so I will keep a note of things for sure.  I wonder does the numbness etc impact on his mobility at all.  It is also good to know the days he found most difficult.  I hope the treatment was helpful for your husband and he is doing well. 

Best wishes

M 

Hi Morton, I noticed your post had dropped down the list, so I thought answering it might take it back up again, don't know anything about dexetaxel so going to look it up.

Hi Ulls, thanks for that.  Not a lot of feedback but I know that Chemo isn’t a first line intervention now in PCa so maybe the benefit will be more if I record my experience here.  Thanks for kicking up the list though 

Hi, no problem, it’s the unknown and we certainly had no clue how he would handle it. He found it didn’t impact on him too much but found it uncomfortable when walking as it was on the balls of his feet as well, it didn’t stop him though.  he did find it difficult picking up small items but that was it. He did get really hot feet so struggled to sleep, we ended up buying a pet cool pad, this worked a treat.  his fingers seem ok in terms of managing now but his feet still some numbness and pins and needles, again manageable.

The day before you  start chemo you will take steroids, you have these for 3 days, these had him on hyper mode so little sleep.  He had 5 days of  injections to boost the immune system, these you administer yourself.  he has 2 days of anti sickness tablets also, all these things help keep side effects at bay.  

I did a lot of reading on symptoms etc and it differed so much I’m each person, some had very little symptoms some a lot.  My husband did get pains in different parts of his body but days 4 to 7 were the worst and had painkillers throughout, including morphine, it’s really important to get the painkillers right to keep on top of it.  he was also very fatigued and for the first week to 10 days had a sleep during the day. 

On a positive note the scans showed it did shrink the large tumours and he will be going for radiotherapy in February.  I hope this helps and I hope you sail through it but remember to let them know how you are feeling as they can offer so much help to get you through it.  My husband was reluctant to do this for the first 4 rounds as he was worried they would stop the chemo or reduce it but when he did finally let them know they helped further with medication etc. 

any questions just ask.  this forum is great and helped answer a lot the questions we had 

very best wishes 

Generally my experience was good. I had 10 cycles with perhaps the best response at about 6-8.You may have some side effects such as loss of taste and a burning esophagus, rash on torso but side effects vary from person to person. Be careful with the risks of infection.      

Thank you Sussex, this is good to hear.  I hope like you I don’t have too bad an experience.  Thanks for the input. 

Cheers

Hi Morton

I had six sessions which is the norm, in my case it hit me like a bus, especially the first, if there was a side effect yours truly got it, but I did come through it, even catching sepsis, third session. I or my wife/carer took my temperature morning and night, so when it went to a hundred plus into hospital I went for four days in isolation, least I had a telly and my wife visited wearing a mask, anyway I would and still might have chemotherapy again if called for, best line of attack.

Stay safe

Joe

Thank you JNC, this is super helpful and great to know all this.  I wont be shy to let them know how I feel. Glad there were positives for your husband at the end of it too.  It makes it seem worthwhile i bet if there is a good outcome. 

Hi Joeven, thanks for this. Sorry to hear you had bad side effects including sepsis! I guess if you would do it again it was a postive outcome.  I have 10 session on my planner thing so maybe they will stop after 6? I’m not sure.  

Thank you for your input, very helpful and hope you are well.