Newly diagnosed

Hi There

It is a shock to your system when you receive a diagnosis like that
I went through chemo and one of the side effects is it kills off some of your tase buds each time you have a treatment so things don't taste as you would expect.
I found everything tasted horrible.  The sense of taste gradually recovers in time for the next treatment and then off you go again....

I found ginger ale helped with the nausea and Robinsons no added sugar lemon squash helped to keep me hydrated as  plain water tasted horrible.

As for food - it's a question of try it and see if he can stomach it.  Find something that doesn't taste too bad and stick with it.
I ate a lot of salads as they were cold and seemed to taste OK

One other side effect of chemo that they don't tell you about is included in the hair loss is you lose the hair up your nose which means any 'little sniffle' you might normally have that would be stopped by the nasal hair ends up running down your face - Nice
Keep a supply of hankies handy.

Good Luck

Martin

Thank you for the advice, I will start preparing a list. Thanks and take care.

Emma

Good Afternoon Hillend75 

A warm welcome to the Macmillan Online Community, although I am so sorry to find you joining us - I am Brian one of the Community Champions on the Community. I do have Prostate Cancer but have been "lucky" so far to avoid Chemotherapy.

I see you have had some great information from Slartibartfast above.  Here's a link to our guide to How Chemotherapy is Given. As your husband is about to start this treatment two other groups you may like to join for support are:

Chemotherapy forum and Carers only forum .

Just click on the links I have provided and these will take you there.

I am sure others will be along to offer help and advice. If I can do anything else for you please let me know.

Feel free to ask any questions, however trivial - you will get answers here.

Best wishes - Brian.

Hello Hillend75 , welcome but sorry that you are going through this with your husband. My husband had 6 cycles of Docetaxel and also had the bad taste following each dose. One thing you can do to help reduce this is to get him to suck on ice cubes during the infusion plus half an hour afterwards - the thinking is that, like the cold cap for the head, reducing the blood flow helps to reduce the drug getting to cells. The chemotherapy will kill off any fast multiplying cells both good and bad. This includes all hair follicles, cells in the mouth plus those in the gut. Your husband will also be immunocompromised which means you have to be careful what you eat. We tended to only eat cooked food and avoided undercooked eggs and any unpasteurised food (yoghurts and soft cheese) plus any foods which might irritate the gut such as spicy food. It was also easier to eat soft foods. Anything raw should be well washed and fruit was eaten peeled. Drinks were another mine field as he found he could not drink coffee or tea but was able to tolerate diluted fruit juices and tea infusions plus water. No alcohol. My husband tended to cope better by eating little and often but make sure he has plenty of protein. Basically it was trial and error and we stuck with a limited menu that hubby found he could cope with.

It is best not to drive after the infusion - the drug is got into solution with alcohol so you might be over the legal drink drive limit. Also your husband will be getting rid of the chemo out of every orifice for 2/3 days after each dose so for your protection a condom should be used if you have intercourse. It is also a good idea not to exchange mouth fluids. If you have 2 loos then dedicate one to your husband and make sure he mops up any splashes or spills. Similarly dedicate towels and flannels/ sponges.

We kept a diary and found that each cycle followed a similar pattern which allowed us to plan doing things on good days and letting him rest on the off days - each person is different but it is important to let the team know how you get on as they have drugs to help you through.

Please come back with any questions and I hope your husband copes well with the chemo.

Hi Hillend75.

Good afternoon and welcome to the prostate family it's great to meet you today.

My prostate journey started in June 2023 with a PSA off 1000+ & I was put on to HT straightaway bring the PSA to single figures.

Unfortunately the numbers increased over a number of months and I started to get pain in my right hip/pelvis for which I had one shot of RT which worked very well.

But as my PSA number's continued to increase the decision was made to start chemotherapy which I have had my first off 10 today so I can come back to you over the coming days to answer your question's but please come back sooner if required???

Prostate Worrier.

Thank you Brian 

Thank you It is so overwhelming any guidance is so much appreciated. 

Thank you and hope your treatment goes as well as could be. Take care 

Hi Hillend75.

Many thanks for your reply and I do hope that everything goes well with your husband's treatment.

Prostate Worrier.