Journey just beginning

That's great Peter. I will PM you with my email. If you could reply with yours I'll make sure we send you all the details of the meetings. Thanks very much, David

Hi Spongebob,

Apologies for the radio silence, it is really easy to get wrapped up in your treatment cycle to the exclusion of all else! One to watch out for I guess! All progressing well, have now done Chemo 3 this week so 3 more to go. Cold cap defo working, but last time around it gave me a headache for last hour that had me counting down the minutes! Chemo 2 exposed an issue with my liver, but having read that my arythmia medication can cause hapatic issues i cut my dose in half and liver stats now better than my baseline! Of course that also could be quitting alcohol for now, as my beautiful wife reminds me! Chemo seems to make me tired faster each time, steroids kept me going for the day after, but knackered by the evening! Just pace yourself and rest when you need to! All in all, chemo seems very doable. The process on the day is fine, and then you just take it as it comes afterwards! Week two and three after each session are much easier. Best of luck with your treatment Spongbob, you've got this! 

Hi David,

Great to hear that you are cracking on with it o.k. You sound a bit like me taking the dog for a walk up the hill as it is what I do everyday in attempt to keep active. I had my 2nd chemo cycle yesterday, so far so good, I reckon I've had it quite lucky with my only side effects being bouts of hiccups. Well, and obviously the energy crash which comes on days 2,3 & 4 and subsequent tiredness over the slow recovery over the following couple weeks.

I had an interesting chat with the nurse on the bus about the anti-sickness tablets. I'm prescribed 2 x day anti sickness  (Onadansetron) for 5 days, and 5 days of 3x day anti-sickness 'when required' (Metoclopramide). For cycle one I blindly followed the instructions and took all the Onadansetron and I took just one Metoclopramide in the hope that it would help the hiccups I was having at the time. Anyway, the nurse advised that I was probably over-medicating for the anti-sickness, saying that docetaxel isn't that bad for inducing sickness 🤢. One of the potential consequences of taking this anti-sickness medication is constipation! Therefore I have decided to lay of these tablets and only take them if and when needed. I have always stood up well to travel sickness, and sickness after getting pi$$ed etc, so lets see how it goes. So far it is working out well and my bouts of hiccups are significantly reduced from the levels I experienced in the first cycle.

The cold cap too appears to be working, at least what little hair I have still appears to be there! My body hair is falling out though, I'm leaving little curly silver trails all over the house 😁. Mind you I am looking forward to one of the only benefits of this and that is for when my nose and ear hair falls out.

Anyway, like you I am beginning to turn my attention to upcoming radiotherapy. I had a call from the radiotherapy doctor about 3 weeks ago. I was offered options of: (1) Combined HDR brachytherapy and external beam; (2) External beam. Both options subject to findings from the pe-radiotherapy scan. I've been giving this some considerable thought. Out of interest have you been given similar options? What are your thoughts?

Regards 

Sponge 

Chemo 5 done, PSA now below 0.5, recovered after 4 days feeling rough so all good. One more to go, then scans in October to prep for radiotherapy! Looking forward to having Chemo behind me, although it was not anywhere near as bad as expected (so far!). Onwards and upwards! D

Good stuff! The way to go! I’m just a few weeks behind you, just completed Chemo 3 and down to PSA 0.79. Onwards and upwards, let’s beat it!!

Spongebob

Thanks

SpongeBob