Chemo - Round 2, Cycle 5

Cycle 5, the penultimate treatment. I wish I could say I was going to miss it, but I'm not. I will miss the awesome nurses that work the treatment room. They make it so much better. So no matter where you are in treatment, better is always good.

The usual labs, nothing special there. Well, my PSA was down to 2.08, which is incredible. And pretty special. Just a little more than a year ago my PSA was at a monumental 5,306. Not bad at all buddy boy, not bad at all. (I love Henry on the TV show Oswald, and that's one of his classic lines.) Ok, where was I? My oncologist thinks I'm doing really well. The clinical trial coordinator things I'm doing pretty well. And I think I'm doing pretty well. So we have a unanimous consensus on that.

Scan results were good as well. The morning PET scan was cancelled due to the tracer not passing quality control. That worked out for the better as the schedule was really tight, if not impossible. CT and bone scans showed that things were still holding ground. At stage 4, that's really the best you can hope for, so I felt really good about that.

Treatment was just another day in the chair. I wish I could tell you more, but the cumulative effect of the chemo is catching up with me. I'm still going to work, but really when I get home it's hard to do much of anything. Fatigue is the main thing. I took it real easy during my nadir week, as I don't dare get sick again like last time. The nurse I had this time explained to me that the machine could be set to take 13 minutes to deliver the Benadryl, which has been the real bane of this round of chemos.

Cycle 4 Recap

As I had predicted, my previous treatment (cycle 4) started hitting my harder. This was the first time I had ever gotten sick durning the nadir period. Other than that, nothing unpredictable. All the normal throbbing aches and pains in the ankles and legs. The peripheral neuropathy more pronounced. Week 1 was typical in that I felt fine after chemo on Monday, as well as all of Tuesday and Wednesday. The aches kicked in on Thursday, which is also typical. Metal mouth started on Friday. Week 2, nadir week, I definitely felt the fatigue. And on Tuesday I felt something was not right. I was having hot flashes followed by the chills. I was constantly taking my shirt on and off. Or I should say shirts. It's winter here and cold, so I have a t-shirt and a flannel. So it was the flannel that saw the action. And on Monday and Tuesday I had terrible brain fog. On Friday I felt so bad that I went in for a checkup at the cancer center.

I was at the cancer center around noon. First was labs and about an hour wait to see the PA. (Physician's Assistant) I was just out of it, so I feel like I really didn't answer her questions very well. But she was patient and very kind, and just let me ramble as I needed. My white blood cell count was low, which was to be expected. 1 point something. She also determined that I was dehydrated, which no doubt I was. So she sent my upstairs for a saline drip.

I was there by myself, and even though I still felt pretty miserable, I had the greatest nurse. I think she was a little bit of everything I needed to feel better and have faith in humanity restored. I think she was yet another guardian angel. Can you have ore than none? Anyway, that's another blog post.After six hours at the cancer center, I was ready to go home. It took a day or so to feel better, but by Sunday, I was feeling back to normal.Week 3 was pretty standard. The white blood cells are building up and the immune system is getting stronger. Generally during week 3 I feel human again. I try to eat well and exercise a lot more so I'm all ready for the next cycle.

Chemo - Round 2, Cycle 4

So we start the back half of treatment in the first week of the new year. And back to what I consider the normal schedule: 9:00 a.m. labs, 9:40 a.m. appointment with my oncologist, and chemo at 10:30 a.m.

Well, not quite normal. The cancer center was incredibly busy, I imagine partly due to the holidays and things were running behind.

My wife met me in the “small” exam room and we had a bit of a wait. I never mind as my oncologist is very attentive to all her patients. Anyway, it was probably about 10:15 or so before we met with my oncologist.

Fortunately my labs looked good and I didn’t have a lot of questions. My scans also came back good. Or really as good as they could be. No progression for the most part, and some mets have gotten smaller. But there are a LOT of mets. I asked how many there were and she really couldn’t quantify it as pretty much my whole spine was black in the scan, which means there are lots and lots of mets.

My previously swollen lymph nodes (only one or two) had shrunk and my prostate has been getting smaller too. That I can tell because peeing is a lot easier. Yeah, the Flowmax helps, but I can tell the difference with my prostate. One thing I didn’t get at my appointment was my PSA, as it wasn’t ready yet.

We made it to the third floor for chemo just a few minutes late. The waiting room was packed. I did have a longer wait than usual, but nothing outlandish. It was nice to just sit. I did some 4-7-8 breathing exercises and then just enjoyed the wait. Not too long and the pager buzzed and I was on my way in.

This time I got a room with a window. Normally that’s a good thing, but it was cold outside and the windows were drafty. Reminds of a time when I got a rental car that was a convertible, which I suppose is a good thing (despite being terrified of them), but it was December, bitter cold, and it was snowing.

I got my warm blanket and I was happy. The good news is the nurse who would be administering my chemo was this really nice (and very thorough) lady from Ethiopia who I’ve had before, I think during my first round. This is my 10th chemo and I didn’t start blogging about them until this time around so I’m not really sure.

There was some delay in getting the medicine from the pharmacy, so we didn’t get started until about 11:30, an hour later than scheduled. Not a big deal, I enjoyed just sitting. I asked for a sack lunch, but apparently there weren’t any. The Ethiopian nurse brought me some snacks, which was very kind of her. Some peanut butter crackers and a little pack of shortbread. And later she found a frozen peanut butter and jelly sandwich that I saved for later. And my wife brought some Tippins pumpkin pie. Not sure what it is about pumpkin pie and chemo, but for me, the two go hand in hand. My oncologist’s nurse called and let me know my PSA had gone down to 2.8! I can’t remember the last time it was under 3.

Another nurse came in to do the pre-chemo drip. When I mentioned the Benadryl just wiping me out, she said she would administer it to me in one-minute intervals over the course of five minutes. Ok, this nurse deserves an award of some kind. This made a huge difference. It took five or ten minutes before I even felt it. And I simply felt groggy, which is way better than falling asleep in a matter of seconds. I nodded of here and there, but I was with the world for the duration. And when we left I was cognizant and could walk out on my own two legs. Still, it’s 7:00 p.m. and I’m going to bed.

Cycle 3, Week 1

I’m finding cabazitaxel to be less predictable as I go through treatments, and certainly not like docetaxel where side effects kicked in like clockwork. Tuesday and Wednesday were side effect free, which is one thing that hasn’t changed. Normally the jabbing pains in my legs and ankles start on Thursday. This time is was barely noticeable, with the pain being less frequent and less intense. Thursday I had brain fog for the first time this round. When I say brain fog, I don’t mean chemo brain where it’s hard to think of a word or forgetting things. This is more like an out of body experience where I feel like I’m floating and my brain feels like I took way too much Benadryl. This only lasted a couple of days, done by Saturday. If it’s like docetaxel, it will last more days the farther along I go in treatment. Fortunately I’m on vacation, so I pretty much stayed in bed for a couple of days. On Friday I started experiencing metal mouth. I’ve noticed that peripheral neuropathy has increased. Now both my feet are tingly. Up to now, it’s just been in my left foot, primarily my big toe.

Chemo - Round 2, Cycle 3

Today is my halfway mark through this round of chemo and the good news is that PSA is down to 3.8. So for the first time since this whole thing started I'm in the "normal" range.

Things started a little earlier than usual, with labs at 8:00 a.m. Then downstairs (floor 1) for an 8:40 appointment with my oncologist. My favorite receptionist was holding down the fort, and *blushes*, I heard her tell someone I was one of her favorites. We're both interested in history of local architecture, but she also experiences some of the same Sensory Processing Disorder that I do. Anyway, almost no wait and I was taken to the "little" exam room. (Eventually I'll remember the room number. It's either 2 or 4. But that's less descriptive.) Had my blood pressure taken, and it was actually 102/68! How I  managed that, I'll never know. A few minutes later my oncologist entered the room and we got down to business. My white blood cell counts and platelets and all that were fine, so I was good to go for chemo. I had a few quick questions for her and then we were done. I love that I basically get all the time I need for questions. I won't say today was rote, but just didn't have much today. The clinical trial coordinator came in next and we went over how I was doing (find) and I gave her my cycle 2 medication diary.

Last, but not least, headed up to floor 3 for chemo. I got in the chair, got a warm blanket, and then had my per-chemo drip pumpkin pie. Speaking of pre-chemo drip, once again I was totally wiped out by the pre-chemo IV Benadryl. First up was the dexamethasone. Then the Benadryl. And then, zzzz.

Happy

Occasionally I have someone who knows I have stage 4 cancer ask, “How can you always be so happy?” My response is simple - “How can I not be?” #LifeIsWhatYouMakeIt

Chemo - Round 2, Cycle 2

Before I get to the details, the main news is my PSA went down to 7! Holy crap, I did not expect that...it was 55 when we last checked it.

So today I had treatment later in the day than I usually do. I almost always do a Monday morning, but due to scheduling, I had to have treatment in the afternoon today. Labs at 3:00, meet with oncologist at 3:40, chemo at 4:30. Things were running a bit late as we had a blizzard the day before, and the weather and roads were still bad. No complaints from me, though. Just bring me that warm blanket. Oddly enough, I still enjoy going to the cancer center. Well, I guess enjoy may not be the best word, but I do like the attention and care. Even better when results are good.

One thing - the Benadryl in the pre-chemo drip...wow. I joked with the nurse in the chemo room about how sleepy the Benadryl had made me last time. So she let me know when the Benadryl was going in. A few minutes later I thought, this isn't so bad. And then a few minutes after that it hit me. I nodded in and out for a while, and then finally fell asleep before she even switched me over to the chemo. I got a nice hour and half nap.

One down side to the afternoon treatment - no sack lunch! But they did have peanut butter crackers and cranberry juice. I ate the crackers pronto, I was starving, but I fell asleep before getting to the juice, though. Speaking of eating, I think all the Thanksgiving pumpkin and apple (most pumpkin) pies must have fattened me up a bit. I was down to 157 lbs last time I was in, and today I was back up to 163.

I ended the day leaving the cancer center completely incoherent. Good thing I had my wife pick me up. When I got home around 7:30 p.m. I had a quick dinner and went straight to bed. Out go the lights, zzzzz.

Chemo - Round 2, Cycle 1, Week 1

It's been nine months since the last cycle of my first round of chemo. Ringing the bell back in February seems so long ago. And just as it was a year ago, the first week of chemo really wasn't too bad. Just like clockwork, it's chemo on Monday and shooting pains in my legs, ankles, and hands on Thursday. The pain is a little more intense than it was a year ago. By Saturday the pain began to subside. I experienced a little of the metal mouth today. If it's like the first time, hat usually gets worse the farther along I get in treatment.