What to expect with chemo docetaxel?

Chemo does not change your life, Yes, while you are on it, it can be not too bad or a real pain, Again, no two people are the same. I was in an Ancan.org Advanced prostate cancer meeting today and one guy came in and said he was doing chemo but after doing chemo, for 10 days, he couldn’t eat food, didn’t taste good. He lost a lot of weight then he’d have a few days where he’d recovered completely, ate a lot of food, then back to the next chemo session. The other people that said they were just uncomfortable for a few days after, had to rest to recover. I’ve heard multiple combinations of both types of symptoms.

Key restrictions include avoiding raw or undercooked foods (such as sushi, runny eggs, unpasteurized cheese, and some nut butters), spicy, greasy, or fatty foods, and certain acidic or high-fiber foods. You should also be cautious with foods that interact with chemotherapy drugs, like grapefruit, and ensure all foods are thoroughly cooked.

To: @asolidrock voice, recognition caused the previous sentence to be messed up, and I didn’t recheck it

The side effects follow a predictable pattern after each infusion. In general, during the first week after an infusion, food will not taste good and may taste metallic or like chemicals, and appetite will be suppressed. Things get better for eating during weeks two and three, but taste and appetite will not get back to normal until after you finish all six chemo infusions and you have some time to recover after that.

One thing that I might add is to keep your head, hands, and feet cool during the infusion. I did not know about this and now have some "neopathy" ( most likely not spelled correctly) in my left foot and ankle. Other wise I only felt bad for about 4 days after each infusion.

Thank for the heads up!!

I see you name oldfords I once had a 68 ford falcon with half vinyl top

Just FYI, not everyone gets neuropathy from docetaxel chemo infusions. My husband had six treatments spaced three weeks apart and suffered no neuropathy despite not cooling any parts of his body. In fact, no one at the cancer center mentioned cooling, nor did we ever see anyone else at the infusion center using it during their treatments. I just don't want you to worry if for any reason you can't do the cooling. Good luck to you.

Yes, I love the old Fords. I have a1936 Ford pickup, a 1948 Mercury convert, a 1955 Ford Victoria, a1955 T-Bird, a 1958 Ford Retractable, a 1964 Falcon convert, and a 1967 Mustang convert. Through the years, I restored them all myself.

My husband is about to get round 5 of Docetaxel in 2 days. So far it hasn't been too bad. We showed up with a cooler and chemo gloves and mittens in a big ol' cooler each time. He never got the numbness in the fingers, last time he started late or they got warm, I forget, but we didn't do them, so I don't think we'll bring anything this time.
As far as food goes, no taste difference for him though a few times he wasn't hungry but knew he had to eat so ate something, he's been on a strict no carb, no processed food diet since diagnosed but has now added rice to his diet as it's a pretty clean carb. His weight remains the same ever since he changed his diet.
As far as other side effects go, he had some "funny" ones, the first is pretty common, the night before and the morning of the chemo he took steroids to off set the side effects, and he was given more with the IV, but that meant no sleep the night before and the night following the chemo, pretty much he was the energizer bunny for 48hrs! then crashed, but not too bad. Day 3-6 was achy and tired, he said it felt like a flu ache or fever ache but no fever, then after week it went away.
After round 2, he got the hiccups at night for 4 hours!! fast hiccups!! it was too late to call the Dr. he tried everything and nothing worked until a friend suggested breathing into a paper bag or ziploc to the point of almost passing out- he was in control of the bag, so as long as possible, then he took it off and gasped for air and it stopped the hiccups! (It started again in the middle of the night when he woke up but the bag quickly fixed it)
After round 4, at the 1 week mark he got a slight fever but still concerning, it was 100.4 which is borderline where he had to go to the ER but he went to bed and the next day it stayed under 100, a few days later he got a blood test and everything had tanked, WBC, RBC etc... hopefully it's back up now and he can do another round.
One thing you might ask about, is to do the Docetazel really slow for 15 min, I think at 25% speed, then another 15 min at half the speed then the rest at full speed, THEY said it helped a lot with side effects. It least the first round or two, but they've done the same slow start each time we've gone so....
Hope this helps

Yes it helped thank you very much. I met with a NP who went over chemotherapy and side affects of docetaxel. She told me my fever was 100.4 to call a person on call 24/7 giving me steroids before and after infusion for swelling. It was overwhelming to say the least. I get my port put in tomorrow and have 1st infusion on Thursday am after seeing the oncologist.

Yes i ask the NP about that and she said docetaxel did cause that. Jeffmarc said no grapefruits and the NP said the same. I do appreciate all are helping with this path in my life. May God bless you all. I'm sure I'll have more questions.