Hi. My friend has just today had her second of 8 treatments. She was very lucky with the lack of side effects after the first treatment, only suffering episodes of dizziness and fatigue.
What I would like to know from anyone on this type of treatment is, do the side effects get worse with each treatment you have, or is she likely to carry on this way throughout?
She has already lost her hair, and has coped amazingly well with that, and is so relieved that she didn’t feel that poorly after the treatment. I however am the pessimist and wonder can she continue like this throughout the treatments? ( I pray to god she can)
I realise that the side effects are different for each individual, and everyone can react differently but we were told to expect all sorts of nasty things and very little has happened.
I would be interested to hear other people’s experiences of FEC. Thanks in advance guys.
Bumping into latest posts for Dib1000
Hi Dib1000
I had FEC-T nearly three years ago, which is a regime of three (or four) cycles of FEC followed by the same of T. Right at the start my oncologist said that the first cycle nearly always sets the pattern for the rest, and indeed I found that to be the case (except hair loss which was pretty much all over after the frist cycle of FEC). I don’t know if your friend has kept a ‘sympton diary’, something I was advised to do, which helped me to spot the patterns and take back a bit more control e.g. I knew which were my ‘floppy’ days and how long the ‘loss of tastebuds’ was likely to last, even silly things like when I got teenage spots or the fact that some foods didn’t agree with me.
I was one of those highly annoying people who worked full time all through my treatment (I have very flexible emplorers and, well who is going to argue with my boss 
(you can guess from my name what I do)?!!) but whether or not people work, most do surprise themselves with how well they stay. On sites like this, you tend to hear about the people for whom it is more difficult, because people generally don’t post to say “wow that wasn’t as bad as I feared”.
One thing I would say though, is that chemo has a cumulative effect, and by the end of mine I was very tired. If hse does develop any unpleasant side effects, encourage her to tell her team - there is no need to suffer and indeed they don’t want ‘heros.’
I am sure your friend is very glad of your support - and maybe you can help her plan in some treats for the ‘good’ weeks?
Hope all goes well and she is soon restored to health
Hi Revcat, and thank you for your very positive reply. My friend is indeed very pleasantly surprised at how well she is feeling, considering what is going on inside her body. Tiredness and dizziness are what she is experiencing the most, she is taking anti sickness pills as her team have advisebut and they are keeping the nausea at bay. She was expecting to feel much worse and you do hear such horror stories from the poor people who seem to get every side effect going. We are very pleased at how hers is going. We have been told that her cancer , although treatable, is not curable, so we are hoping and praying that the treatment works well and gives her some quality years to spend with her family and friends. I hope that your treatment has been fully successful, and you are well and happy. Thank you for you response. X
Hi Dib 1000
I am just going to have my last chemo on Friday I’ve had 4 of fec and 4 of the t docetaxal. For a lot of people chemo can affect each one differently.
I am like your friend with tiredness being my main symptom. This is worse the first week after treatment with aching arms,hands and legs it has got a little worse with each cycle apart from that week I have been able to continue as normal going to work and doing mostly what I want. I also lost my hair but it has already started to grow back a littlegreyer than before and also very fluffy.
I do hope the rest of the chemo goes ok for your friend give her best wishes from me and to you for supporting her I too have been lucky with friend support and an very thankful for it xx