Talk about short notice!!

Hi Lorrey and Warrior

I did FEC three years ago. I found it very doable. You need to make sure you drink lots of water, the "E" part of the FEC needs to be flushed out of your bladder fairly quickly - don't be surprised that your pee will be pink lol.

You also need to make sure you take all the meds they give you - even if you don't think you need them. It's much easier to stop nausea from starting than it is to stop it once you are already vomiting. I took all my meds when I was supposed to and never threw up once, felt a bit queasy from time to time, but never threw up.

You may also have some taste changes. Mine weren't too bad with FEC, but you need to find something that tastes ok for you - everyone is different. Don't try to force eating or drinking your favourite foods or drinks, or you may find you will never be able to have them again.

Some people get constipated, and others have the opposite problem - wait until you see which one you have and treat accordingly.

Any problems that you have make sure your onc knows about them, they will give you more meds to help counter the se's.

FEC is fairly common here in Australia - but not so much in the US, so a lot of Aussie girls have done FEC, I think it's common in Canada too.

Feel free to ask any questions.

Warm ((((hugs)))) to both of you.

Trish

xoxo

Lorreymom, they should be giving you Emend on FEC too, it's an amazing antinausea med (expensive) but amazing.

Glad you are doing ok after your first tx. You will be tired, and unfortunately you'll get tireder with each tx - it's cumulative. Just rest when you need to - listen to your body, sleep as much as you can.

((((hugs)))

Trish

xoxxo

Lorreymom and Warrior50 - I had FEC-D and wraped that up a little less than a month ago. I had three treatments of FEC and three treatments of Taxotere (the D part), all every three weeks. I had similar side effects to kayb and Trish. What I found is that all I wanted to do was sleep for about a week after my FEC treatments and that I had a bit of nausea. Emend is great, it's not covered under OHIP but it was covered by my insurance from work. Might be worth while to ask if it is a possibility for you, I was given it as part of a clinical trail. The further away I got from treatment, the more normal I felt, still a bit of fatigue but no where near as bad as right after a treatment. I also experienced heartburn and got a prescription from my oncologist for that, it got pretty bad but very well controlled but meds.

I used losing my hair as a reason to buy hats, I also used it as a reason to dye it lavender before it fell out. It was something I always wanted to do but could not because of work and the fact that I never had the guts to do something so drastic with my hair. I also picked up a couple of retro flower swim caps for when I go to the pool with my daughter, the kids get a kick out of it. I found it took about two weeks after my first treatment before it fell out and about a week for it to all fall out. Rock the bald look if you can, there is something really liberating about it. if you are not comfortable with that, wigs now a days can be pretty realistic. Most people can't believe how real mine looks when I wear it.

All the best.

I have read on here that claritan aids in the neulesta shots. Aches and pains but will probably help with sinuses too.