Ladies in your 30's getting FEC-D protocol?

Gonein40,

I feel the same way- the unknown is hard- I start on Tuesday, and my second chemo is the same day as your first- I'll be thinking of you.  When I feel anxious, I find it helpful to talk to my husband, to friends, to pray, and there have been times I have had trouble sleeping during this cancer thing.  I have found it best if I wake up and can't go back to sleep to actually get up and read a good book or check my email/facebook for 10 or 15 minutes- then I find I can go back to sleep.  If I just lay there I keep getting upset.  This week I have been doing a lot of preparing- cleaning the house, getting bills caught up, and this has kept my mind off the anxiety.  I feel almost like I am "nesting" like I would do if I was expecting a baby!

I have also thought of trying music to see if this will help nerves, but I have not tried it yet.  My husband and I are going out to dinner tonight before I get my PICC line put in tomorrow.

Calmandstrong, I'd love to hear how you are doing if you feel well enough/inclined to post as you are one step ahead of me!

Thanks for the friendship, all of you.

well I'm glad to hear that I'm not the only one that has trouble sleeping lately.  I love coming to this discussion board. It helps me feel more relaxed.  I am talking with my husband and friends about my treatments.  My husband is a bit more anxious than me, I think his fear in the future of what i am going to go thru is really hitting home.  I am really trying to stay calm for his sake. We also have been de-cluttering and preparing ourselves for the really bad days.  Let me know if u can how the first treatment is. If you can ok 

well I'm glad to hear that I'm not the only one that has trouble sleeping lately. I love coming to this discussion board. It helps me feel more relaxed. I am talking with my husband and friends about my treatments. My husband is a bit more anxious than me, I think his fear in the future of what i am going to go thru is really hitting home. I am really trying to stay calm for his sake. We also have been de-cluttering and preparing ourselves for the really bad days. Let me know if u can how the first treatment is. If you can ok

hello everyone 

I'm doing the same treatment FEC D and I'm now half way I'm happy to be done with the FEC part. Does anybody know if the D part is harder or easier.I don't have a picc line and I was wandering if the D part of the treatment is as hard on the veins as the red devil. I have a superficial clot from it and it hurts when I put my arm in a strait position, the oncologist sended me to hematology but they are not worried  . Anybody had this SE from chemo. I'm starting the D next Wednesday and I'm verry nervous. 

hi Ontario ladies...I think I replyed to this thread awhile ago

im an old timer here I guess...did FEC-D sept-dec 2011.  You know a lot of the experiences with chemo do fade over time,  I actually read through this thread and went "oh ya, I fogot about that" so please girls know that there is a light at the end of this tunnel.

Brioche - I found the D part way way easier then FEC - the gastro issues that a lot of people experience on FEC disappeared with D, no nausea.  This was replaced by bone/muscle pain but it was much more tolerable,  for me anyway.  You can ask for pain meds if your bone pain is bad (I did). 

Hang in there all

for nausea I drank Gerolsteiner water - it has natural minerals like magnesium which really settled my stomach.  I ok'd it with my onc.  For you Canadian ladies they have it a superstore/fortinos/loblaws

well I'm glad to hear that your feeling up to par now that you have one treatment under your belt.  I also will be thinking of you on my first treatment as we go thru this together.  It helps knowing there is someone that can relate to the issues at hand. Keep in touch as I will let you know how I make out ok. 

I am feeling better this week, but not 100%.  I don't have a great appetite and don't have my full energy level.  But I am glad to be over the nausea of the first 4 days!  Calmandstrong, I hope your 2nd cycle goes OK.  Did you lose your hair?  Was it upsetting?  I am planning to get a wig and also to go to a Look Good Feel Better workshop next week.  My youngest (almost 4) is not happy about my upcoming loss of hair.  I want to try to look as normal as possible for her.

Gonein 40, I'll be thinking of you tomorrow when you get your 1st treatment and I go for my second.  Hope it goes OK.  My plan for tomorrow is to try to stay peaceful, drink lots of water, and eat blandish food.  My hair started falling out on day 13 so I had my hubbie give me a buzz cut.  Then I had him shave it last Thurs as I was getting a free wig from the cancer society.  Unfortunately, our car battery died so I had to reschedule for 2 weeks later.  So for now it's hats and looking like that beautiful woman on the Star Trek movie.

Brioche78, did your D go OK?

Calmand strong, did you find the 2nd cycle any easier?

Mommy13, hope yours is going OK.

Did I miss someone currently doing FEC-D?  If I did, hope yours is going OK too.

Thinking of all of you.

Hi everyone, 

Just wanted to drop in and say I am having the same chemo FEC-D but I have asked to be given Taxol instead of D. Had my first treatment 3 weeks ago and today was my 2nd cycle. First cycle had blurry vision, breathlessness even climbing 8 steps to my door, getting an ECHO to check on heart before next cycle, had soreness in my hands and feet - my soft tissue got sore and inflamed, had trouble walking for a couple of days. There was no throwing up 1st time around but certainly felt like throwing up pretty much the whole week following the first infusion. I had to be given neupogen shots for 2 days as my neutrophil count was below 500 - it should at least be higher than 1000 - so they had to start minting those WBC early, the bone pain was not fun, not fun at all, according to my MO there is a15% chance that would happen, I like to be special . I will keep you posted as to how my second round will go, today is the night of and am very tired.

Hey FEC-D ladies how is everyone doing?

I did my 1st cycle on the 27th and it wasn't as bad as I anticipated all though it wasn't fun either. I experienced the brain freeze feeling during my last drip so they slowed it down. 

It lasted a good 6 hrs which turned into a migraine. Nausea kicked in about 2 hrs after treatment. First day was the worst for sure!! 2nd was not too bad. 3rd & 4th I was exhausted and took nausea pills every 4 hrs. 

As long as I stayed on my nausea pills I was ok. Needed a shot on the 3rd day. I got a sinus infection that kicked my ass worse than chemo. Still recovering from that ugh! 

Round 2 this Tuesday. Praying it isn't worse but they say it gets worse. I shaved my hair but it still hasn't fallen out. 

When does your hair fall out on FEC? 

I'm on my day 14 after my first treatment. My hair is slowing falling out not in clumps but rather a strand or two here and there.  Maybe if I'm lucky it won't fall out completely. But I understand everyone is different. 

Hi Quasi,

I had a bit of that going on, my feet just felt really gross. I found it changed when I switched to the D, it went more to the tingling than the burning. I found that keeping my feet cool helped so did soaking in cold water. It was temporary relief but helped a bit. Make sure to mention that to your oncologist. When I did he told me to keep an eye on it and report if it got worst. If it had gotten worst he would have looked at adjusting the dosage.

I'm almost four months out of chemo and the feeling has pretty much gone away. I get a bit of tingling in my big toes if I hit them against something but those residual side effects are pretty much gone.

for anybody out there done with the entire chemotherapy experience, did you lose ALL you hair on D, I mean I  still have some arm hair, should I expect to lose that as we'll? I donot want to lose that as well, I am trying to hold on to ANY hair that I have

My chemo started with weekly taxol instead of Docetaxel and  in April I will begin the FEC regimen. 

I will be doing 3 cycles of FEC 90 (90mg/m2 of Epirubicin). 

I noted that there are some people doing 4 cycles of FEC.  

My MO said that 3 cycles is enough.

I would like to have an idea if other people are doing 3 or 4 cycles of FEC. 

Can anyone share the number cycles of FEC , 3 or 4 cycles ?