FEC-T treatment

Hiya

You sound like you have been hit by the tax truck. It took till about 10 days after for my taste to come back. My advice for next time is get in some strong pain killers, I took cocodamol and ibuprofen. Normally the side effects from T take a couple of days before they hit in so I started to take the pain killers then. The final two rounds of T weren't as bad, partly because I knew what to expect but also because I just kept thinking it was so near the end, I could do it!

Cwtches, 

Gay xxx

Hi

You sound the same as me.  Got a bit of nausea on FEC but generally then had a couple of weeks of feeling fine.  But I really got hit by the T.  First infusion, I ended up in hospital twice with neutropenia and suspected sepsis -  ie non-existent white blood count so no immunity to infection and high temp so suspected infection.  They basically just keep you in and dose you regularly with antibiotics (domestos as the dr called it). 

I also had a terrible mouth and gut - it felt stripped raw, and lost my sense of taste.  I'm sorry to say that my taste buds didn't come back until a few weeks after the last T.  But they do come back and food is wonderful again!  So both the sore mouth/gut and the lack of taste will really affect your appetite and eating.  Just have what you can, even if you need to force it down a bit.  I lost a stone on that bit of chemo as I was just eating cup-a-soup mostly to begin with but then just forced myself to eat more.  I also had very bad fatigue on T so just felt wiped out most of the time. 

That being said, I did try and do what I could - school run etc - and got my hubby to do most of the rest.  I didn't get the neutropenia or infection on rounds 2 and 3 of T - I don't know if your body gets a bit more used to it. 

It's hard to explain to people just how miserable the mouth and gut problems made me feel, so I really do sympathise.  I even found it hard to swallow water!  It was the worst thing about chemo for me.  Had terrible cramping in my tummy and that just made me feel nauseous and ill all over my body.  I am exactly a year out of chemo now and have worked very hard on restoring my gut health and have read loads on the subject, so I know now that a healthy gut affects so many other, probably surprising, parts of your body and health - so the reverse must be true. 

Things will improve, I promise.  And when you feel like eating like normal again, listen to your body as you will probably crave things and that's your body telling you what it needs.  The key to gut health is fibre, fibre, fibre - lots of fruit and veg and wholegrains.  But you won't be able to stomach any of that whilst in treatment so just eat what you can.  It will soon be over and you will be well again.  Just think what it's doing to the cancer - these other things are unfortunately the collateral damage. 

You might find that you can almost taste some things better than others amongst the general flatness - for me it was orange juice and tomatoes.  But they could be too acidic for my poor stripped mouth at the same time, hence the tomato soup. 

All the best,

Linda xxx

Hiya, thanks for the response.  I am day 10 now and still can't taste much.  I so looked forward to eating a fresh crusty cob with sausage, onion, brown sauce, just nibbled a little bit and couldn't taste it.  I hope it comes back in time for Easter.  Take care x

Hi Linda, thank you for your response, it sounds like you went through hell and back.  I am glad your treatment is over and that you are well.  Thanks for the diet tips, straight into my diary.  Take care x

Actually I thought I'd got off 'lightly' as many folk suffer with terrible joint pain on T and I didn't!  I suppose it's all relative.  I bet you're looking forward to that sausage butty.  My friend lost her taste a bit but wasn't as badly affected as me, and got a bit of her taste back between chemos, so you might do too.  Friends had bought me a spa and afternoon tea voucher at a posh hotel and I made sure to put it off until I could taste every morsel of that tea!  :-) 

L xx

Hi everyone, I hope you are feeling well and coping well with your treatments

This is a little update.

A year ago, Apr 2019, I posted for advice on how awful my mouth and guts were due to FEC-T.  The T was the worst bit for me, I had 15 rounds of radiotherapy after that.  Then I went on holiday and back to work, in an office, phased return.  My treatments are all a blur now.  I got my taste back pretty quick, but have gone off things like ginger biscuits and soup.

I have lots of check ups and the zoledronic infusion every 6 months. 

My hair grew back quite quickly, it was dark at the back and grey on top. I had a trim and a colour on it 2 weeks ago.  It has grown very curly, I have never had short or curly hair so that can look hilarious some mornings.  I comb it the best I can and just smile.

I wish you all a painless and speedy recovery, x

I had much the same side effects on FEC-T but discovered, after three different stays in hospital because I couldn’t eat or drink, that I was suffering from oral thrush! So if you feel you have these same side effects, I would advise getting your mouth and throat checked!

Hope you are all doing well! x