By jw

I was so frightened when I went for my first FEC chemotherapy, I didn't know what to expect and it was the fear of the unknown I suppose.

My chemo nurse was so lovely and put me at ease, made me comfy in a nice easy chair with a pillow under my arm, and put a wheat bag on my hand so my veins would be easier to cannulate.

The drugs went in and I felt ok, it was so much easier than I'd expected. When I got home I waited to feel ill, but all I had was mild nausea and a slight headache. I took my anti sickness tablets and steroids and some paracetamols, and the next day I felt fine.

My hair fell out just before my 2nd chemo, and I had a lovely wig which I was lucky to get free of charge.

My hubby was with me the first time but after that I felt ok to go on my own. I was very lucky that I only ever felt slightly nauseous for the first day or two, the steroids kept me awake at night, but I didn't get any other side effects.

I did find that I got increasingly fatigued after each session, to the extent that I couldn't walk very far, and fell asleep on the sofa quite often!

Something I found really helped me was reiki sessions inbetween chemo's from my local hospice, there were other therapies I could have tried but I liked the reiki so stuck with it. If you have a local hospice ask about this.

I know some people have a much harder time than I had, but I coped really well with FEC and if you're reading this and about to start it, then I hope you take comfort from this, and hopefully you'll cope just as well!

I am now almost 6 years from diagnosis and NED (no evidence of disease).