It's fascinating to watch the effects of FEC creep through
my body. If a little macabre.
My oncologist explained that chemotherapy works by killing
off cells that divide rapidly. Cancer
cells divide rapidly, so hopefully FEC is currently killing off any of the
little blighters that might have escaped into my system.
Unfortunately quite a few good cells also fall into the
category of cells that divide rapidly; notably cells in the intestine, mouth
and hair.
So, my stomach was the first to go. I was lucky that the nausea wasn't too bad
(or maybe that was just the effect of the many anti-nausea drugs I had to take)
but the indigestion hit in pretty fast.
I couldn't eat more than a piece of toast without it sounding like there
was a firework extravaganza going on inside my belly.
One week later and the indigestion has passed - presumably
the healthy cells in my intestine have won the battle against the chemo
drugs. Now it is the turn of my
mouth. Large areas on my soft palate
have lost the mucus layer that usually protect it and feel raw and
exposed. My lips feel bruised. I ate a tangy kiwi yesterday...ouch!
Hopefully this too will pass and then it will be the turn of
my hair to fall before the chemo drugs.
Almost exactly two weeks after the first session of chemo, they assure
me, it will fall out in clumps.
Except it won't because I had it shaved off today.
Ha! Got one over on you, FEC.
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