breast cancer, chemotherapy and radiotherapy, Herceptin?

[Laura S]

My mum was diagnosed with breast cancer in june. She's had the operation to remove and reconstruct her breast. It's been about 4 weeks now since the operation and she's received her results back that it's spread from the breast to 2 out of the 4 lymph nodes that they removed.

She's been told that she'll need 6 cycles of chemo with a 3 week break in between each dose. It's a chemotherapy treatment known as FEC (Flurouracil, Epirubicin, cyclophosamide). But then she has a choice whether she wants to change to a trial regime after 3 weeks. This is where she'll have chemo every week for 3 weeks to complete the 6week cycle. Has anyone heard of this "trial" regime? Cos my mum's pretty sketchy on the details as she was upset. She's pretty worried that she's going to lose her hair, just because it's an outward sign that she's got cancer. Does anyone who's had this treatment not lost there hair? We've been told about a cold cap that can reduce the chances of hair loss as well.

I just wondered what to expect from the overall treatment. Cos there's a lot of explanations of the possible side effects, but i just wondered if anyone has had this FEC treatment? What it was like for them? and if there's anything i can do for my mum to make it a bit easier for her to cope?

After the chemo she'll start radiotherapy. But again, i don't really know what to expect of it? I've read all the leaflets but i think personal experience makes it more believable.

And then after the radiotherapy, she'll begin herceptin for a year. I know this is a relatively new drug, but has anyone been on it or know someone who's been on it?

That was rather long, but i just want to settle some questions. Thanks.

[inverse_mushroom_cloud]

I did not have FEC, but it is a well-established protocol for treating breast cancer. You can find more information about it at breastcancer.org.

Sorry, I'm not familiar with that trial. So the FEC is once every 3 weeks, a total of 6 treatments? Is the trial also FEC, or a different set of drugs?

She will lose her hair on those drugs. Most of the effective drugs for treating early stage breast cancer have hair loss as a side effect. More than 99% of people lose most of their hair. It's a scary prospect, and it's unsettling at first, but it's do-able. Really. After a while, you almost don't miss it. Showering and getting ready each day is so much easier without all that ...hair.

She may have some gastrointestinal upset from the FEC, that's very common. There are great drugs to prevent vomiting and nausea, so she should be sure to have the oncologist prescribe them. They aren't cheap, but they ARE effective, and even if I had to pay for them myself, I would have.

I do NOT recommend a cold cap. There is some belief among much of the healthcare community that this can prevent the chemo from reaching areas of the scalp/head where the drug may be needed. It's not worth keeping some hair to compromise the effectiveness of the treatment. No one ever died from losing their hair. People DO die from cancer. Let the drugs do their job.

Radiation can be easy or difficult, it just depends on the person. I will have my 29th of 33 radiation treatments this afternoon. My skin is a little bit pink and occasionally itchy, but those are the only side effects that I have had from radiation.

I receive Herceptin treatments every 3 weeks. I have a bit of joint pain from that, a little bit of leg swelling, a slightly upset digestive system for a couple of days (very minor), and some tiredness the day of the infusion. I'm about 6 months into the Herceptin, 6 more to go.