The impact shook me to the core. Up till that time, I'd held the cancer as an injury. Side effects of the therapy include nausea and vomiting, low blood counts posing a risk for bleeding or infection, hair loss, metallic taste, loss of appetite, bladder irritation with pain or burning when urine is passed and sores, redness or swelling of the mouth. Methotrexate is an anti-metabolite that works by interfering with cell nutrition. The drug is a clear yellow fluid which be given intra-veinously, by injection into a muscle, or taken as a pill.
Side effects are low blood counts, mouth sores, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and skin rashes.
5-FU is a clear and colorless liquid, and is given by intravenous route. The life span of 5-FU in blood and body tissues is very short and limited to minutes. Although I knew the drugs I was taking probably would not cause total hair loss, there was a significant amount of loss. Over the course of several months, my hair was cut several times, increasingly getting shorter. I got my hair cut so the loss wouldn't be as noticeable.