Hi Teresa,
I don't know much about the type of medication your friend is on but like other chemo therapies it sounds like it can cause a wide array of serious side effects. My husband was on 5fu and cisplatin. His treatment had to be briefly interrupted due to the severity of the side effects. Your friend needs to report these symptoms to his doctor...ASAP! Sometimes they can give him other medications to reduce the severity of the symptoms. Please tell him that there is no need for him to suffer like this and remind him that there are other treatment options.
Pat

Base of tongue spread to 2 lymph nodes.stg?? Dx 5/5/09 peg
Tx started with 35 rad, 7 weeks cisplatin, 2 weeks 5-fu.
completed second course of tx with reduced dose of cisplatin &
5-fu. All clear
Post radiation swallowing difficulties 12 years later