My Dad 66yr old with bowel cancer stage 4 with liver mets

Ann,

It is very imprtant that Nev applies heavy dollops of moisturiser to his hands and feet twice a day. The splits are, in my case small, but painful and last about a week because the chemo slows down the healing process. Fortunately I have so far only had a few splits so for the last 2 days I've been having my 5FU infusion at 52ml/hr for 42hrs - so 2 nights in hospital.

I can't remember who it was here that suggesting the use of Carmol 20 cream for split fingers, but so far I haven't found a UK source so I'm going to try Eucarin 10%w/w urea cream (closest UK equivalent) through Amazon. It's worth a try as I can't be hacked with having to fork out huge levels of duty on a USA imported product.

I've got the C'mab spots but somehow the chemo FOLFOX has slowed them down - but I've still got them all over my head and nose. If I don't look at them in the mirror it helps as I don't get so annoyed about them and don't want to attack them with a vengeance - tempting though it is to do so.

Patrick

Ann,

Splits on fingers

I have been experimenting with different ways to deal with the splits. I find ordinary pink plasters, cut from a strip, effective provided I don't try to do anything whilst they are wet - they come off. So my next trial is with Micropore tape. That's the stuff they use to tape down cannulas and the like to one's arm in hospital.

I use it to hold the edges of the splits together. It's a bit early days to say just how effective it is but it certainly reduces the pain significantly. I will continue with my trials and see if it helps the splits to heal that bit faster.

Patrick

Hi Everyone, I hope you have all had a good weekend.

Magda , I am thinking of you all the time and hope you get some hope this week when you meet with the oncologist.

Anne , My mum has finished some roof repairs and is keeping well. She has a long infusion so we started making cards and gift tags to keep her busy. I hope your husband is doing well and keeping up his exploits.I like his style.

Jule, I hope your dad is still enjoying being chemo free and I will be thinking of him and your family on Friday.

Patrick, I hope you find success with your experiments.

All is well here apart from pain ,round one has been completed. Next infusion is wednesday. My son has a sick bug so lets hope it clears soon.

Love to all Court

Hello everyone.  I hope you guys are all doing OK. 

Court - Thanks for well wishes.  Yes Dad is feeling really good being off chemo... crazy isn't it!  I do remember the oncologist saying it should give him a better quality of life! Yes fingers are firmly crossed for Friday.  That's a great idea getting your Mum to do some Christmas things while having chemo.  You say pain, is your Mum experiencing pain?  I hope your son gets well soon, how old is he?  Take care all and love and hugs to all!

                                       JULES

Hi Court

It was stressful weekend. Gregory was vomiting after every meal. And today he was sicking even after he drunk ice tea. I took him to the emergency. His blood is fine, no dehydration, no bowel obstruction. It seems that one painkiller could cause the sickness and nausea. He hast stopped taking it and seems to be better. Hopefully... fingers crossed for the appointment with oncologist on Wednesday!

Take care and thanks of thinking of us...

Magda xx

Hi Magda, sounds like a rough time alright.  Isn't crazy how some medication can cause other things to go wrong, very stressful indeed.  I hope stopping that pain killer helps Gregory with his vomiting.  My fingers will be crossed for you on Wednesday too - Best of luck and look forward to hearing of your way forward in this fight!        Jules

Hi all,

Its so difficult working out whether problems are caused by the disease or the treatment isn't it?  I hope Gregory feels better for stopping the pain killers.  Good luck for Wednesday Magda, let us know what happens.

Jules, you too with your Dad's scan on Friday, lets hope they don't make you wait too long for the results.  if he's like Nev he won't want to re-start chemo because he felt so much better without it, for how long though that's the question.

Patrick,

Ah the splits!  Well, he played his guitar on Saturday so the splits are worse now.  We have tried every kind of moisturiser, plaster, gloves, he's on vit b pills for the splits and antibiotics for the spots.  I only hope they let him re-start the 5fu next week.  How is it going with you?

Court,

Hope you Mum is ok, what pain is she having and can it be eased at all.  I hope your son is ok, thats all you need, sickness bugs!

Sue,

How are you, any more treatment due?

Hope everyone else is ok,... Alex & Bob?

Take care

Love Ann xx

Ann,

The splits on my fingers are much better since I started using Micropore tape on them. It's too early to say whether it speeds up the healing but at least they don't hurt now.

Patrick

Hi all

Patrick glad to hear about the fingers.  Interesting experiment.  Alexs fingers have not split just very red and sore sometimes.  Feet get painful but again not splitting.

Jules, I hope your dad can have a good time while not having chemo. Alex had from March to September without chemo and had no ill effect from it.  Is your dad going to start chemo again.

Ann, Nev is amazing and still playing in a band. Good on him

Has anyone heard from Ian Gsjack.  I have trouble finding the thread he posted on.

Magda, I am sure we will all be thinking of you and Gregory on Wednesday.  What an awful weekend you have had.  I am sure they will give him something in the way of treatment.

Alex had his treatment 2 weeks ago so is just going into drug free week.  Considering he was so ill with the treatment previous he has sailed through this one.  He usuallly has a bad day or 2 on the 5th day after treatment but this time he played golf on day 5 and only had a small wobbly on the 6th day.  He got a bit dizzy and a little tired.  Other than that he has been really well.  I just hope this does not mean that the body has got used to the chemo drugs and its not working.  He has treatment in a weeks time and then a scan sometime in the next 2 or 3 weeks.

I wish you all well and I am thinking of you all often.

jash

Hi to all on this thread...............just wanted to say that my husband had 6 months trial chemo this year, Piccolo Trial, he was on Irinotecan +Panitumumab. He had severe side effects, splitting fingers, awful crusty rash esp on his face and head. We did alot of research and eventually found the sypmtems responded to a daily bath in Hydromol Emolient (also comes in a tube fr applying directly to spots) and a brilliant cream for his hands called Flotil, my local pharmacist told me about it, he sells lots of it to hairdressers who suffer from split fingers, as they get wet and dry so often. It certainly made a diff, good luck everybody xx