FLot Stopped after 3rd cycle

My husband was diagnosed with oesophageal cancer a few weeks ago - his situation is not the same as yours, but I hope the following info might help reassure you a little.

Just prior to starting his first round of FLOT, my husband’s team realised one of the meds he had been taking for his pre-existing psoriatic arthritis should not be taken at the same time as FLOT. Furthermore, this med (which lowers immune response) takes many weeks to clear the system. They did not want to delay starting FLOT so attempted to wash out the arthritis med using another drug to bind to it. This made my husband extremely ill with excruciating stomach pain and sickness so had to be stopped before the wash-out was complete. Once he’d recovered from the after effects of this partial wash out, the team decided to start him on 4 rounds of a lower dose of FLOT. They assured us that even a lower dose of FLOT would sufficiently increase his chances of the operation being successful for them to feel confident in going ahead. The consultant oncologist told us that although four rounds of full strength FLOT has become the standard pre-op treatment, this does not mean it’s necessary for every patient. They said FLOT is an adjunct to the operation and is only responsible for around 10% of the overall increase in long term survival, (as opposed to around 90% for the operation).  

They also told us that recent research has shown there are sone effective alternatives to 4 rounds of FLOT pre and post op, so this  protocol may well change in the next couple of years anyway.   Apparently, it will take this long to go through all the hoops for medical research and meet NICE approval etc! 

I am not a medic but from what we’ve been told by my husband’s medical team, I’d hazard a guess that your team are confident that the most important thing for you is to get the op done and the 3 rounds of FLOT you’ve already had will be sufficient pre-op. As you know, there will probably be more rounds of FLOT post-op too. 

I understand it’s hard to feel ready for such a big op in a much shorter time frame than you were initially expecting. However, on the plus side, this should mean you have less time to dwell on the op and will be feeling better that bit sooner too! Very best wishes to you and your family. 

Thank you.  I hope all goes well for your husband.  Hugs. 

Just jumping in about the radiotherapy. I elected for it after post surgery FLOT - I had 5 weeks daily. I was told that I might feel the effects after the third week. After the fourth week I questioned whether the machine was plugged in - I had no noticeable side effects from it at all.  I'm not sure if this is normal but just in case that's something you were concerned about. 

Hi Bronte,

I had my final pre-op FLOT on 31st Jan last year and my operation on 29th Feb so just 4 weeks in between. I must say that I was shocked when they gave me the date as I thought I’d have a bit longer to recover from the chemo before being wheeled down to theatre but, at the same time, my tumour had shrunk (I knew this because I was swallowing pretty much normally again) and I just wanted it out ASAP before it had a chance to maybe start regrowing again. 2024 was certainly a year I would sooner forget! Good luck CB

Thanks for getting back to me Hooe you're OK. 

Thanks for that. Hope youve been OK and all well. 

It's an unknown for me has only been mentioned this week. Thanks for reply