FLOT

Hi, My dad also had an adenocarcinoma tumour and had the FLOT regime. He has had surgery and will start a mop up FLOT in January.

It is a very tough regime but it really had great benefits as it shrunk my dads tumour.

some advice my dad found work was 

1) drink plenty of water, throughout. My dad was constantly drinking bottles of Evian water.
2) There is lots of medication to take alongside this treatment, so make sure taking them at the same times everyday. My dad was late with an anti sick and boy did he feel worse.

3) Check with nursing team if you can try different anti sick, there are a few and different ones work for different people. My dad found ondansetron worked best for him. 
4) diarrhoea can be caused by infection as the white blood cells are low, this is common and many people are hospitalised with this.

5) Queasy drop sweets you can order online really helps with the nausea, my dad would suck on these constantly at night as this is when he felt more sick when laying down. 

Keep telling your dad he has two more sessions to go and then he will get a nice break before surgery. It really is horrible watching them go through this, a lady on here told me the doctor told her it was like poison then hit by a truck followed by more poisoning and I think my dad will agree that is a pretty accurate description. 

Hi there,

I was diagnosed with same type of cancer as your dad in March 2018. I was on feeding tube by the time I was put on my 4 cycles, over 8 weeks of FLOT. It is quite brutal I think but then chemo is generally I think. Sorry to hear your dad is having such a hard time with it, it's hard and worrying for you to see I'm sure. I was told diahrea would be one of the main side affects but for me it was extreme nausea. Because I was on a feed tube and couldn't swallow tablets I was given my anti sickness medication in liquid form, however it was underprescribed each time, I had to ring up for extra bottles often. Just mentioning this in case it's similar situation for your dad. I found myself having to scrimp on my anti nausea medicine and that was so frustrating. Eventually it was the pharmacist who realised I wasn't being given enough, I cried with relief because I felt I'd had to beg for more but I couldn't take the correct dosage to help me. I do hope your dad is getting all the medication needed to offset as much as possible the side effects. They're quite good at balancing things these days but it can take a while. Keep going is all I can say, over 2 years on for me now and although it was awful at the time it's a distant memory to me now, so hopefully you'll forget about this awful time you're experiencing too in a few months. I had my oesophagectomy about 6 or 8 wks after chem ended and felt quite fit for that, so we bounce back! I really hope your dad gets a bit more settled and relief from his symptoms, I was able to eat after a few weeks on flot after several months struggling to, so it is strong treatment but it's doing a big, worthwhile job. Wishing all the best and strength to persevere and if they need to slow the treatment down then that's alright too. xx

Thanks for your reply. It’s really reassuring to know we aren’t alone. Thanks for the advice. So far dad started on cyclizine with not much effect, then they tried ondansetron melts but he felt worse with these they then done Levo inj but nausea was still as bad and then he was admitted. They started metoclopramide yesterday and dad was discharged home tonight so hoping this will give him some ease before his next cycle. 

Hi Colo90,

I was successfully treated for oesophageal cancer in 2018. My treatment was FLOT --> Surgery --> FLOT. 

FLOT was only authorised for use by the NHS in November 2017. It is a very hard chemo to tolerate and only 60% of patients complete both cycles of 4 doses. However it doubled the life expectancy for us! I found the side effects of FLOT (especially in the second cycle) more painful than my surgery which unfortunately included a broken rib while gaining access. 

I was prescribed medication to help with my diarrhoea which was somewhat effective. I was prescribed 3 different anti nausea drugs but was still sick until I changed my diet. For me I found if I cut out meat and fish I felt sick but wasn't sick. 

Perhaps your dad could try changing his diet? Wishing him a speedy recovery over this difficult time. 

Thanks so much for your reply. It’s so interesting hearing everyone’s experiences. Dads intake at the min is minimum but that’s worth knowing. It must be a very tough chemo and very hard to watch but hopefully it will all be worth while.