Hi, don't worry about the chemo day itself. All you do is sit and chat, drink tea/coffee, eat lunch for a few hours while chemo is pumped in through picc line. As for side effects you won't get them all so don't scare yourself reading about them all. It's a very individual journey. Nausea, tiredness, fatigue, lack of taste, aching, runs, constipation are all quite common. You will be given a goody bag full of stuff to leave with that help with all of these. Plus dressings, syringes, sharps boxes etc for district nurse to redress the day after. It takes a day or too for the side effects to kick in and they will last for about 8 days. Then you will feel ok for a couple of days before you go to get another dose. Or at least this was my experience. Don't be frightened to ring if you are feeling unwell or need advice between treatments. The team love to help and have great professional advice.

Best regards

Geo.

I meant to say. Click on my name and it will take you to my diaries of treatment.

That’s for the advice Geo. 

Meant to say thanks ️ 

Hi Gljane, welcome to the forum even though at the moment Hi Gljane, welcome to the forum even though at the moment you wish you wasn’t here, we can all give advice and information with treatments and specific cancers but unfortunately everyone of us will have had different experiences with the treatments. As you can see in my background I have had two blows with Cancer – Larynx and Oesophagus, the latter I had chemo and Radiotherapy which I am happy to say seems to have done the trick as I am now approaching 2 years in remission. I found the Chemo absolutely a breeze to go through and you will be well looked after, it is beginning to also appear to me that it depends on what type of poison-as I call it- you are given as to side effects, the thing that knocked me was the 35 sessions of Radiotherapy, I did work through all my treatment but after the last 3 RT   I was flat out for 2 weeks.

Just go in with a positive attitude, you are in the worst time at the moment – waiting- but the staff will support you all the way

Take care and do let us know how you get on

Tony

Hi GIJane. Sorry to hear of your diagnosis. It’s still early for you to be coming to terms with your diagnosis. I was taken aback when I was told, as are so many people on this forum. I just wanted to say that although my treatment was different to yours (not FLOT) but another chemotherapy and radiotherapy regime, I was warned of multiple possible side effects, but thankfully, I suffered from fatigue and tiredness but nothing much else, so this may be the case for you. You might also find that once treatment starts you will begin to feel stronger and less scared. As Geo said, the actual infusion days are a case of sitting (and peeing; at least it was for me) for a long part of the day so take headphones for music/podcasts, suduko, magazines, snacks and anything else you might need. Maybe a scarf or cardigan to put round you, as sometimes you can feel a bit chilly. Wishing you well and know that people on this forum are happy to chat and share. Thinking of you. Julie.

Hi GIjane

Thanks for reaching out here on the forum, I do hope the side effects of our first round of FLOT was manageable.

If you need any support from the Macmillan team they can be contacted on the number in my signature, no question is too small. 

Good Luck 

Lowe'