Chemotherapy - FLOT - overnight stay

Unless you were specifically told she’ll need an overnight stay, most hospital send FLOT patients home with a 24 or 48 hours pump. 

Hi and welcome, it’s a really good forum to get support from and people are more than happy to share experiences to help others throughне малка ракия their journey,

 I had 4 rounds of FLOT over 2 months February- March, I went home with the infusion and they did a referral to the district nurses to come and disconnect the bottle which should take 24 hours  to go through, sometimes takes longer but the drug should have a date 2 days later so it’s fine for disconnecting a day later.

 I had a sub total gastrectomy in April which they believe was successful and have just started 4 more rounds of FLOT to mop up any random cancer cells.

Happy to answer any questions you might have, 

Good luck to your mum x

I got well prepared before the surgery and found this book very helpful ( kindle version is cheaper) it certainly helped with my recovery which has gone well, if mum is having the chemo through a PICC line it will be useful to get a PICC line cover for showering, these are around £17 on Amazon and are better quality but can be prescribed by the GP. x

www.amazon.co.uk/.../539F6D48-752C-46FB-A1DB-B9547BAA03D2

Hi Sop,

Many thanks for your kind words.  I'm so glad your surgery was successful and wish you a smooth journey through you remaining chemo treatment.

You'll regret the offer of answering any questions! 

I've been explicitly told that I've to drop her off  at 09:30 on a Thursday morning and pick her up on the Friday evening.  I'm not sure if that's just for first 1st cycle of chemo, just to they can keep a close eye on how she reacts etc.  

I know this varies for everyone but any advice on the side of effects of the chemo?  I think this is one of her major worries just now is the unknown side of what might come.  We have been told hair loss is a certainty.  I've read that it hits some people from the 1st cycle but others it wasn't until the 2nd.  I don't want to get too personal but how bad was it?  Does the effects last a few days and ease up or are you wiped out for the two weeks between rounds?

Ps. thanks for the book recommendation.  I've read the free sample and looks really good.  I'll hold off passing it on to my mum just now as don't want to overload with too much information.  

Gav.

Hi, thank you for your wishes regarding my recovery, one thing that I would advise is that your mum drinks plenty of fluids throughout 3-4 litres a day to help wash out the toxins from the chemo.

She will be given anti sickness medication and these will help. I was one of the lucky ones that didn’t suffer too badly.

 I tried to eat regularly and managed to gain weight before the operation, fortunately I haven’t lost much since the surgery.

If the chemo is the FLOT regime then mum will have to keep out of the fridge/ freezer and away from draughts.

sorry for the overload of info but I’m trying not to forget stuff that might help x

The only other thing I can think of right now is about hair loss, mine came out after the 2nd round. It didn’t just fall out as you expect it to more that the hair becomes weak and breaks off, I found this a bit distressful as it wasn’t what I expected to happen, being prepared really helps x

For my husband the weakness and tiredness were the worst from day 3 of each chemo cycle, for about a week. So feeling somewhat better for 3-4 days before the next cycle starts. 
He didn’t have much hair to lose, but lost his lovely beard after cycle 2.