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FLOT chemotherapy? How many rounds?

Posted by emersonmoon @emersonmoon, Apr 4 2:05pm

Did a lot of people here go through a FLOT regime? The surgeon did not find any metastasis and said my hubby’s best option for survival is FLOT, surgery, and then more chemo. He thinks radiation would not be needed with this. We’re leaning toward this but are frightened by the chemo-originally the oncologist was leaning toward low dose chemo once a week, paired with radiation 5 days a week. This felt manageable, while this new option feels like a mountain. I worry about him tolerating the side effects (he’s 65 but in good shape and good health prior to the cancer diagnosis). I don’t want him to be so worn out by the chemo that he can’t have the surgery. But the overall results are showing better long term.

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emersonmoon | @emersonmoon | May 12 5:00pm
In reply to @kmordan "My husband is headed into his second round of chemo. (FLOT). The first round went pretty..." + (show)
@kmordan

My husband is headed into his second round of chemo. (FLOT). The first round went pretty well. He did experience some fatigue around day three and four other than that he didn’t really experience any side effects. My question is this typical for the four weeks or is it cumulative and it gets a little worse each treatment?

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My husband felt like he had a flu for the first cycle; overall very bad, with no real relief until the clinic gave him some fluids twice, as well as injections to help his body produce more white blood cells. He experienced cold sensitivity for a short time. The second time around, the sensitivity stuck around but he doesn’t feel as bad overall, just extremely fatigued. He needed to get the injections again; all of his blood counts got very low. His hair is falling out and is almost all gone, which has been hard for him. Up until that he didn’t look like he was fighting cancer. He also developed some sores all over his upper body and weird discoloration but the sores seem to be healing. He was fighting some sores trying to develop in his mouth during cycle 1 but they didn’t get bad and went away. He’s had a lot of chemo brain happening. We’re nervous going into cycle 3.

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1 reply
RickK | @sosereal | May 13 12:08am
In reply to @emersonmoon "Did they give you an estimate of how many rounds it was going to be? We..." + (show)
@emersonmoon

Did they give you an estimate of how many rounds it was going to be? We just left the meeting with the chemo lady and she said it’s however many it takes to get to where he needs to be. That feels so daunting right now. I’m completely overwhelmed. It’s no end in sight with scans to monitor. Please tell me this isn’t unusual. Most people I know are saying they did between 3 and 4 rounds before surgery and then how ever many afterward was needed.

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Hi.
Sorry I hAvent been on in a while. For myself in the PHOX trial I have had 4 FLOT and 2 FOLFOX coming to be followed by 15 proton rad.
I am right there with you. I am frustrated with the mayo. They are tight lipped, evasive and i cant get s straight answer from any one. I guess they dont know and maybe dont want to give false hope.

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deb005 | @deb005 | May 13 5:34pm
In reply to @emersonmoon "My husband felt like he had a flu for the first cycle; overall very bad, with..." + (show)
@emersonmoon

My husband felt like he had a flu for the first cycle; overall very bad, with no real relief until the clinic gave him some fluids twice, as well as injections to help his body produce more white blood cells. He experienced cold sensitivity for a short time. The second time around, the sensitivity stuck around but he doesn’t feel as bad overall, just extremely fatigued. He needed to get the injections again; all of his blood counts got very low. His hair is falling out and is almost all gone, which has been hard for him. Up until that he didn’t look like he was fighting cancer. He also developed some sores all over his upper body and weird discoloration but the sores seem to be healing. He was fighting some sores trying to develop in his mouth during cycle 1 but they didn’t get bad and went away. He’s had a lot of chemo brain happening. We’re nervous going into cycle 3.

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Same experience as my husband here in New Zealand. 4 FLOT treatments, then surgery, then meant to follow up with another 4 FLOT treatments but only managed one..too hard after the Ivor Lewis surgery. The injections were brutal and made him quite sick, but the first few chemo sessions, he handled quite well..just very tired. He also lost all his hair and whiskers. Six months after the surgery now and he has lost 34 lbs and can’t manage to gain any weight…in fact has been diagnosed with anorexia as he struggles to eat much. We just want to get this under control…we are waiting…waiting …to see a surgeon..hopefully they will give him a Jtube…he’s not that keen but I feel he really needs it now. His hair has grown back, whiskers are back and he’s not feeling too bad in himself except fatigued with the weight loss. Hang in there and wishing you and your husband all the best, he was diagnosed with stage 2 esophagal cancer, has had three qtrs of his stomach removed and it’s just learning a new way of keeping well. It’s a long recovery after this surgery but he’s pleased hes had it. Xx

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