Hi Paws.

Yep, husband had this after his second lot of FLOT chemo. With my husband he described it like a burning itch. I hate to say this, but over the following week most of his hair fell out ):, but he has just had his 3rd lot of chemo and he has no burning or itching on what is left. Seems to me it happens when the hair follicles are on the March..... moving out of home for a bit and as cells are stopped renewing  with chemo, no re growth until chemo is done. A mate of mine at work had the chemo fall out and her hair grew back about 2-3 weeks after final lot. It grew back very curly, she is pleased as no more curling with perms etc.

As for what to do. Husband just left it alone, didn’t put anything on it and let nature take its course, he was a bit scabby where the folicles got cross, but again he left them alone and heal up pretty quick.

Best wishes

h

Hi thanks for your reply

That's what I thought but did not want to say out loud.

Going to be difficult - he has been quite well so far.

He has a long way to go yet.

This is a really sensitive question, and please ifnore if you feel it is too much, but can I ask did your husband lose his hair bit by bit or in clumps?

I am kind of bracing myself for the emotional impact of it all. I have noticed additional things following chemo 2.

Tough times x

Thinking of you as you progress through your own journey. XXX

Hi Paws, 

please -ask anything you want- I am a straight talking kinda bird and really nothing is off the cards.

we have only been in this Cancer club 9 weeks!! First sign of trouble , July 29th. Within a week diagnosis of stage 2 Oesophageal cancer, treatment = 4 cycles of FLOT chemo then the chop. Aged 56.

FLOT is apparently a nuclear kind of chemo, husband describes it as feeling like the worst hangover he has ever had . It is 4 different chemo drugs given at the same sesh, through a PICCline - he tells ‘nosey Parker’s “ I took a bullet”. (:

As for his hair loss- it was both shedding and clumps, he just got the clippers out and finished it off. Still has his eyebrows and stubble- for now.

As for the 2nd being worse than the first- yes, it is cumulative, although husband isn’t convinced he seems less blotto after the 3rd than the 2nd- maybe I’m just getting used to it.

oh, the emotional side of it- OMG pure sh*t storm. I vary, and this forum has been very useful- no one can fix it, but they can make sure you know you are normal and are absolutely NOT the only one.

I am really sorry you find yourself in the cancer lane. My heart goes out to you both. It's a scary place especially right now with the worry of coronavirus on top of everything else, but we are so grateful for the bowel screening programme that he accessed literally just before the 'lockdown'.

Your husband's cocktail of drugs sound like a strong mix. My husband is having a combination under the name of 'folfox'. He has 10 cycles, 8 to go.... 

XXX

Yes the emotional hit is mindblowing and seems to take over at unexpected moments. I guess there's a need to give in to it to work through it. Yes it's good to know the emotional hit is the same for others. There's a real need to feel some kind of normal amidst the chaos that cancer brings. X x x X

Hi Paws, 

yep, the emotions just wash over me. I plod along as normal, then all of a sudden, usually when I am not distracted then it turns up, mostly anger tbh, I just let it come I guess, then it goes again. I don’t like feeling like that and I posted on here, but the thing I am finding is that if you try and ‘stop’ it, it wins anyway, so I am now just letting normal human emotions come and go, without thinking I am ‘not coping and not being ‘strong’  whatever they are !!!

As for covid- funny, but we are not really bothered about that, I mean how many things have we got time to worry about, not only that , but you know the ‘virus’ will do what it will do, and tbh not much we can do about it apart from the basic advice. We have since about July stopped watching the news etc as they are just loving scaring people and playing petty politics.

Strange thing with this 3rd chemo, he has recovered so, so much quicker than his 2nd, this time he basically slept it off for 2 days and today he is back with us- lesson in listening to your body learned (by him)

Anyway- off to eat a whole tub of cookie dough ice cream, by myself, in the shed