Gloves

Hi again Chicken Pie ….. over my 25 years I have had over 800hrs of chemo most between late 2013 and late 2015 and I personally was never told to do this.

Yes, during the colder/winter months I would put on  gloves more due to the treatment tending to thin my blood and effecting my circulation so I felt the cold more.

During my chemo I was 58 to 60 year old and I was relatively fit…….. how old is your mum?…… this could be a factor.

Peripheral Neuropathy can develop and can effect the hands so for some folks keeping the hands warm may help…… for me it was keeping my hands active so I had 2 stress balls that I used to work my hands/fingers keeping the blood flowing through my hands as well as working my muscles and nerves.

Obviously her clinical team may well have a good reason to say this…… so you should talk with her team and clarify this and as to the length of time.m she should do this.

I think this is for a specific chemo, as I heard others being told this when I was having chemo, they were also told to put scarves on around ears when going out. They also talked about making sure you were wearing slippers on tiled floors.  Sorry can’t answer question about how long

As Waidh has mentioned…… this may be Chemo type related so it would be worth putting the same question up in the Stomach cancer group where you may well connect with people who have had the same treatment.

Hi Chicken Pie 

Could I just check on the type of chemo your mum is having? The reason I ask is that oxaliplatin chemo can have effects which mean gloves are needed for going into the fridge/freezer, touching cold door handles etc and mean that a scarf round the throat when leaving from chemo treatment is required as it can give throat spasms. 

Knowing what the chemo is will mean it’s easier to reply with specifics for you. 

Sarah xx

Hi Sarah 

Thank you for getting back to me. 

Yes I think it is oxaliplatin. 

But both mum & dad are a bit hard of hearing & there is a lot to take in & so can't remember what they were told about how long to do this for. 

 thank you for getting back to me. 

She is having oxaliplatin treatment. 

I'll post on stomach cancer. 

Thanks again. 

Hi Chicken Pie 

Thank you for confirming this-cold sensitivity can be a real and well known issue with oxaliplatin, but there’s always so much to take in at these appointments it can be difficult to remember it all. 

I hope you’ll get some specific replies in the stomach cancer group, and there are also lots of discussions about it in the bowel cancer group so you may find that group another source of info and guidance about how long your mum might need her gloves on for. As I understand it, it seems to be just when specifically touching cold things like going into the fridge etc as it can give a nasty shock.

I hope you can get this clarified, and your mum can manage to cope with it.

Sarah xx