For the past four days my arms finally have "healed". The open scabs and sores have closed up and I've been able to wear clothing on my arms without burning or using steroid cream for pain. WOW! Never expected (nor did my doc) that I would have such side effects and intense reaction to the flourouracil. This is strong chemo.
I did 5-FU twice a day for 28 days on both arms and hands. It has taken 6 weeks to heal over the open raw skin. Still a few deep scabs, doc says are the serious areas and most likely BBC or worse, and redness will take another month or more to fade. Doc says I cleared up perhaps more than 100 AKs and prevented cancers, but what a severe treatment. Some posted that their doc recommends doing this once a year??? No way. Mine actually said perhaps every 5 or 6 years maybe.
Hopefully they will develope the Dimericine type drugs quickly through the trials so folks won't have to endure this suffering. Anyway, good luck to the rest of you in treatment! I'll be following the discussions. And I'll now be appreciating all of you who comply with full treatments and you'll have my admiration for your endurance!
Whitey
Here are photos for comaprison
4 weeks after 4 weeks 5-FU:
http://i26.tinypic.com/2nlgspl.jpg
6 weeks after:
http://i26.tinypic.com/17tvnm.jpg