Hi katie

How are things.Have you managed to talk to anyone in your family about whats happening with your grandad?I am sorry i cannot tell you about his cancer but i do have a lot of experience of pain control and the main issue is that it works.Modern medicine cannot always save us but it can give us an easyer time of it .I came very close to dieing and the knowledge that it has left me with is that it is not nearly as frightening as it seems. It seemed to me like a gradual walking away.It will always be sad but the sadness is because he is loved.

Hey grumpy. I stayed at my grandad's Sunday and Monday night, he cooked me dinner on the Monday and still likes too get around and go shopping ect.

He is getting his scan results back tomorrow too see if his cancer has spread, just hoping for the best.

Thanks for the reply and sorry too hear about your experience. I just wanted to know how bad it would be for him, but it doesn't seem too painful which I'm happy with! Thanks a lot, hope you're ok xx

hello Screwylouis1

Just read your post.  i feel for you..... I really do.

Wishing you all much courage

Ruth x

Hi I have been diagnosed with esophageal grade4 cancer and it is in lymph nodes and liver.  Cant be operated on and been given 9 months with treatment or 1 year without treatment possibly.  I have no family and really struggling with decisions but considering not taking the palliative treatment offered so I have quality of live rather than quantity.  would be grateful for any thoughts. 

I am 61

Collie2

 Hello collie2

 I’m sorry to hear of your diagnosis, and I do appreciate your dilemma. 

 My husband died of this cancer seven months ago and whilst he was determined to fight it tooth and nail he really struggled with the palliative treatment.  We were told at that stage the treatment only had a 40% chance of success but if successful he would have between nine and 12 months left.  In the event he had one round of chemo, got a terrible chest infection and never really recovered from that. His medical team decided he was too weak for more chemo and Steve died two weeks later.  I think if we had our time over again we would not have had the palliative  treatment. That said, hindsight is a very exact science isn’t it? 

 I totally and utterly agree with your thoughts that quality of life is better than quantity.  But I would always be guided by your medical experts. You need to be kept comfortable, you need to be able to enjoy what time you have left. 

 Whatever your decision I wish you much luck and I hope your remaining time is full of love and laughter. 

xx

Many thanks for reply.  My mind is in turmoil.

Collie2

 Okay, if this will help you in anyway perhaps you could look at it like this. 

 If you are in anyway  undecided about what course of action to take I suggest you  choose the medication. If it becomes too much for you you can always stop. However if you decide against it and then change your mind it may be too late.

 I don’t think there are any easy answers here and you are certainly between a rock and a hard place. 

 If you do elect for medication, please make sure you do everything to look after yourself and minimise infection. You have to give yourself every opportunity to get the best out of it. And who knows you may find the treatment relatively easy. Certainly Steve’s first three rounds of chemo before his operation were a relative breeze. Other than a slight tingling sensation in his fingers and toes  he did not get any of the symptoms you hear about so often.

 Take care 

Hi Collie 2,

so sorry to hear of your diagnosis, my dad recently passed away from esophageal cancer, it had spread to the lymph nodes near the bowel by the time he was diagnosed, he was offered chemo and was told taking this may give him an extra 3 months if the cancer responded however this wasn’t guaranteed, he also gave my dad 1 year. My dad didn’t take the chemo as he wanted to have quality of life for his remaining time, sadly he didn’t get that either he passed away 3 months later. Everyone is different and there’s no easy answer, my dad made the right choice I don’t believe he would have seen the end of his chemo the cancer took over so quickly and the side effects were not worth #potentially if at all# giving him an extra month or 2. Your body may be stronger though do deep down what you feel is right for you x

hi

Hi there my husband passed away last Christmas Day of the same as your husband he was diagnosed on the 16th nov and was gone Christmas Day he had no symptoms only a small amount of indigestion and said now and again his food didn't go down very well nothing else doctors said he had a stone in his gall bladder then once in hospital he had a scan to locate the stone and they found no stone but oesophagas tumour which had already spread to his liver and lungs no chance of treatment and he became very ill very quick I feel doctors let him and us down terribly

Hi

I was diagnosed with stage 4 oesopegeal cancer in July it has spread to lymph nodes and my adrenal glands. I'm 40 and have a wife and 3 kids. The treatment is going well but I have yet to find out if it is stopping the growth as intended (they are not looking to cure at this late stage). My symtopms started in March with dysphagia (trouble swallowing food etc). I had a persistent headache. It got to the point where I could only have liquid (soups etc). Once the treatment started I could swallow food better although the majority of the time I eat it causes stomach upset. Pain control is fine with just cocodomol. I dont know how much time I have left and that is scary but i'm trying to keep positive and hopefully they can keep me around for a while yet.

Sorry for the rant its just carthartic to blurt it all out on here

Cheers

Hi hope you don't mind me replying to your thread. It seems we are both at about the same stage of this horrible disease. 
mine started roughly about February/March usual signs, weight loss, trouble swallowing loss of appetite.After scans I was told it was inoperable having spread to my Lymph Nodes and in my stomach

yesterday I just had my 4th course of 9 chemo treatment, I did have a nasal tube fitted but it fell out so my partner is liquidising practically all my food but I'm still struggling after a few mouth fulls. I'm waiting for my first scan after starting chemo to tell me how it's progressing 

im taking only a small amount of cocodomol as not in a great deal of pain but having trouble sleeping usually only getting 3 hours before I wake up

just that I'm wondering how you are getting on after your treatment has it stopped or reduced? Can you manage to eat anything?

has I said I hope you don't mind me replying 

thanks and be positive and strong 

Hi hope you don't mind me replying to your thread. It seems we are both at about the same stage of this horrible disease. 
mine started roughly about February/March usual signs, weight loss, trouble swallowing loss of appetite.After scans I was told it was inoperable having spread to my Lymph Nodes and in my stomach

yesterday I just had my 4th course of 9 chemo treatment, I did have a nasal tube fitted but it fell out so my partner is liquidising practically all my food but I'm still struggling after a few mouth fulls. I'm waiting for my first scan after starting chemo to tell me how it's progressing 

im taking only a small amount of cocodomol as not in a great deal of pain but having trouble sleeping usually only getting 3 hours before I wake up

just that I'm wondering how you are getting on after your treatment has it stopped or reduced? Can you manage to eat anything?

has I said I hope you don't mind me replying 

thanks and be positive and strong 

Hi of course I dont mind you replying to this post.

With regards to treatment i've just had my 4th round of 12 (every 2 weeks). They also pump som steriods through as well. After treatment started I could swallow easier nothing too large and I cant eat with any speed and everything needs to be chewed up pretty small, anyhow that effect seems to be reducing and im gradually moving back to soups etc just like I was before treatment. I find the cocodomol seems to help with the eating and helps my body relax a little cause I have a massive amount of trapped wind that my body seems to create

I have to have two more rounds of chemo before I have any scans to see progress (fingers crossed).

One of the things that annoys me that any of the data i can find is useless to me due to the lack of numbers of cases in my age bracket which largely means most of the data related info out this is completely not applicable to me which I find frustating.

Anyhow I hope your scans bring you some good news. Feel free to comment etc anytime you need a chat about stuff.

Best of luck

Hi just catching up with and how are you fairing. Myself I seem to have taken a step backwards, I’ve been managing to eat a little more normally the last month. Nothing massive but small portions of normal food, however this weekend I’ve really struggled to digest anything even cheese triangles. Had a scan about 2 weeks ago after my 4th chemo treatment and got a call of my specialist yesterday. Unfortunately my tumour has gone a little bigger and there are more lymp nodes infected. Still none of my other organs which is good news, so I’m now going to have a stent fitted on Monday with the hope I will be able to eat more a day or two later which is great news as I get married on the Thursday. 

Then my specialist has said we will have a chat about a different form of chemo. They did say to me before I started any chemo treatment that there were other forms to try if the first lot didn’t work so that’s where I’m up to now. 

Hope your progressing better than me 

Hey, sorry to hear about the growth that really sucks. I myself have had trouble eating recently as well but I have to wait till after my next round before I have a scan,

Congrats on the wedding by the way. I hope the stent helps out, I am considering one myself but im not sure a stent will help to much as most of my issues seem to come when the food finally gets to my stomach (so much wind being generated etc).

Let me know what other forms they suggest as I maybe in the same position soon and would be good to have an idea of the options beforehand

Good luck with everything andd hope the wedding went off without a hitch! Stay strong!!!