Hi guys. Sending love to you all. We have just lost my mum to this cancer after only 6 months post surgery. My advice push for the chemo after and push for all the scans you can get after too. If this had been possible for mum then she might still be here. Xx

Hi,

Thank you all very much for replying to my first post ,this has been a whirlwind for me and the wife with appointments galore and we have teenagers so in a bit of a similar situation , I have had my Hickman line inserted today ,and seems a strange thing to say but can`t wait for the chemo to start, probably will regret saying that lol, how did you mange keeping the line dry during bathing ?

Greetings Ray B.

welcome to the oesophageal club, no doubt one you'd rather not be in .

What is your staging?

in answer to you question about keeping the line dry. Husband has a PICC. If I remember rightly a Hickman is up near the collar bone. My solution for his PICC was a black bin bag or carrier bag stuck on with gaffer tape!!! Most attractive.(:. I suppose if it is on you're collar bone, just a bit of plastic of any description stuck over it. Your hospital may have some special gadget though.

yep, we couldn't wait to crack on. Now, just finished the first FLOT x4. Nuclear stuff, but honestly after the 2 nd one was eating normally again. Amazing really. 
His pretty much followed a pattern- bit sick feeling on the day, and the day after, but once the steroids were stopped on day 3, felt like he said like the worst hangover in history- what worked for him was just sleeping it off, by day 7, back to normal-ish. He also described it as Groundhog Day!!
surgery booked for 10th December- so fast we haven't had time to dwell on it.

best wishes

Hi Ray

your nurse should be able to sort you out a large see through stick on dressing i used them on my feed tube and showered no problem , you will be fine on the FLOT although on the treatment days you will be hungry due to the steroids a good tip is to take a stock of sugar free sweets with you and milk shakes , good luck and be patient.

Hi Ray

your nurse should be able to sort you out a large see through stick on dressing i used them on my feed tube and showered no problem , you will be fine on the FLOT although on the treatment days you will be hungry due to the steroids a good tip is to take a stock of sugar free sweets with you and milk shakes , good luck and be patient.