More updates-:

Got a call from the hospital today with the final pathological staging.

T1b from a pre chemo clinical stage of t2. No lymph or mets. Good clear margins. Got the lot.

As you can imaging , we are ECSTATIC - if you ever can be with cancer ! It is amazing how happy , good 'bad' news can make you. Who would have thought a year ago that I would be jumping up and down over  the size of a tumour!!!! But this is the best news in this 5 month rollercoaster.

Post op chemo -: he doesn't NEED it now, but hospital have offered so is going to have it. 4 FLOTS. Even if he only completes 2, it will be good. Then a final PET scan.

Doing well with his food. Still purée and overnight feeds, but hey who cares. Even had a Brandy earlier.

hi Hilts

thats very good news i am so pleased for you both and your family , remember healing takes time but with patience you will see improvements over the coming months , there will  always be a few "bad days " which the body decides to chuck in to remind you who is in charge , the additional flot was the same situation with me and was described as a belt and braces option which i declined due to weight loss , anyway good times ahead and a happy year to you .

regards 

Douglas

Yes, Ray- where are you?
thanx Douglas. Yep for sure there will be times when things are pants, but hey ho. Such is life I guess.

Husband has been quite lucky with his weight. He has not lost any throughout this affair, even gained 6lbs during the time when chemo improved his swallow and surgery. 
When the dieticians told us to eat a higher fat and protein diet  post op, they were quite surprised that we eat things like jersey milk, full fat everything, no low sugar rubbish, things like ox tail and belly pork all the time. Never gone in for the  5 a day , salads in winter, type of diet. 
'Old fashioned' , proper food any day of the week. The strange thing is that eating that sort of stuff, in normal times both our weighs are pretty stable, with BMI totally normal - whatever that is.....

Hi,

Well have made it through the 4 rounds of FLOT and yes it is nuclear stuff! Round 2 was delayed by a week because of slight infection in my hickman line. It certainly had it moments during the rounds initially i thought i was going to be laid up and stuck in bed, as it happens the treatments/rounds go, The day prior to the FLOT you are put on steroids  finishing the day after treatment , I personally hit the brick wall 2 days after the steroids having no energy for a couple of days and then a steady climb back up for a few days then really back to normal. I also was anticipating being sick all the time in my experience I had a couple of occasions of feeling sick in the rounds but was prescribed medication just in case. My last treatment finished on New Years Eve, I have had a CT scan and the news from the hospital is that the tumour has shrank so they have deicided to proceed with surgey. I am to be admitted 16th Feb (my 53rd Birthday!!) A pre assesment appointment next friday including some bike test I believe to check my level of fitness? Meet the anaesthetist. With the help and support from my wife, family and friends and lots of positive messages im through it and ready for the next hurdle. Sorry for not keeping in touch, but will try and update after the next appointment. stay strong, keep safe but most of all keep positive....it does help.

Ray

Fantastic news and well done for getting through your treatment so bravely. Its not easy, my husband is only on round two of eight EOX chemo, and is completely wiped out, has hardly made it off the sofa for a week and half. Wishing you lots of luck for your surgery, and recovery afterwards! You have got this. 

Hi Daisy

Thank you! I was kept going will regular snacks, fruit smoothies, banana milk shake still my favourite and even an odd glass of lucazade, anything to give me a boost when i felt at my worst, kjeep strong both of you and stay positive it has certainly helped me.

Yay, Ray- good to have you back.

great news that the FLOT has done its stuff. It really seems to be the proverbial dogs b****s

you read exactly like my husband. He felt it was like Groundhog Day. Every fortnight Thursday night start the steroids, get nuke'd on the Friday, stop steroids on the Sunday, blotto for 3-4 days then better every day until time to go again.

He had all that pre op fitness workup. Lung capacity expanding stuff, bike ride 'stress' test, nose clip etc.

Mine is now post op. Had the whole thing done by keyhole!! OMG is that genius of a surgeon, my new best friend. He was only in for 7 days!!! 4 bullet holes, that is it!!!They chucked him out xmas eve, best present ever. He is now adjusting to eating smaller meals haha haha, not liking that one bit. Interesting though , in the 4 bedder with him were 4 guys similar ages all had the same diagnosis, surgery etc etc. What is going on with Oesophageal cancer, it seems 'catching' He still has his jejunostomy feeding tube in, but stopped them overnight last weekend.

We recently had the pathological final staging. Gone down from a 2 to a 1b, clear margins with no lymph's. Surgeon said there was very little cancer left, mostly scar tissue. So we are now waiting to hear on whether he needs the post op chemo- we are expecting it -in for a penny and all.

The whole thing seems a bit 'surreal' we are almost there in terms of treatment, but the emotional impact will take a lot longer to work through.

Hilts, So pleased to hear your husband is doing so well post op! Fantastic news about his grading, and you sound so upbeat its lovely x

Hi Daisy, 

yep, it is weird, I feel very upbeat about his treatment  and it has all gone so well BUT- there is always one (: I am waiting for bad news, I am also very intolerant of other things, life in general, you know stuff like getting stuck behind a tractor, annoying adverts, other people in general (: deliberately  emotive charity ads, and all that identity politics arrrgggg watching one of those *** programmes on TV at the mo as the 'screech sirens blaring' to an 'emergency', which turns out to be a drunk on a bench, love in a public toilet ( perish the thought hahaha)or minor theivimg ,really a blue light emergency!!!!- I could of course switch it off, but hey ho. Moaning at it is far better.One thing that is really dragging me down at the mo, is my idiots of bosses, changing their mind every 5 mins. I am particularly angry at our hysterical media, they *** off the NHS day and night, claiming horror stories at ever turn, but our experience has been amazing, seeing none of what they are banging on about.

I guess it might be called 'displacement' , who knows. The psychological will be a lot more difficult to heal I suspect.