Hi Leo25Daisy,

My husband had biopsies taken at the same time. He did say he wished he'd had the sedative for the procedure. He did do during the second ultrasound endoscopy. It's a straightforward procedure but he felt more comfortable with the sedative.

Hope this helps.

keeping the faith

Milly 

How long does it normally take for biopsy results to come back? I'm definitely taking whatever sedation is on offer, if I remember rightly the lady on the phone earlier said it was IV sedation.

The swallowing is definitely bad at the moment, it took 6 attempts to get a small fork full of noodles down at lunch! The girls at work are trying to make a joke of it going think of the weight loss. 

Admittedly I did manage to fit into a pair of size 6 Work trousers today (haven't managed that since pre pandemic times) and I was a 12-14 before this began. 

Keeping the faith

Chrissy

Hi Again  Leo25daisy

thats good news , i never take the sedative for the endoscopy as you get home quicker afterwards , as for the biopsy its such a small sample they are taking you don't feel it , i suppose it all depends on the person , i am asthmatic but was relaxed and managed without the sedative which allowed me to focus on what the consultant was doing and to watch the procedure on the monitor , the consultant then explained to me what we had seen , as they have done tens of thousands of these procedures they can usually give you a fairly accurate opinion on the day in my case it was a tumour , this was confirmed officially via my GP a few days later , after that all your other scans are external so don't get to worried and good luck for Sunday , we are all hoping for good news from you , take it easy.

Regards 

Douglas

, 

Hi Chrissy,

I think the time may vary for results. My husband was told that evening by the specialist nurse that it looked like a Cancerous tumour. It was a shock. A CT scan was done the following week and this confirmed it along with the biopsy.
Its probably best to speak to your clincian. I'm sure you've probably got more knowledge than a lot of us because of your job which I imagine is a double edged sword. The biggest thing I think we've learnt is no two people are the same. You can generalise but everyone's situation and response to treatment is unique. My suggestion would be focus on you, do what you want to do, ask questions you want answers too and take it a step at a time. Some people deal with things by laughing others find that too difficult at certain times. No one is right or wrong. Be kind to yourself.

keeping the faith

Milly

It's definitely a double edged sword. It's very rare I see cancer referrals myself, but I feel like I've seen more of them since I've been on this journey. Though of course that could just be because I'm more aware of it. I actually had 3 today. 

I spoke to my mum again today to let her know I've got a date through and she's in bits. Not much more I can do until Sunday. The girls in the office have been giving me sweets saying we know you can't swallow them but you can suck on it and get empty calories that way 

Howdee Leo, 

Yep, just coming in to second/third the endoscopy info. Husband was told kinda there and then that it looked dodgy, but the biopsies would confirm in a few days. We also got a call the next day from the specialist nurse. The Dr's that do the scoping pretty much know what they are looking at . Biopsy is for confirmation OR something that looked 'off', but not obviously off- if that makes sense, stuff like Barretts etc.

For his Endoscopy, he went on his own!!! and had NO sedation- wally (: We genuinely thought "oh , bit of  acid reflux, maybe an ulcer or two........"

Sedation is a very personal thing. My Dad is quite happy to do anything without, husband will now going forward,always go for sedation. Me- no way would I have anything done without it (:

LOL- with the referrals- once your in any twighlight zone, everything is related to what your in, I bet if you turned on the telly, there would be a programme about it ! I found that at the start and when I came on here, it almost seemed to be catching, everybody I spoke to had a 'story' to tell me.

I feel for your Mam, I too am the onlooker.

Trust me though when I say, once you both know where you're going with this, you'll both feel a tiny tad more sort of in control- don't quite know how to put it really.

what I can say though is ,that this time was the worst by far for me.

Keep the faith and fingers x

Hilts

If I've done my research right Barretts is pre-cancerous cells right? Could become cancer, could stay the same or they could even go back to normal.

Yeah I'm a bit of a wuss lol much as I'd love to be staring at the screen seeing what the consultant sees, I know I'm going to need every drop of sedation. 

My mum's already made me promise to phone her on Sunday as soon as I feel up to it with what they tell me, obviously I'll bob on here too. Feeling particularly bad for mum as she's not local, she's near on 200 miles away so she must be feeling completely helpless. 

Its really good that they give you a pretty strong idea on the day though, means if it's bad news you've got time to prepare yourself. 

My mind keeps going oh its Barretts and you're just feeling worse because of the chest infection, while my gut is saying stage 1. Only time will tell though! 

Just 3 more days of fighting the temptation to ask one of the gynae onc consultants to give me a blood form for a CA125 then in 72 hours I'll be isolating and on the countdown. 

Hi Leo, 

Bless you, you sound absolutely fried. What goes with the CA125- that is a long way from the Oesophagus!
Barrats, is a bit of an 'odd' one. Not pre cancerous, BUT (always one, or two eh), can raise the risk of it turning into cancer. 'Only' 5% ever progress. My mate has Barrats, had it for 10 yrs, is scoped every year or so and omeprazole. It's never changed.

i think pre cancererous is called stage 0. Cells on the turn, but not quite there. Then stage 1-4.

i could be talking total flannel of course, but others may come in on it.

keeping faith and fingers x

Hilts

So basically the cells that are misbehaving but not having a full blown rebellion? 

I am fried! Had myself a little nap after dinner (what little I could manage to eat anyway) but its one of them nights where I can't get warm no matter how many layers and blankets I've got on the sofa. Even caved and put the heating on! 

The other half has had the genius idea of soya yogurts though as I'm lactose intolerant and is hoping they might be more tolerable x