Hi Rayb

just been through this had FLOT april and may operation in june  its a long journey but stick witk it.

It may all sound a bit frightening at first i would recommend you read up on your treatment the FLOT is bearable and the operation is not really a worry although it is a major operation i will say that at no point in my journey have i really suffered any major pain and i am 90  percent recovered as of today if i can offer you any help or advice please contact me as it is always good to hear from someone who has been through this procedure recently , our NHS will take care of you by far the best care you can get ,trust me.

do you know what a plo is in an operation? 

would be grateful if you have any idea

sorry to hear about your diagnosis x

Hi Chrissy,

Yes being an 'onlooker' is hard. Hoping all goes well on Sunday. Will be sending positive thoughts your way.

keeping the faith

Milly

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

Oooo Leo, 

Soya yogurts !!! . Noooo. LOL. Sorry, I am a really traditional kind a gal with food. Full fat creamy yogurt for me any day. When my husband had trouble swallowing, he melted cheese in everything, large amounts of olive oil or butter on everything.i even came up with what I thought a snazzy idea. Rhoda's cream ( you know the stuff like butter) frozen, then dipped in anything you fancy - like melted chocolate- that is more like it (:

I went for a coffee in town today, with full fat milk of course : the woman in front of me ordered get this - decaf earl grey with soya milk.........I could have cried for her(:

Sorry, I know there are lots of people who like that sort of stuff and I shouldn't laugh, but after the last year I really am of the opinion, do what you like, when you like with whatever you like- ultimately makes little difference. The time that is given to us is most defo for living.

Your summary of Barrett's is pretty spot on- yes, they are attention seeking cells(:

take care

keep the faith

Hilts

Ooooh now that really is a snazzy idea!! 

Haha its only the lactose that ruins the full fat for me! I have odd days where I crave the proper stuff and I'll binge on ice cream or pizza but I pay bitterly for it the next day! Yet I can manage Cravendale with no problems so I have to have that at home. Have just made a nice hot chocolate for the evening.

Ooooh no!!! How can you have decaf, Earl Grey and soya? Who even puts milk of any description in Earl Grey? 

Haha they're the rebellious teenagers of cells x

I had a post op, benchmarking CT Scan today at 11:30am and saw my surgeon at 1:30pm to go through it and my histology results from the lab on what they removed in the op.

Thankful that the CT scan was clean and normal and histology back, all 72 lymph nodes he took came clean back too. He told me to go and celebrate with another Nandos, haha !

So, I'm now waiting to start post op chemo on 6th October which means all being well I should be done by 18th Nov.

Keeping walking forward, head down getting it done.

Hoping everyone else on their respective paths are keeping on, keeping on too and moving forwards.

Oh that's fantastic news!!! Definitely celebrate tonight x

Nice one redski...good news 

Nice one redski...good news