Hi Leo and Andi,

Thinking of you today Leo and hoping all is well.

I will be thinking of you tomorrow Andi and sending positive thoughts too for your operation. NHS staff are highly trained professionals and it's a big team who look after you. 
 

keeping the faith for everyone 

Milly

Thank you Milly - very nervous - can't imagine what I'll wake up to - it's definitely the unknown 

Andi xx

Best wishes Leo - thinking of you today. 

And best wishes to you Andi for tomorrow. 

You'll wake up in a very happy place and it will be a case of going with the flow and doing what you are told :-). 

Feel free to throw any questions our way and don't worry about not communicating.  I was rubbish at texting for days afterwards.  

Cheers

Bfg

So 6 biopsies taken and they're saying a 6-8 week wait for the result. 

However they seem to think it's possibly EOE or Eosinophilic Oesophagitis for the full title. Obviously won't know for sure until the biopsies come back.

If this is then it Seems to be that my body is going into overdrive against some kind of food and that large numbers of white blood cells are clogging and scarring the oesophagus. However this will now mean an onward referral to the dietitian to find which food I've apparently been severely allergic to since childbirth. 

But at least this appears to be good news, as they don't think cancer. Apparently only 1 in 3000 suffer from this so can be hard to get treatment but shall cross that bridge when I get there.

Hi Leo25Daisy,

That sounds very encouraging news! They usually seem to know when it's cancer. So as you say a bit into the unknown but if it's diet they should be able to sort out what's causing the problem and sort it out. Thanks for keeping us updated. 

keeping the faith 

Milly

So they seem to think the large grey lump blocking my throat was a lovely big clump of white blood cells. And would also explain the Coughing up blood too.

Only downside is EOE increases risk of developing oesophageal cancer by 50 to 60 percent so there's a chance I'll be back here in a few years x

Hi 

A lot to take in but on a positive there is 40% 50% it won't become cancer and if it does they will be straight on it. The biggest problem with any cancer is late diagnosis. As you said cross the bridges as they appear. Easier said than done but it helps if you can do it even if it's not all the time. 
Keeping the faith 

Milly

Hi Leo. As Milly said,  they are pretty sure when it's cancer. I was told straight after the initial endoscopy with 0% chance of it not being cancer. 

And don't you just love statistics? A quick Google of increase risk of cancer was quite variable following eoe and as those of us "on the journey" know there is so much information that is out of date it is difficult to know what to trust. 

But its worth checking whether the increase in risk of 50 - 60 % means that instead of 1 in 100 its 1.5 in a 100 (as an example) and not 50 in a 100. Much was made recently of the 20% increase of cancer risk if you eat 3 rashers of bacon a day rather than 1 - or as somebody else put it, there is a 99.5% chance you won't get bowel cancer which decreases to 99.4% if you eat 3 rashers of bacon a day. 

Cheers

Bfg 

Hi Andi, 

you're in safe hands, will be thinking of you 

Tabnabs x