Newly diagnosed with oesophageal cancer and the Fear

Hi I was diagnosed with oesophageal cancer last month and I have had a laparoscopy and having an endoscopic ultrasound tomorrow. I wondered if anyone has any ideas how I can help the absolute overwhelming fear that I am experiencing. I am having really bad dreams and hardly sleeping. The smallest mention of cancer on TV sends me into a panic and I am so worried about upsetting my wife and 20 year old son. It seems to never leave my thoughts. 

Parents
  • Hi I am having the same procedure on Wednesday I have found it doesn't matter what anybody says the fear is constantly with you ,I am the same ,I don't switch off at night neither.I think my fear is to find out what stage i am at.Hope you find something to help you .

  • Its all constant fear. I know its not happening to me, but my son, but its constant fear as to what theyre going to say. My son will be told the stage soon as well but hasn't got appointment through yet. Keep googling what I know so far about his tumour size and no spread etc to try and predict - it's driving me mad!

  • Hi Karren glad to hear your son has got a date for the Oncologist 

    It moved pretty quick for hubby first time around

    He has now been told he needs another lot of chemo and we already have the date for that.

    Suggest a grab bag for chemo days

    Something to do ...ipad etc head phones drinks / preferred food ( the soup at hospital was too lumpy for example so hubby takes own in a thermos)

    Its very individual I know but having the little things helps 

     

  • Thanks, yes good idea regarding taking stuff for chemo days. Glad your hubby is having more chemo to help him as well. 

  • Hi Karren 

    Thank you and I hope things go well for your son too

  • Hi how is your son doing. Have you been given a Chemo date yet?  I am into week two of the second dose of chemo and it is so much better than the first one. As Mouser has said, it is amazing how much easier it is to eat now. The fatigue is a little heavy but that’s better than the nausea. Hope all is ok with you 

  • Hi all. Hope everything going as well as possible for everybody. 
    An update on where I’m up too / what you’ve got to look forward to. 
    Had an appt / chat with surgeon last week. She says procedure is 6 hours. Suppose it’s all the prep before and stuff after that adds up to the 10-12 hours I had been told.  So that’s better 


    spent all afternoon today seeing anaesthetist and a pre op appt taking blood / ecg / lung function test etc. 

    all went well and I came out with a date for operation 10/4  which is 8.5 weeks after my 4th chemo. ( 6.5 weeks they call it after being signed off from xxx) 

    again they stress to get as fit as you can for operation. Muscle strength is what they said and make sure you use the spiro thing regularly as we need good lung capacity. 

    I actually feel the best I’ve felt in a long time and knowing the operation is going to knock me back is playing on my mind. 
    Therefore I’ve just booked a last minute weekend away in a cottage Shropshire. 
    Fingers crossed for decent weather xx

  • Hi Boxbrain. So you're feeling alright then? Second dose seems better than your first dose? It's great that you can eat! Brilliant. Yes, Deans been 'staged' and chemo starts on 27th March. He has been on a couple of alternative things (I researched them as have a science background but not at all an expert) & he feels great most of the time he says. Somehow his eating has improved in the last 8 or 9 days. He did have a feed tube fitted at laparoscopy on 10th Feb but (touch wood) he hasn't needed it so far. Hes got his liquid nutrition on prescription & hes having vegetable fingers, noodles, veg soup etc. He's grateful for, but not looking forward to chemo or the op but will go with it all obviously.  

  • Hope you have a fab weekend away, what a good idea. It must feel counter intuitive when you feel the best you have felt in a while to then go into surgery.

    1. So everyone I took the plunge and my long hair and beard of 40 years was all shaved off yesterday. It was a bit of a shock as I just don’t look like me anymore. It’s the beard that is the most difficult bit. And of course the blooming weather decides to get cold the day after so my cheeks feel literally numb. However I was very relieved to find out that my head is a good shape for shaving and has no weird bumps on it. I have decided that I may keep shaving the head but grow a long beard when it comes back eventually. I may even have some Viking tattoos on the side of my head. Yes it appears I am suffering from chemo brain mush and finally losing my marbles. Onwards and upwards. I have had the most amazing week of eating and have been out for meals and and having normal food with no discomfort or pain. It has been lovely to feel human again.Chemo again Tomorrow and I just hope that this cycle is as good as the last. Fingers crossed
  • Thats great re the eating and going out for meals. Hair is a massive part of your identity so it must be hard to lose that but good for you on making it into a positive. Dean has already lost his head hair since his 20s but has a big thick beard so isn't looking forward to losing that. Good luck with this next chemo.

  • Hi hows everyone doing? Is anyone interested in knowing about other things you can do to fight this? I'm definitely not trying to sell you anything or get commission! Just some things my son has been doing in addition to chemo etc (it starts Monday - it was put back a few days as he is having a tooth out today and they didn't want risk of infection. 

Reply
  • Hi hows everyone doing? Is anyone interested in knowing about other things you can do to fight this? I'm definitely not trying to sell you anything or get commission! Just some things my son has been doing in addition to chemo etc (it starts Monday - it was put back a few days as he is having a tooth out today and they didn't want risk of infection. 

Children
  • Hi well anything that can help is always worth a look at. However as you will find out the amount of meds that you end up with whilst on chemo to counteract the side effects is mad so to add anything else that you take could be a bit much. But quite frankly I personally am open to anything. It does however get to the point where all your life becomes about Cancer and this alongside the intense brain fog that comes with chemo means it becomes difficult to take information in. Another tip for your son is to always tell the hotline nurses or oncologist about every little side effect as it makes a massive difference as they can give you meds that sort it out for the next cycle. 
    regards Marc

  • Offline in reply to Boxbrain0 Unpublished Reply

    You're totally right about life becoming just about the cancer. Dean had his first chemo Monday - so far feels fine except tired he says. Anyway I'll put it out there what we're doing - some of it you may well think we are mad but bear in mind we have researched the hell out of all of these things and put together a protocol based on the evidence and the advice seen on videos or read from articles made by doctors (some are oncologists).

    First thing he started taking was liposomal nano curcumin. Curcumin is shown in controlled studies to kill cancer cells by apoptosis and to interfere with most of the cancer cell pathways. Its found in turmeric spice but its not water soluble or very bioavailable in it's usual form so a bit useless like that. When its 'wrapped' in a lipid (fat) layer and made into extremely tiny grains (liposomal nano), its up to 2000 times more absorbable to the body. 

    If you go to Youtube and enter Repurposed drugs for cancer you will find information and evidence there (ivermectin & fenbendazole) One such video here: Repurposed drugs

    These drugs work by interfering with the cancer cell pathways that help cancer cells uptake of glucose as thats all a cancer cell can feed off.

    One crucial thing regarding recurrence is that conventional chemo & surgery do not eliminate the dormant cancer stem cells, even if you are declared cancer free or No Evidence of Disease, in remission etc, these CS Cells can be just 'sleeping' and thats why so many people have recurrences. Ivermectin & fenbendazole are able to destroy these cells so there is extremely reduced chance of recurrence.

    Another video of cases here:

      Fen ben for cancer?

  • Hi started taking liposomal nano curcumin drops today as did some reading and it certainly won’t hurt. Here’s to hoping that it will help with the natural defenses 

  • Yeah, I really rate curcumin & more importantly loads of cancer researchers & oncologists all around the world.

  • Hi hope you dont mind my joining your thread 

    Just wondering if you have any suggestions for counteracting the neuropathy caused by the chemo hubby really struggling with it at the moment thanks in advance RB

  • Hi  

    I would talk to your husband's oncologist as soon as possible, as when I started to get neuropathy during breast cancer chemo treatment, my consultant immediately reduced the chemo concoction by 20%.  If neuropathy really takes hold, it is very difficult and sometimes impossible to reverse.

    Good luck :)

  • Hello Carol1964 

    Thank you for taking time to reply

    He has an appointment this week so will see how that goes. best wishes 

  • Hi. My son only had his 1st chemo last week so I don't know much about that sorry. I hope your hubby can get help with it.x

  • Hi the pins and needles with FLOT chemo is a *** and yesterday I woke up with a numb right hand. I was very worried that it might not go away however it seems to have eased off a bit today. Good luck. The treatment is such a nasty concoction of drugs and has been very emotionally draining due to the nasty side effects. However it does end and helped me to eat normally which is a plus. Hang in there 

  • Hi Karren 

    Thank you for taking time to reply 

    I hope your sons treatment is going as well as possible and he is responding well.

    Fyi

    The chemo side effects are cumulative/ build up so just watch out for it. 

    This is second time around for Hubby and I guess that is why its so bothersome for him 

    It had eased off inbetween times.

    Its just hard watching him go thru it .

    Thanks again for support

    RB