I posted on here a week or so ago saying that subject to biopsy results and ct of chest abdomen and pelvis I'd been told I almost certainly had oesophageal cancer. Well the results are back and in the words of Homer Simpson.... "d'oh!"
Biopsies have confirmed it's squamous cell cancer of the oesophagus. CT scan shows areas of concern in my liver and my left lung so it may have already spread. (They are going to let me know the full details face to face at my first radiotherapy appointment on Thursday).
My chronic back pain is likely to be due to my oesophagus being expanded at the top to compensate for it being so narrow at the bottom and so the expanded food pipe could be pressing on nerve endings effecting my back. The average adult oesophagus is 20-25mm wide to allow food through. Mine is apparently 4mm so that explains why I can only manage liquid!
I'm actually doing ok mentally so far as I've been prepared for this outcome since January. (I diagnosed myself and asked for referral when my GP insisted she felt it was just psychosomatic). The pain Is a nightmare though even with oramorph and Im seriously tempted to take them up on the offer of a brief hospital admission to get my pain under control. (Less than 2 weeks ago I was managing to live alone and now Im struggling to manage even living at my parents with them giving me some physical help).
I'll update again on Thursday but It's looking likely that it's stage 4 with liver and lung secondaries. The oncology consultant will go through all that with me and my parents on Thurs. Hopefully oncology will also give advice on who my parents can contact to get support for themselves because they aren't coping at all at the moment. Any advice on who to contact for support for carers and relatives would be appreciated xx
