Well I had my emr on friday and the report says I've had a possible nodule and a tongue of high grade dysplasia removed by duette and something that I never heard of called avulsion polypectomy.im hoping the doctors havve got everything and the cancer isn't any deeper.the lab results and mdm meeting will take a month I've been told,so a bit more of an anxious wait.as for the emr itself,it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.afterwards I had a pain in my chest for a couple of days a bit like bad heartburn.im just finishing a soft food diet and im getting a twinge of pain when the food passes the spot where the esophagus lining was removed by the emr.but im sure this will go as I heal.unfortunately for the second time the sedative had no effect on me and I didn't feel sleepy or relaxed.just my luck ehh lol.but at least I heard everything the two doctors talked about.

Hi James,  I was just about to post asking how things went for you last Friday.  Glad that it all went smoothly and that the EMR wasn't as bad as you thought.  I had exactly the same feeling as you afterwards regarding the twinge of pain when food passed the spot where they operated.  Sorry to hear the sedative didn't work for you as I can never remember anything afterwards after sedation but I had a general anaesthetic when they did my EMR and removal of the tumour. I have some good news that my whole body CT scan came back clear but after meeting with the Oncology doctors I am to have six and a half weeks of radiotherapy and three doses of chemotherapy.  This Thursday I go to have metal clips in my throat so Radiology know exactly where to treat and then the day after I go to Radiology for a CT scan before treatment begins.  Today I had some really sad news to add to everything else.  My 95 year old mum has just been diagnosed with squamous cell cancer in her mouth.  She has Alzheimers so doesn't really understand but just something else to worry about.  Hope you don't have to wait too long for your results but let me know how you go on.

Hi christine first of all.im sorry to hear the news regarding your mother.but im pleased to hear that the ct scan went well for you.it sounds that you are in for a fair bit of treatment. I really hope that this treatment has a positive outcome for you and that you dont have to many side effects.at least you now know what lies ahead of you treatment wise.please let me know how you get on with everything. 

Best wishes james

Well I have just had some good news today,the results of my  endoscopic mucosal resection have come back.the doctor rang me this morning to say that the tissue samples show that my cancer hasn't gone any deeper and they reckon that its now been removed.I still have some dysplasia and im to have halo treatment to burn this away.I also have long segment barretts oesophagus and was hoping to have halo on this as well but I've been told that as there is so much of it there would be a high risk of strictures to treat it all.so I feel very lucky  that I have a chance for this cancer to be cured.I came home from work today and found a letter telling me I have an appointment for a ct scan next saturday.this might be for the nodules they found on my lungs at the last ct scan for the oesophagael cancer.Im just hoping that I have nothing else wrong with me.so a little more of an anxious wait to come.I hope Christine and everyone else are all doing well with your various treatments.

Best wishes james

Great news!

That’s really good news James.  I hooe that you have good results from your forthcoming scan too.  I am in the second week of my treatment and am finding it hard, especially the sickness from chemo.  Just have to stay strong.  Best wishes Christine

Holly

sorry to hear that your treatment is beginning to kick in a bit, it’s usually around the end of week two and start of week three that major changes start to kick in, loss of taste, lack of saliva, what you can eat on Wednesday you go off by friday and even finding a suitable liquid can be a chore .... I think I went on to Chinese green tea that I had let cool down, that only lasted for about two weeks though .... can’t stand the stuff now, but I had no taste back in the day.

if your chemo is causing you sickness, if you have not already mentioned it to your medical team, tell them, as they can always swap you onto a different anti sickness, apart from that follow the drug timings rigidily the days after your chemo

its a really difficult treatment so don’t feel down about finding it hard, you are only human and are now putting your whole body through one hell of a test .... it’s bound not to like it and try and protect itself in ways that are really tough on us.

although our cancers are different I guess by the sounds of it that the treatment is similar, I have therefore enclosed my blog. I wrote this all the way through my treatment and it may offer you some insight as to what you are going through and how to get through it ... I hope it’s a good read and passes the time on those long chemo days if nothing else

gammaraygary.wordpress.com/.../

let us know how you are getting on

vatch

Thank you Vatch for getting in touch and sending me the link to your blog.  Sorry I didn't get back to you before.

It's nice to speak to someone who has gone through something similar.  I am nearly at the end of week 3 of my radiotherapy and the soreness in my throat is really starting to get bad, so much so that I am finding swallowing difficult.  The hospital have given me some medicine to take 20 minutes before food so I've started to try to see if it helps.  I'm having six and a half weeks of radiotherapy and the doctor said that the last two weeks will be tough.  My next chemo is on the 16th April which I am dreading.  I have to make sure that I take all the anti-sickness they give me which is what you advised above.

I'm going to start reading your blog which I hope will get me through it all.  I never realised it would be this tough.  

Once again, thanks for getting in touch and I'll let you know how I get on.

Christine

Christine

this is a hard treatment, so don’t beat yourself up about it starting to kick in .... you are doing very well considering what you are going through

its around this point that I went onto cooled down Chinese tea and starting to take on more of the forticips, as food was becoming increasing difficult to get down and everything tasted disgusting anyway.

as for the radiation, get loads of e45 cream and layer it on after treatment and continually, don’t get the lotion as it has an iratant in it ...

 get the lick Lardy cream

regarding the chemo, it was one thing I looked forward to as mine were all on a Friday and got pumped so full of steroids that was buzzing over the weekend, however I would gradually come down over the next couple of days so, wednesdays and Thursdays were not the best

stick to the multiple chemo medicine like clockwork, if by doing that you are still sick tell you medical team

but  clockwork, clockwork, clockwork on those drugs ... I think that’s what worked and did it for me

do you have a Peg (a feeding tube directly into your stomach)?

keep going and ask anything at anytime

vatch