Hi the cough is a sign of the cancer. It doesn’t necessarily mean it’s in his liver though. The older a person is the slower the cancer grows generally. One of my friends had swallowing problems for a number of months before she went to the doctors.  She was 55 and they operated and she’s still here 10 years later.

My husband was diagnosed and he only had symptoms for a few weeks before he was diagnosed as I was aware of symptoms. They told him that it had spread to his liver when in fact he had a cyst on his liver. 

Make sure that they do both pet and ct scans as they didn’t with my husband and just made an assumption that there was a secondary cancer.

Just try to stay positive xx

Thanks for taking the time to reply. They originally told him he'd need an MRI but now they've said CT...should we be asking for a pet scan too?

As I understand it a CT scan will just identify a mass but will not identify whether the mass is cancerous or not. In a PET scan you are injected with something and the scan looks st how the cells absorb sugars I think as cancer cells are supposed to absorb sugars quicker than healthy cells. If the CT scan does identify anything on his liver then they should check that it definitely is cancer before planning treatment. I think the MRI scan is also good at giving a definite diagnosis - my husband had an MRI scan after the PET scan. Just make sure they do the correct tests and investigations and question everything! We moved to private care to get the PET and MRI scans as the NHS just wrote my husband off. Sadly it’s extremely likely that if the GP and NHS hospital had acted properly my husband would have survived, however he sadly lost his life on 26 July this year aged 46. 

Hi,

I have OC but only ever had an ultrasound and then a CT scan - which was sufficient to show the size and location of my primary and secondary cancers. This ruled out surgery or radiotherapy as an option.

My understanding is that ultrasound, CT, MRI and PET scans are each of a higher definition than the one before it. So each one is often associated with a different type of intervention. 

Take it one step at a time and don't waste your money on private scans unless the NHS screws up. If the CT is inconclusive an MRI or PET may be the next step. Keep pressing them to treat things urgently - ring them if you have to to chase things up. In my case it was just about three weeks from endoscopy till starting chemo - the longest three weeks of my life. 

For what it is worth, my own CT scan was for suspected OC but covered everything from my chin to my groin - it must have done as the secondaries the CT showed were as far down as the lymph nodes in my groin. 

Good luck

Dave

well it went a little bit pear-shaped after I posted this message!  he ended up with food wedged alongside the tumour and had to go to hospital for another camera down to remove it as he couldn't even get water past the blockage which was extremely scary and really hammered it home just how serious this really is. Anyway while over there the consultant came to break the news that yes it definitely was esophageal cancer and the mass is protruding quite a lot into his gullet which is why the food caused a bolus however the preliminary CT scan shows no spread. He went to the hospital yesterday for a pet CT scan and we are now awaiting the results of those before they tell us Stage and spread and what trratment options are available to us. Thanks for taking the time to talk to me it's much appreciated

No worries.

I can only imagine how scary that blockage must have been. My own case was unusual because the cancer grew outwards from my oesophagus and caused almost no obstruction so none of the usual symptoms. That and the fact that I had no significant weight loss was why it wasn't diagnosed until stage 4. 

Good luck with the PET scan results :-)

Dave

Hi Fizzlew

My husband has recently been dignosed with OC, it has taken 7 weeks for them to get that to us, he's had the gastroscopy, CT Scan, PET Scan, Endoscopic Ultrasound and today he is on having a Laparoscopy, we finally have a meeting with an oncologist next week. 

Everybody says it but stay strong and positive

Totally feel your pain and grief right now my thoughts and prayers are with you . my partner passed away from this evil disease a few weeks ago , he was 47 . What I find odd is that they keep saying this is an older persons cancer yet more and more people seem to be affected in this age group. 

He was diagnosed in March and what I found was that he had to undergo test after test including a staging laparoscopy (which I believe helped to spread this cancer as his pet scan and ct scans were clear of secondary disease prior to this ) It actually takes around 14 weeka before they actually have any form of ‘treatment’. The chemo , surgery , chemo route has not changed for decades and from my research does not very often produce a curative result .