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Stage 4 Oesophageal, what should I expect?

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My dad was diagnosed with oesophageal stage 4 in January, it has spread to his lungs.

He had 13 bouts of radiation which made him very sick. He finished that a fortnight ago and while he feels less nauseous and has more energy, the tumour hasn't shrunk. We are holding off on chemo for another few weeks.

Im wondering what to expect ... How long might we have? Im very worried about his mental health, he is trying to put on a brave face but i know he's struggling. He has an awful lot of phlegm coming up at the moment. 

I feel like we have a real lack of knowledge and i dont know who to contact...

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    Hi there ...

    You can always call McMillan nurses or our nurses on here .. they are medically trained ... and can give you more info .. but they are only here Mon to Fri .. same with McMillan. . If your really worried call your local A and E department and tell them as maybe they will be able to help .. 

    Sorry I can't help more ... I know it's really scary ... but write down All your questions .. ask for things to be explained ...and if you don't understand anything ... tell them you don't understand and ask them to say things we can understand too ... good luck ...

    Chrissie x

     

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    I’m so sorry. My mum died from this awful disease last March. I thought she would live to 100 but this illness took her unexpectedly at 78. She lost so much weight as she couldn’t eat, so she really couldn’t fight it. The chemo and radiation did nothing and she died suddenly during the night of an upper gastrointestinal haemorrhage, something we hadn’t been warned  could happen. We had a couple of months after the phelgm got bad, so we enjoyed Christmas and I took my 6-year old over as much as possible and we made her as comfortable as possible in (what we know now were) her last days.

    my advice would be to ignore everything else, focus on them and say everything you want to say as one day you won’t get the opportunity and you don’t want to regret that. I wish I’d said more as my sister and I didn’t know how little time we had.

    sending hugs

    xxx

  • Hello there

    So sorry to hear about your dad. My husband died of this cancer 14 weeks ago after a 16 month battle. I think the advice you have already received here is spot on. Speak to you your medical team and make the most of the time you have. You could also search for oesophageal cancer in the search bar above, there is also some really good information on how to deal with  phlegm and other cancer nasties. Whilst your Dad has the energy try and make as many memories as you can, believe me you won't regret it. Make sure nothing is left unsaid. Asuming your dad is terminal I would just like to say that the next few weeks and months are going to be tough for everyone. Please make sure you look after yourself.

    Ruth

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