Surviving Oesophageal Cancer

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Hi , I’m new to this site but wanted to share my experience of living with oesophageal cancer. I realise that I’m one of the lucky ones in that my cancer was caught relatively early and was therefore operable.

I was diagnosed with cancer of the oesophagus in February 2007 and after many tests and two sessions of chemotherapy I underwent an Ivor Lewis operation, which is major surgery to remove the cancer, and lasted around seven hours. I responded well throughout and remained only five days in intensive care before being moved to a general ward and released a week later.

Since then, I’ve continued to do well but suffer from dumping syndrome as a result of the surgery. This is an unpleasant side-effect that causes fatigue, sweating and nausea after eating. Also, I now have to have vitamin B12 injections every three months as my body can no longer process this essential vitamin.

All in all, I feel ok and have remained positive all the way through. I realise I’m extremely lucky and count my blessings every day.

I’ve read so many negative reports about this type of cancer so I felt I had to share something positive for those of you who have, or know someone with, Oesophageal cancer.

All the best

Crystal

crystalclear over 13 years ago in reply to FormerMember

Hi Sue

Have you got the juicer up and running now? Another source of great Juicer books are the supermarkets, particularly Sainsbury’s and Asda. As Lou (ldb) said, if you add apple, lemon or pear to the veg juices it really lifts them and makes a big difference.

Dieter never ceases to amaze me, what an incredible powerhouse he is! It’s one of my strongly held beliefs that exercise heals the body, so together with these potent juices he’ll be a superman.

Much love

Crystal xx

crystalclear over 13 years ago in reply to crystalclear

Hi Lou

I totally agree about the foods you mention, which brings me to a very interesting and possibly exciting concept that I’ve been reading about these past few months, and that is food synergy. Nutritionists and scientist have discovered that certain food combinations taken together greatly increase the active ingredients. In other words when two particular foods are paired together the nutrients, enzymes, vitamins and minerals are not doubly increased as you’d expect, but hugely increased by factors of eight times and more, making them much more effective as antioxidants or anti cancer agents. As a scientist have you come across this and I’d value your thoughts, because to my mind it makes perfect sense and feels right. One of the books I’m reading about this is ‘Food Synergy’ by Elaine Magee, but there is loads of info online as well.

For those who are interested, some of the synergic foods are:

Tomatoes & Avocados
Tomatoes & Broccoli

Tomatoes and Olive Oil
Oatmeal & Orange Juice

Broccoli & Tomatoes
Blueberries & Grapes

Apples and Chocolate

Almonds and Yogurt

Garlic and Fish

Green Tea and Lemon

I’d really value your opinion on this topic Lou. The more I read, one source points to other reputable sources, although all admit that this research is in its very early stages yet.

Love

crystal xx

crystalclear over 13 years ago in reply to crystalclear

Hi Steve

Like Sue, I too was concerned and am really glad to hear that the chest pains are easing. I was very worried when you’d mentioned it a couple of times in your posts, but now you’ve mentioned a possible cause it reminds me that when stressed I too get bad chest pains.

Try to unwind a little.

Love

Crystal xx

FormerMember over 13 years ago in reply to FormerMember

Thanks for the welcome Judy, just off to plug myself in for another delicious 10 hr drip feed of Nutrison Energy Multi Fibre....roll on food !! Thanks again.

Bob

crystalclear over 13 years ago in reply to crystalclear

Hi Bob

Welcome, I’m glad you found us as I’m sure you’ll find lots of valuable info and support, both here in the forum and within our Oesophageal Group. There are several people in the group who’ve had, or are undergoing radiotherapy, so hopefully you’ll glean more from reading their posts. I’m really sorry that things didn’t go as planned, but never give up hope as these treatments are very effective at controlling the cancer for a very long time, and who knows, it might shrink the tumour enough for your team to re-evaluate treatment options. As Judy says, the Oesophageal Patients Association are a fantastic organisation with loads of expert advice and local support groups across the UK. And of course, you’ll always find friendly people here.

Love

Crystal xx

crystalclear over 13 years ago in reply to crystalclear

(((Hi Judy)))

Just a hug whilst you await scan results. Keep busy and I’m certain you’ll be fine.

Love

Crystal xx

FormerMember over 13 years ago in reply to crystalclear

Crystal, according to your list I should be VERY HEALTHY WITH ALL THE TOMATO AND OLIVE OIL I EAT OR DRINK!! Perhaps the pizza base isn't right!! Anyway it's fun to make.

I'm glad your chest pains are under control Steve - I have chest pains in the morning - it's a bit like all my plumbing has to get warmed up - everything feels a bit stiff inside - if this makes sense!! I can never eat breakfast straight away but after a while things start moving well. I don't know if this is normal or not - I don't know what is normal anymore.

Love to you all

Judy

crystalclear over 13 years ago in reply to FormerMember

Me too Judy. I eat tomatoes and olive oil several times a week in some form, but I haven’t yet perfected the tomato ice cream. Let me know if you do, as I know you’re an ice cream addict as well lol.

Love and Hugs to All xx

Crystal

FormerMember over 13 years ago in reply to FormerMember

Hi Bob

A warm welcome to the club though goodness me we all wish we weren't here. Having said that I have found some great friends here so there is an upside to this. Wow what a tough ride you've had. However it's good that you are fit and otherwise healthy, that will help you fight this beast. I just wanted to say that there are others here with a similar situation of tumour near the aorta and treatment has had a really and unexpectedly positive effect, taking them from inoperable to operable, so keep up your spirits and hope and be positve, which you already sound, and you'll be in th ebest place to fight this. I didn't have radiation but did have chemo and all the fun that entails but it worked so very bets of luck - we'll be rooting for you.

Cheers

Charles

FormerMember over 13 years ago in reply to crystalclear

I'm with you all on the tomatoes and olive oil - have to with the Italian blood! We bought a juicer too (Philips HR1861 on Amazon) and it came with a book - Juice Master by Jason Vale - with some interesting combinations. Can't post a link as thsi is running at snail's pace. Is it me or the Chinese web gremlins (I'm in China before anyone shouts...) or the site, but it seems to be running so slowly right now - perhaps this is due to the new look they'll be unveiling? Driving me mad...

But the sun's up this morning and we've been having some cooler days of late thank goodness so I'll be on my bike over the weekend.

Have a great weekend over there all

Cheers & hugs

Charles

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