Surviving Oesophageal Cancer

Hello all, long time no speak \;0)....

Wishing you all well for 2010.

Lou, I had my op in October 2005. Was reclassified as 'cured' on Sept 7 2009.

Tough road mate but the best advice I can give is try and keep fit and do lots of aerobic exercise before the op. Don't change your diet dramatically before and get up and about as soon as you can after the op. 

All sugery hurts and an Ivor Lewis procedure is about as big as you can get and it will hurt for a long time. If they suggest chemo before - go for it, it is primarily to catch any cells that have entered your lymph node system.  Yu will only have a couple of sessions and should have minimal side effects. All I had was the metalic taste and a mildly sore mouth that they give you an anaesthetic mouth wash so you can eat.

Good luck mate and request me as a friend and if you want I can give you some idea of the stuff you will come up against.

We are all different and so are our jhealth services so I can only describe what happened to me.

Mick

hello all im still trying to find out if any one had the mop up chemo after the op and if all people should have it or not

take care

li

mick it was nice to hear from you i hope all is going well

Hi li

It all depends on the biopsy; they take a number of lymph nodes and this will vary from person to person but I believe 12 is the minimum; I had 52 removed and my friend had 72 removed, our surgeon is quite radical with the removal of nodes, some of my nodes came back positive so I started chemo (ECX) but because I was so ill decided to end my treatment, adjuvant therapy is not as effective as neo adjuvant therapy.  Because it was thought that my tumor was fully contained I did not have chemo before the op.   The staging of this cancer can be very problematic and they don’t always get it right as in my case, but as you are well aware the spread of this cancer is very unpredictable, I know everyone involved in my treatment did their best for me, so am now left to winds of fortune and will have to take it on the chin if it comes back. I made a decision not to have anymore chemo no matter the outcome but that’s my personal decision.

I am glad you had a good New Year, but I am saddened that Gerald has been hit again so hard and fast.

Take care,

Steve

Hi Mick

Happy New Year to you. It's good that you keep in touch becuase it's comforting to know there are some that beat the odds.

Steve

Hi Lou

Good news so far, I can't add much to what has already been said except your recovery will be individual to you and will depend on the type of procedure used, but for sure you will experience many of the worries and symptoms of those gone before, so if we can help you with those symptoms or worries then we will be here for you.

Keep up the good fight,

Steve

Hi Sharon,

Early days for you, your body has been through hell, all the symptoms you are having are quite normal, as far as the sewating is concerned I just used to find a cool spot and chill down, not too hard to do in this weather! Things will get better with time it's just your body protesting becuase of the new shape and position of your stomach. Dumping is associated with your symptoms and will be a problem for quite some time to come, the only thing I can suggest is experiment as much as you can; keeping a diary may help.

Time is you best friend, the more distance between you and your op the better.

Steve 

Hi Gill

I hope Roy had a comfortable Christmas and New Year, I know you are having a hell of a time but try to be kind to yourself as you can be there for Roy and your children but you should not try to take all their pain onto yourself as you are only human.

Take care,

Steve

Crystal

That cat of yours is developing some serious drinking habits, and you a responsible owner! I don't know if there is such a thing as a drying out clinic for cat's but I can see you starting up one if this keeps going on.

Mike

Good news about you prognosis, I think I may have said this to you before on another thread, go out and enjoy your good fourtune, your experience will bring hope to others. Let us know how the scan goes.

Steve

Hi Julie

I hope you planned trips with David go well. Good news your daughter has got into Oxford, I believe there is never a better time in you life than when you are working towards something you really want in life.

I like Capetown, go up on Table Mountain, and on a clear day it feels like you on top of the world.

Take care,

Steve

Hi Ben, Leisha, Grace and Marianne

You are all in my thoughts I hope you had the best Christmas and New Year possible,

To everyone else looking in I know it’s not always easy to keep up the good fight in the face of so much adversity, but it’s sometimes it’s the only way to survive the day,

Take Care,

Steve