In April 2020 my brother was diagnosed with oesophageal cancer. He had to wait a couple of months for the surgery to remove the tumour as we had just gone into the first lockdown and part of his recovery would be spent in ICU and they couldn’t take the risk of him getting Covid. He was scheduled to have 4 rounds of chemo but ended up having 3 as he got sepsis twice.
The op lasted 7 hours and went well. He was still under his consultant when he started getting back pain and his voice became very hoarse in May of this year. I was with him when he was given the devastating news that the cancer was back in a rib in his back, a lymph node in his neck, a few spots on a lung and a lymph node near his kidney and that now it was terminal.
He was scheduled to have 6 rounds of chemo but after 3 it’s been stopped as he’s had a lot of side effects, the one that’s causing dramatic weight loss is the metallic taste in his mouth which has made him practically stop eating and drinking. Dropping 20kg in 7 weeks is very worrying. So the plan now is to have 5 rounds of radiotherapy on the lymph node in his neck.
im so worried about him. He is so weak, tired and very low in himself. I live 2.5 hours away, he lives on his own. I go to all his treatment appointments and oncologist appointments with him. I’m struggling with believing this is actually happening. I’m his family support as parents are elderly and live far away too. I’m going through so many emotions on a daily basis. Is anyone else in a similar situation with a sibling? Does anyone have any tips on foods etc to help with the taste? He’s not had chemo tablets for 10 days now how long does it take to go?
