Hello to you all.
My Mum has just got back from the specialist and she said he was absolutely excellent, kind and extremely knowledgeable.
He has informed her she has a squamous cell carcinoma which measured 29cm to 35cm positional distance from teeth line (6cm length in total). These measurements / length derive from the endoscopy results. At the time of the endoscopy this was suggested as early stage / scarring. The PET-CT scan has shown no sign of metastatic spread, but there is a question mark over 1-2 local lymph nodes (see below).
The results were written on the sheet precisely as follows:
"Tx - Tumour Early Stage cancer, ?N1- may be 1 or 2 lymph nodes invaded locally, M0 - no spread”
(Tx seems to indicate “cannot be assessed” but she hasn’t had a EUS Endoscopy as yet so I’m not sure whether that will follow or it might not be deemed necessary, not sure).
The Specialist suggested that in this instance it could be cured with chemoradiotherapy alone.
I have read some very interesting information on chemoradiotherapy for squamous cell carcinoma of the oesophagus and it appears that the success rate is similar to if not better than the surgical route. I have also read posts on this forum suggesting favourable outcomes with this treatment plan.
They want to start the treatment as soon as possible so my mum is meeting the oncologist on Friday to discuss the next steps.
This is an awful disease but I'm really drawing some positives off this diagnosis and just hope and pray things go well with the treatment.
I would appreciate to hear your thoughts on this based on your experiences.
Finally my heart goes out to all you going through this and hope all your outcomes are positive ones too.
Regards
Chris
