Is there any hope?

Hi!

I’m really sorry to see this post about your mum.
I’m newly diagnosed with this cancer. I had a meeting with the surgeon from my MDT  yesterday.  Surgery may not be an option for me as I have one node that may have been affected and it is a lot higher than the diseased part of the oesophagus. I need the MDT to review a PET scan I had on Thursday to confirm this. If the node has cancer cells in i will not be able to have the operation and will have chemo and radiotherapy alone. I asked my specialist nurse and she said the MDT review the case so after a round of treatment, the scans might be different and the plan could change.  If I hear I can’t have the surgery for now, I’ll keep hope that things will change after the treatment and do everything I can to fight it. So don’t give up hope. Just take it one day at a time.
Encourage your mum to keep looking after herself,  eating and exercising. This will help for when the treatment starts and gives a sense of control of the situation for now and talk to the specialist nurse or phone the Macmillan helpline for a chat with one of the advisors they’re so supportive. 

Hope this helps

Best wishes xx

Hi there

Sorry to hear you and your Mum are going through this. Its such a worrying time. However,  the answer to your question, in my experience is "Yes"! 'Hope' is your friend and it is one of your best defences against cancer. The good news is that it sounds as though the cancer hasn't spread elsewhere, so your Mum must be in with a chance of beating it. That's got to be a definite 'plus'! 

My husband, also 64 and otherwise in good health, had a somewhat worse diagnosis in early Dec 2021, with a 6cm adenocarcinoma tumour, lymph nodes affected and further metasteses. He was offered 8 cycles of palliative chemo to "buy time". He's now on Round 6 of Xelox, which is known to be intensive.  Although its not been pleasant, and the side effects are challenging (but not insurmountable) he has been able to lead a relatively normal life, working part-time for Citizens Advice and getting out and about on weekends and days off, bar a few recovery days. At the halfway scan his tumours were declared to be "stable" and we are determined that he will continue to shrink the cancer further and subsequently hold it at bay for a long time to come. We know the odds aren't great, but statistics are only that - statistics, not individuals. We continue to live in hope and are not giving up. 

Our oncologist couldn't predict at the outset how well my husband would respond to the chemo, but he did say a positive mindset, a healthy diet and regular exercise would make a difference. Focus on those three things. Also, try and see how the chemo might ameliorate some of the symptoms, especially if it starts to shrink the tumour. For example, my husband was having some swallowing issues before treatment but from Cycle 1 onwards, he has been able to eat normally and only occasionally needs to take painkillers. Every time people see him, all we hear is "You look so well!" - and he does! His first big goal was to be around to hold his grand-daughter and she is due to arrive in the world in less than 2 weeks!

I wish you and your Mum all the best. Keep hoping for the best!

M

Hi, my name is John 

I hope I can give you some reassurances.

I have had 4 rounds of chemo, Ivor Lewis surgery and a further 2 rounds of post op chemo. I was T3 N  1 with no spread. 

I'm around 9 weeks post up and, although it's not been easy, I'm now just dealing with minimal pain, mostly from the removal of a rib during surgery, and poor ability to taste, sticky food in particular. All in all a very good result as I'm technically now cancer free.  We don't know if this will change in future obviously , however no one does. I should be back at work soon and back to the gym doing light weights.

I'm only 48 which I apparently young for this cancer and I was fairly strong from weight training before surgery, I've lost around 3.5 stone but that's beginning to slow now, I'd make sure your mum is as fit as possible, the chemo will work it's magic (it almost eradicated my cancer before the surgery) and hope surgery will be an option soon, if not now then after chemo maybe.

Best of luck to you, your mum and family x

I’ve been lucky I guess because surgery was an option for me.  I was 57 when diagnosed and the tumour was T4N0M0. I had the surgery a year ago. In prep, I had four rounds of FLOT chemo then surgery. After my first round of post surgery chemo mop up I had complications and needed another surgery and that ended my chemo. As tough as it was at times, it was possible to muddle through. Im now doing okay. Im still weak, even though it’s been a year and I still have some gastric issues, but I can live a pretty normal life again. Im very thankful for that. Even if it doesn’t last, It was definitely all worth it. As someone above said, keeping a good outlook and remembering hope is our friend, makes it worth what it takes to go through this. My outlook has changed quite a bit through this experience.  Initially, I was so afraid that I’d go through all this only to have the cancer come back right away. I now don’t worry so much about that.  I’m still aware that the odds it will come back are high.  Probably as a result, my focus is shorter term now and I tend not to think very far ahead. I’m not always good at keeping my thoughts together, but it is easier now.  I’m on quarterly checks with the hospital. For my next meeting I need to discuss a constant ache I have in my right side (location of the liver). It’s a worry, but I don’t have signs of my liver failing so I don’t think it’s serious. I mention this because before I was so worried about life after  going through the “program” and what it would be like. I’m there now and it’s not so bad to have these sorts of worries. I think it will be that way for a while. After so much bad news and living through it, some of the drama and power it once had over me has diminished to a level I can manage.