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They may have found an indication of a need to investigate for cancer, but the initialendoscopy is only a partial confirmation. More will usually be needed.

'Later stages' is very relative. The doctors willl need much more information. 

Best of luck 

Hi Gez

Sorry to read that dad has been sick for the past 3 months and I understand your questions and why you are looking for answers, but we would be guessing if we were to try to provide you with any.  The Medical team are best placed to give you all the details as they get the results from tests and scans that will inevitably take place.  It is early days and we can only hope for the best outcomes. 

With regards to eating, soft / blended foods are probably best,  soups and other more liquid meals will hopefully stop him feeling as if anything could get stuck. Yogurt, creamed rice, anything that will be easy to swallow but keep the weight on.  

I know that it is a difficult time at the moment because you have no answers, but be careful of reading too much into this on the internet as the developments in treatment and survival of this cancer in the past few years has come on leaps and bounds. 

Stay focused, talk about what is going on, and be real with each other. Let the medical team do there thing, they are good at it and know what is best almost all of the time. 

Lowe'

Thank you he had the ink scan and it’s was confirmed as Cancer. Luckily that think it can be treated x

Thank you   I’m feeling abit useless at the moment so I’m feeding him it’s the only way I can help.

He said he had to go for a sugar scan any idea? X

Sugar scan?  Was that definitely what they said it would be?  Is he a diabetic? Could it be a CT scan maybe. 

Swallow test

Is that sugar based Dslippy?

Hi Gez, My initial situation sounds similar to your dad’s so although we may not be comparable, it may help you to know my journey.  I very quickly develop problems swallowing.  My GP fortunately acted quickly and sent me for an endoscopy. They found a large tumour that they thought had probably spread to one or two lymph nodes. They determined it was operable and after chemo and surgery last year I’m now free of the cancer. I think the staging ended up being T3N0M0. Turns out there had been no lymph nodes affected. The chemo and surgery was tough and life is not the same now, but I’m here and I’m getting used to my limitations.  If your dad is similar to me and the others I went through this with in hospital, there can be a life for him beyond this diagnosis. The doctor who performed the endoscopy, and was the first to tell me what I had (which was surprisingly right away as soon as she saw it.) said she thought keeping focused on a positive outcome and taking every treatment offered gave me the best chance of getting through this. She was basing that on the many people she’d seen in this situation. Hopefully this is helpful. 

Thank you Minky sorry for late reply my heads been all over the place lately. I’m happy to hear you got through it all and hope my dad does too. He has a cancer mass and they found two nodules further down. He starts chemo on Wednesday. Not sure if they can operate depends if chemo works. I’m worried my dad isn’t telling me everything so I don’t get upset. He hasn’t told my other sister yet because she’s bipolar and just battled cancer herself so it’s difficult. 
Did it all affect your mental health? I’m worried it will make him depressed. I feel so helpless but just want to know everything it’s driving me nuts getting second hand information. Will ring the helpline hopefully they can fill me in on a few questions. Sorry for the rant and thank you for your reply it’s gave me hope xxx

Hi Gez, it was definitely tough emotionally for me at times, but generally I did alright with my mental health, especially through the surgery and initial recovery. It’s been a little harder since because now I have to live with all the difficulties the surgery caused and get back to ordinary life. While I was planning for surgery and getting through chemo my attention was on getting through it. Afterwards, I’ve felt a little aimless at times, but not really depressed. I think it must have been hard on my family to witness what I was dealing with and not really able to do much. I feel for you in this situation, You want to help, but what can you do?  It’s interesting you mention that you want as much info as you can find.  I’m the same way, but I’ve noticed some people don’t want details and are satisfies being given info from the doctors and following the plan. There probably is no right or wrong way, just different types of people. For your own peace of mind, I suggest asking and researching all you need, but perhaps remember it’s for you and your dad may not want to know all you find out and he may want to manage this on his terms. I remember feeling at times as though I had to tell friends everything that was going on and it got tiring. I ended up feeling as though I had to reassure them that everything was going to be okay. What bugged me is some acquaintances, not my best friends, would quickly say, you’ll be fine. It will all be okay and felt like saying back, how  do you know and who told you that?  It seemed  like a way to changing the topic. If that’s the case why keep asking me how I am?  I felt tremendous pressure to always be positive. I also realised the easiest response was to say I’m fine, everything is fine.  Sorry, I’m ranting now.  My point is though that it’s so uncomfortable for most people, that the conversations get weird. I’d say try not to expect too much from others because most don’t know what to say or do. I’m not in any position to give advice, but from my experience, I appreciated when family and friends let me decide how to manage things, like how to feel and react, who to tell and what I told them. I felt it was mine to deal with. Fortunately, my family was really good at respecting that.