Hi my name is Mindya I was diagonosed with oesophagus cancer in march like everybody else the question is why me but I tackled it and said I was goin to be ok I had surgery in may and you think to yourself When you wake up all these tubes how am I goin to cope but you do I am on a feed and I think that’s the worse thing for me I am on the toilet every morning I have had bout of the nausea and find my appetite Has changed and my taste buds are not the same one week I like a certain thing and the next I don’t they say my appetite will come back eventually I get stressed about my eating I was never a big eater anyway I’m a picker i am so looking forward to my tube to come out so I can stop stressing about it they say times a healer I just can’t wait to eat again normally but it won’t b normal like it was I know I’m very hard on myself I am a very lucky lady because I have got the all clear and didn’t need any treatment and I hope you don’t think I am a moaning Minnie but wonder if their is anybody going or been through the same as me I know everybody is different but it’s would b nice to near form anybody
I had my diagnosis almost nine years ago and after several rounds of chemotherapy had an Ivor Lewis oesophagectomy in February 2014.
In those days they didn’t keep the feeding tube in very long. I was lucky in that I always had a good appetite and would eat most things. But I found that my tastes had changed. For instance, I now liked tea rather than coffee and beer rather than wine! Things gradually settled down a bit and the changes were less drastic. Eating small meals more often was a challenge. But if you are a picker or grazer then just eat what you like all the time. Don’t be too concerned with eating healthily. I think I had malabsorption and diarrhoea for a couple of years. Probiotics helped and eventually things settled. Dumping syndrome was a problem in the early years, but I learned how to avoid it.
A new normal slowly established itself and now nobody would guess what I had to go through after the surgery. I’d say it was two years before I felt I was in control of my gut again.
Having said how difficult it was in the early days it didn’t stop me travelling all over the globe, eating local food that I wouldn’t have been able to tolerate before surgery.
So celebrate being cancer free, accept it’s going to be a slow recovery and accept that the feeding tube will make your recovery quicker.
Wishing for a speedy recovery is unrealistic but I wish you one anyway.
how did they decide on surgery if i can ask, i asked about sugery, all they said was they were having a meeting. still heard nothing, and started che,mo last week
I imagined you had already had surgery. My mistake.
The usual process is after they have done all the scans and tests and the results are back they have usually weekly multidisciplinary team meetings (MDT meetings), where they review all the results and see if you ate best served by surgery at this time depending on staging mostly.
Sometimes they decide on treatment only. But review progress and may decide on surgery later
Hi Brent thank you for the reply yes the dumping I know like lol well I spoke to a nurse today and told him everything how I feel and eating that is what stresses me out the most he told me that I am goin in the right direction I am maintaining my weight and I am being hard on myself everything will come back slowly ie taste buds a appetite I do feel better and just needed reassurance I go back on the 11 I have told him I really want my tube out but we will have to wait I am goin on hols in sept and hoping I will b ok with me eating .
