Problems with stent

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My husband has been diagnosed with incurable cancer to the oesophagus and had a stent put in around a month ago. Before he had that almost everything he ate would come back up again. The weeks that have passed since the stent was put in have been fine. Largely his swallowing seem to be better and he´s been eating food like yoghurts porridge and a couple of times he´s also eaten cottage pie without any immediate problems. He has lost a huge amount of weight though and hasn´t put any back on yet.

But strongly encouraged about his eating habits that seemed to be better yesterday I decided to serve him steak and mash. The meat was very soft and easy to mash up into little pieces and I served it with extra gravy and a little bit of very soft broccoli. IF ONLY I HAD NEVER DONE THAT! He ate a bit and then threw it back up and since then he has hardly been able to swallow anything - food or drinks - at all. I really blame myself for this set back because he was all fine in the morning (well as fine as you can be when you have advanced cancer and are fatigued because on top of that you might be anaemic) and just because I decide to serve him this stupid steak and mash we´re almost back to what things were like BEFORE he had a stent put in.

I feel so at a loss now and don´t know what to do for him other than maybe calling one of the nurses on his team and hear what she has to say about the whole thing. I feel useless as a wife and that I can´t care for him properly :-( 

What I would like is to hear if anybody else here has experienced these kinds of set backs once a stent has been placed and how you cope with it

  • Hi, we are in the same boat unfortunately and I too am feeling the same way. Sometimes things he eats the day before has an adverse affect the following day. Having PICC line put in Thursday to try chemo again. Started a week after the stent however he wasn’t strong enough to take the tablets and ended up back in hospital. Our only hope is containment. Sending love and strength to you all xx

  • Oh lotus72. Please don't beat yourself up. You are doing your very best under extreme circumstances.

    I know it's been a few weeks since you posted. How is your husband getting on now?

    My wife struggles to find food for me too. I don't have an issue eating just no taste due to the chemo I suppose. Metallic, salty, sweet and very unpleasant.

    I hope you and hubby have turned a corner by now.

    Regards

    Geo 

  • Ohh gosh I just realised today that it´s been ages since I´ve been here! I´m so sorry but time just flies by and we´re just busy with treatment and whatever else follows that :-) 

    So far my husband has had 3 chemo treatments and he seems to deal very well with it. There has been no severe side effects; whether or not it has to do with the fact that he only receives a low dosis treatment I don´t know. 

    Regarding eating and swallowing it´s a bit up and down. He has good days where he can eat almost anything he wants and swallows without any difficulties. And then there are days in between where he can´t eat or drink anything because it all comes back up again. So it´s a bit unpredictable which can be quite frustrating at times for the both of us (him mostly of course!)

    This coming Tuesday he´s going to the hospital for a CT scan which will show how Mr Tumor is doing. I must admit I don´t dare being too optimistic but I´m hoping there will at least be a bit of positive news. I guess we´ll have to wait and see but we´re both excited and anxious about it at the same time.

    Hope you´re all doing reasonably ok in here and all the best to you xxxx

  • We seem to be at the same stage in this journey. Hubby has CT scan Tuesday too. Since I last posted he has had a replacement stent, the other disappeared. Chemo pump came off on Friday so he’s always exhausted this weekend. Am feeling exactly the same as you about Tuesday. Love to everyone xx

  • Jubsyp can I ask did your husband feel the stent disappeared or was it simply just gone? The reason I´m asking is that I kind of suspect that my husband´s stent has either migrated or disappeared too. I wouldn´t say that his eating was fantastic but we were definitely moving towards better times but the last three days most of what he´s been eating and drinking has come back up again; even the protein drinks so something is definitely off. I hope that the CT scan will help to shed a light on what is going on or maybe we can speak to the doctor about it when he calls on Tuesday.

    Best of wishes to your husband. I keep my fingers crossed and hope his CT scan will go well and you´ll have some positive news. Fingers crossed! xxxxx 

  • Morning Lotus72, he was doing really well eating as he could be, had some chemo and eating became an issue, he couldn’t eat what he had been soft diet after the stent. Rang our specialist nurse (luckily we have a brilliant local team) they initially thought it might be due to chemo, however  they rang everyday to check.. after 4 days the did another barium swallow to find out it wasn’t there and appt made to have another. He takes a while to recover from this and is now absolutely exhausted from last weeks chemo. It’s doubtful we will make tomorrows scan due to chemo and exhaustion but we’ve been told we can rearrange as he has been on reduced treatment and has had to skip some. He had an appt with the specialist nurse later but she will ring him now.  Give your nurse a ring to discuss incase your husband is heading for dehydration due to sickness. Please let us know how you get on xx