My mums journey started in July with a chest infection which led to enlarge lymph nodes, to endoscopy to oesophageal cancer. Unfortunately Dr's say they can't cure cancer but just treat .
My mum has had 6 cycles of chemo
However, this whole time has never had any issues with eating or swallowing. So it's always been really difficult for her , me and rest of family to come to terms with.
Will she eventually find it difficult to swallow ?
Only thing she seems to have is sometimes hiccups and sometimes a little constipated.
More recently back pain
Scan now end of the month
Just all sick with worry
Hi Derry girl
sorry to hear about your mom it’s hard not to worry when you don’t know what’s happening and even harder when she doesn’t seem to have any symptoms. hope all goes well with the scan at the end of the month and you get some answers !
Take care Tricia
Hi DerryGirl81. I just thought I’d give you my perspective on my eating habits. I was always able to carry on eating despite the occasional feeling that I could feel the food going down (toast was the most obvious). I also had back pain. I found that the chemotherapy did take away any discomfort with eating, and the radiotherapy didn’t give me symptoms until the last few sessions when I felt there was an obstruction again, but this also subsided after about 2/3 weeks of the radiotherapy finishing. You don’t mention radiotherapy for your Mum.
If your Mum is currently eating without hinderance, I would urge her to eat well now, to try and put on weight, as you never know how future treatments might affect things. I was told to try and gain weight whilst I could.
I hope this helps a little. Good luck to your Mum with the scan at the end of the month, and try and look after yourself too.
Take care, Julie
Thanks for your reply , no she was never offered radiotherapy. The back pain seems to be her biggest issue at the minute. She doesn't feel constipated but hasn't pooped in 5 days ( she was on co codemol for a few days there for her back pain which can cause constipation) but she hasn't taken them now in 2 days .
We are all just worried about her back pain , fearing that the cancer has maybe spread to there ...
Can I ask , with your own back pain , was it a side effect of the chemo ?
Thanks again for your reply
My mum seems to be eating small but often , which seems to work for her at the minute.
Hi there. My back pain gradually became more noticeable as time went on. When I first noticed that food felt like it was getting stuck (but not always) was in February 2023, and I don’t recall back pain then, and at this time I hadn’t gone to the Doctor. However, by the time I saw the Consultant in May 2023, after the endoscopy, CT and PET Scan I did mention the back pain, so I’m not sure at what time it became noticeable to me. My back pain felt like a twisting sensation centre left, around my shoulder blade area. My cancer was quite high up, so I assume it was the tumour pressing down, but I do not know for sure.
It is good that your Mum is eating small amounts and often, and hopefully high calorie foods if possible.
Please ask anything you want, as everyone on this forum is happy to share.
Take care x
Hi DerryGirl81
Welcome to the forum, and thank you for finding the courage to share some of your Mum's story with us.
The important thing to remember is that It Can Be Treated, like you, we initially found it hard to come to terms when my Husband received his diagnosis, we were advised palliative care only, that treatment was for quality of life rather than cure, but that was almost 5 years ago, statistically he has beaten the odds over and over again, and the treatment for this type of cancer is getting better and better, so to be told, that It Can Be Treated must be seen as a positive in this highly challenging situation.
There is also another Forum, which you might like to reach out to, it is for the family and friends of those with a cancer diagnosis, and it can be found HERE
I wish you Mum all the best
Lowe'
Hi,
Back pain can be a huge worry. My dad has had a horrendous experience with this. All the way through chemotherapy his back pain didn't subside but felt like it was getting worse. This was due to his tumour pressing on nerves in his back so this could be what is happening to your mom. Our consultant did it scans as he was concerned it may have gone into the brick wall of his spine but thankfully it hadn't and was literally pressing a nerve. Unfortunately this is still the case now.
My dad is now under palliative care to help with pain management only. This has been the best thing we have done as it has actually helped manage the pain. He is on slow release morphine and oramorph plus pregablin now.
Hope this helps slightly.
Kayleigh x
Thanks for your reply. Sorry about your dad , its awful watching them suffer . Guess I'm just hoping for a miracle and that the back pain is a side effect of the chemo and not a tumour... was your dad offered radiation to help with back pain ?
How is your dad doing with his day to day life .
Dad originally was only offered palliative chemotherapy as it had spread to his liver. After 6 sessions of capox his liver tumour had disappeared but we was back to square one with him being on a liquid diet as it only shrank his oesophagus tumour slightly.
We were then fortunate to be offered 10 sessions of radiotherapy, Dr Fong was doing this mainly to try and help with the pain. Truthfully, it didn't help with the pain but it must of done something to oesophagus tumour as by the end he was back eating solid food and still is to this day, that was 3 months ago.
He has just started 2nd line treatment now, paclitaxel. We are on round 3 this week. So far so good, not many side effects which myself and my mom are very relieved about.
It's been 11 months now since diagnosis and me and mom think it's the best he has looked and been. Now the pain is being managed, he is eating well, staying up later and pottering around the house doing odd jobs.
Never give up hope, over the past year it's been the pain that has been the worst but since that has been managed we can manage everything else.
Please don't hesitate to ask any questions, we will all try to answer as best as possible.
Kayleigh x
Thank you so much , hearing other people's journeys really does help .
My mum has decided that she doesn't want to know the details of her cancer , she only wants to know if she can have treatment. (It's her way of dealing with it all, ) so the doctors speak with me and my siblings , so we know it's pallative chemotherapy as cancer was also in her lymph nodes , so had 6 cycles of chemo , which finished 2 weeks ago . So scan now next week . Just in limbo waiting to see what is next for us
My mom and dad also didn't want to know and I respect their wishes for that. However, even thought the consultant knew this, it still didn't stop him saying things and we knew without treatment his prognosis was 6-9 months. But here we are 13 months later and as i said the best he has been in the past 13 months.
They also have my 14 Yr old brother so that keeps my dad on his toes still as he takes him and picks him up from school every day.
We can all remember the day like yesterday when we was told the devastating news. My mom and dad was actually first told after his first endoscopy and that was just after Christmas 2023.
Just remember consultants tell us 'statistics'. If a treatment can work then miracles can happen. Alot of people on this forum can tell you that who had a break initial diagnosis and are still here 4/5 years later.
Stay strong
Kayleigh x
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