Chemoradiotherapy

hi snowsie, i had the chemoradiotherapy, wasnt as bad as the chemo i had for breast cancer, i had chemo on a monday, then off to radiotherapy, which is literally minutes, then 4 more days of radiotherapy, weekend off, and then started again, this was over 5 weeks.  when i saw the scan, it had shrunk the tumour prior to surgery.

was quite tired but we did all the early radiotherapy appointments to beat the oxford traffic, so think this did tire me out and i was being fed by a tube to get my weight up for the op.

and also others have had surgery after amazing ct results, so althought they say no to surgery, it can change, wishing you all the best, i am the wife dealing with all of this, it was my cancer, husband struggled with taking over, dealing with it and coping so made my journey so much harder, when some days i couldnt hold it all together, so at least it seems you are all over this for your husband.

let us know how you get on, and dont be afraid to question what they are saying, easier said than done, did come out of appointments a lot of the time thinking why didnt i ask that etc.

jules x

Thanks for your reply. 

We will have to drive to a hospital about 1 hr 15 mins away - worse in work traffic. I think this is putting him off to start with. 

Also, he has always been a bad patient and hates taking any drugs.  Refused all the steriods etc. 

He hated being tube fed which is what he had to have back in Nov/December.  He is adamant he is never going back to it. 

Obviously I have to let him make the decision as it's his body and he knows what he can tolerate.  He has had very few side effects from chemo and we had started to think this was why it wasn't working. I don't think that's the case though. 

I know what you mean about thinking of questions later.   We had the meeting this morning and we've already forgotten things and wished we had asked different questions. 

Do you mind me asking was your chemoradiotherapy for oesophageal cancer?

Bx

Hi B, yes after i was told i could have the surgery to reconstruct, it was the chemoradiotherapy for the oesophagus cancer, they found when i complained of not being able to swallow properly, i was really surprised when the oncologist explained that the 1 dose of chemo each week before the 5 radiotherapy doses, was to gee the cancer up so the radiotherapy was more effective, i thought chemo was the destroyer, but apparantely not the case, i only managed 4 out of 5 due to my white blood count, but did do all 25 sessions of radiotherapy.

know it sounds wierd but the radiotherapy was the least stressful of it all, this was done at oxford, really nice team, same faces that did the breast cancer radiotherapy, so bit of a reunion.  One thing we did learn is that when you get you sheet of the up and coming radiotherapy appointments, the lovely nurses changed pretty much all of the appointments to the first ones, so early start but parking was better and we was on our way back normally by 8.30 ish.

this is a great forum to reach out to, lots of people who have been there, seen it and wearing the damn tshirt, really helped me when i was struggling.

all the best moving forward,

jules x

Hi Snowsie. I just thought I’d drop you a line to say how I found the treatment your husband has been offered.
I had Chemoradiotherapy (11 weeks in total) including five weeks of radiotherapy, 5 days a week.
My journey to the hospital was one hour each way, and to be honest I treated it like going to work. The five weeks went relatively quickly. The treatment itself is really quick (10 minutes setting up, 5 minutes zapping at most). I tolerated the radiotherapy quite well, until the very last when I could feel a soreness when swallowing, so I adjusted what I ate. As I recall, two weeks after finishing Chemoradiotherapy I felt very well. I appreciate that we all have slightly different experiences, but I hope that you find my experience of interest.

Sending my best wishes to you and your husband. Julie x

Hi Julie, 

Thanks for this.   Did the radiotherapy shrink the tumour in your oesophagus. 

To be honest I think my husband is just nervous and is thinking of all the things that could go wrong.  His tumour is nudging against his windpipe so he is concerned about complications. 

He would have to drive to Coventry Hospital and it's quite a trek.  Were you able to drive home on your own after each session?

x

The radiotherapy shrunk my tumour.  I  was talking to someone at Clatterbridge he had six weeks of radiotherapy and he drove home after each one. I dont drive but think I would have struggled to drive after my treatment.  Hope he makes the right choice 

Hi Snowsie. I cannot say how much the Radiotherapy shrunk my tumour as it was a combined effect of Chemo and Radiotherapy. I did have the operation and I was told that the histology showed that there was no tumour in the removed Oesophagus, so for me the treatment was very successful. My cancer was also in the upper part of my Oesophagus (Squamous Cell Cancer).

As both my husband and I had retired, he drove me to and from the hospital, but I believe I could have driven myself (by that, I mean I didn’t feel wobbly or sick or feel any after effects after the radiation). There were a number of people I got to know during the five week stint, who had transport provided for them via the NHS.  

It’s a lot to take in and I felt totally overwhelmed at times. I found the Upper GI Nurses very helpful to talk to when I felt anxious and worried. They are used to answering all sorts of questions and it made me feel less alone, and that no question is a daft question. If there is anything at all I can do to help please message me.

You will find this forum so good, and there will always be someone to support or share their knowledge.

Take care. Julie x

You went through that major operation when you didnt need to. Didn't you have a scan after your treatment and before the op I was told after my treatment that the tumour had shrunk enough to go ahead with the op