Hi, my mum was diagnosed today with terminal esophageal cancer, she has less than a year, much less if she does nothing. They have offered her a stent so she can eat a little or radiotherapy. Has anyone been through this, she is worried about the pain and whether she would be better off doing nothing, although accepts that will only give her 2 months at best.
Its a lot to process and I am trying to support her, she lives with me which does mean life is easier for her, but she has always been so independent and she is afraid of what is ahead.
Thank you for reading this.
Hello Space
So very sorry that you have not previously had a response to this post, and to read of your Mum's OC diagnosis.
How is Mum doing? what choices have been made over the past few weeks?
My husband was given a terminal diagnosis, which was pretty much similar to your Mum's though he was advised at the time to go without a stent, and instead of radio, they offered chemotherapy.
With the correct treatment, it is sometimes possible that a miracle can happen, my husbands diagnosis included mets, in his liver, lungs and lymph nodes, that was in May 2020.. he is still with us, doing extremely well and keeping the OC at bay.
I wish you Mum all the best going forwards and hope someone else on the forum may be able to respond with a little more knowledge on your Mum's options than I have to offer.
Lowe'
It can be very difficult being on the other side of the diagnosis Space, during Dal's worse times we were in throws of Covid and no one was able to go to the appointments with him, unfortunately that is how he received this information of his diagnosis - alone, in hospital. So it is great that you are able to manage the appointments with your Mum, no matter how difficult.
I am sorry to read that your Mum is not strong enough for chemo, but pray the low level radio does work some magic for her.
Best of luck, to you both
Lowe'
Hi Florri
FLOT =docetaxel, oxaliplatin, Leucovorin and fluorouracil (I think) for 6 treatments, - over approximately three months.
The medication then changed in August 2021, he still has the FLOT but they removed two of the chemo drugs, which have caused him to have numbness in his hands and tongue, one being oxiplatin, but he was still on the Herceptin
Dal, continued to receive his treatment fortnightly, 336mg Trastuzumab (Herceptin) at the hospital after the Ondansetron 8mg anti sickness medication, then 5,200mg Fluorouracil which is intravenously (IV) administered over 24 hours, going back to the hospital the next day (or the day after if it was a late appointment) to have the bottle taken off.
After over 60+ chemotherapy treatments Dal went onto a maintenance regime in November 2022 which give Dal a lot more freedom; this is just the Trastuzumab, still every other week, and so far his results have continued to be very good.
(I have copied some of the above from our Blog, which you can find by clicking on our picture and following the link in the profile, it is a bit difficult to navigate as the older posts are furthest away.. but if you would like to understand how he has managed so far, I think most of it is in there)
Still we have not had any talk of surgery, this was something that right back in the beginning we were advised would not be possible, but we are two months away from a 3 year anniversary of the original diagnosis, and that shows that there is always hope.
I do wish you all the best on your journey - have you had the results back from your initial treatment?
Lowe'
