Hello and petrified!

Hi Thom

Oh how well I know that feeling!! I was just five days short of my 60th when I was diagnosed. I'd been one of the fittest guys in the gym before which is very ironic but if you put a positive slant on it you can argue that being fit helps a lot with whatever treatment plan you're put on 

Good luck to you 

Hi Bob, 

Thanks for the good wishes mate.

I just wish I knew what I was facing, this uncertainty is enough to make you sick.

I hope all is/ goes well for yourself.

Hi Thom

Thanks you for sharing the start of your journey here with us, many will fully understand much of how you are feeling.

Friday will seem ages away and it may drag, but hopefully you will be able to find focus, it can be especially difficult at a time of such uncertainty and fear. I hope you can a way to find some calm through this storm, and that the CT will provide some positives rather than negatives.

Best of luck 

Lowe'

Hi Thom. Naturally you are a bit shell shocked; we can all relate to the initial endoscopy that raises alarm bells. 
Please don’t think I am playing down your anxiety, but at the moment you have no idea what might be the outcome. Anything you can do to try and help you mentally can only help. I walked loads when I was waiting for the results to come in. 
Take care and know that we are thinking of you. Julie

Hi Julie, 

Thank you for taking the time to reply. 

I'm trying to stay positive and keep my mind off it but it invades my thoughts every chance it gets. But I'll keep trying.

I hope things are going well for you.

Davy.

Hi Lowedal,

Thanks for replying and the encouragement.

I read your profile and wish you well for the future. 

God Bless.

Davy.

I know, and it does Thom. But if you can find brief episodes where you can gather your thoughts and feel more ready to cope then you will feel a little better. I hope you are able to take someone with you when you go to appointments. Good luck for Friday. Best wishes, Julie 

Hi Davy,

There is a whole blog on Dal's journey (a little out of date but I will update soon) if you follow the link in the profile. But what we learnt was, nothing is a given, there are people who have had poor diagnosis and done really well and visa versa, there is no straight forward one rule fits all with this, and that is why if you can, it is important that you focus on positive, until you know otherwise, keep hoping and if it works for you, praying, that what ever this is they have found, it is caught in time and something is able to be done about it. 

We were given 4 months without treatment, 1 year with, to keep Dal comfortable, now, over 4 years later, Dal is doing amazing, so there is always hope.. 

God Bless

Lowe'

Hi Thom,

Endoscopy and CT scan are both part of the diagnosis to confirm whether or not the growth is cancerous. What happens next will depend on these results. No point in telling you not to worry until the results are back (hopefully quickly) because of course you will. I did. Fortunately (?!)  got my diagnosis quite quickly after my CT scan (less than a week) and after that I just joined the treatment conveyor belt. I’m now 7 months post oesophagectomy (plus 7 rounds of chemo) and doing okay. Good luck for Friday. CB

Hi Cool, 

Glad your doing well and I hope that continues. 

Do you mind if I ask how soon after your diagnosis did your treatment start?

Thom.