adenocarcinoma ( 4 CM) esophageal cancer stage IV

Hello.

I'm unfamiliar with capecitabine, but I know that oxaliplatin is hard core stuff.  I had that and am still (fortunately) enjoying some of the side effects.  You leave out a lot of pertinent information that could help folks here help you further.  Things such as, where are you receiving treatment, why is surgery not an option, was he tested for HER2/NEU, are there other medical complications.  I know that you feel overwhelmed by what you have to deal with,  but the more you are able to share, the more folks here are likely to see similarities to their own situations and can share back.

Ed

Deathorglory said:

Hello.
I'm unfamiliar

Hello.

I'm unfamiliar with capecitabine, but I know that oxaliplatin is hard core stuff.  I had that and am still (fortunately) enjoying some of the side effects.  You leave out a lot of pertinent information that could help folks here help you further.  Things such as, where are you receiving treatment, why is surgery not an option, was he tested for HER2/NEU, are there other medical complications.  I know that you feel overwhelmed by what you have to deal with,  but the more you are able to share, the more folks here are likely to see similarities to their own situations and can share back.

Ed

Capecitbine is the oral chemo pill known as Xeloda

kenandme2 said:

Hi Ed,
Thanks for getting in

Hi Ed,

Thanks for getting in touch. I did not know what HER2/NEU was until I just now looked it up. I will definately ask our Oncologist when we see him in a little over 2 weeks for round 2 treatment.

We are receiving treatment at Virgina Mason In Seattle, which is supposed to be one of the best.  We were told that surgery was not an option because it had metastisized to a distant site. My Husband has no serious medical conditions other than being over weight (not morbidly obese) and has high blood pressure.

We were told that this was strictly pallative care and that using the combination of chemo he is receiving can cause remission (but from what I have read the remissions last for 2-8 months only) But that would still be great as long as he stays comfortable! 

He says his swallowing is already better and is not having as much pain in his chest. His Barret's was never diganosed because he has never really suffered from Gerd.

His Mom and Grandmother died of "Stomach" Cancer. I now wonder if Esophageal cancer is what took their lives. His Mom has been gone since 1990 at age 70. 

And his Grandmother passed in the late 1970's.

Hello,

Not having other medical stuff going on is big.  EC, especially Stage IV is HUGE, other stuff is a serious detriment to effective treatment of the EC.  I'm unfamiliar with Virginia Mason, but I'm from Philly, so you're probably unfamiliar with Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, too.  I will suggest that it is EXTREMELY important to have top notch doctors dealing with this.  You don't want to be dealing with docs who are going through on the job training.  

Stage IV EC calls for pallative care and clinical trials as the ordinary standard of care.  That's not the sort of thing you want to hear.  I'm a stage IV guy, who was given 7-8 months to live in October 2011.  I'm currently clean on all tests and doing better than ever expected.  It can happen.  It can be you.  Don't ever think otherwise.  My escape route was that I was Her2 +, which led to an effective treatment.

I wish you similar success.

Ed

baybuny said:

Hello Lori

Lori,

Your husband's situation sounds very similar to my husband's. He was diagnosed about 6 weeks ago, with NO typical EC symtoms. We had him checked because of a lump right near the collarbone. His initial diagnosis was poorly differentiated carcinoma with neuroendocrine features with an unknown primary. He started on a treatment of cisplatin and etoposide, and went through one round.

However, his treatment plan has been changed once they did a CT/PET scan and found an adenocarcinoma in the esophagus. With the now-known primary, they are switching his chemo to cisplatin, epirubicin, and 5-fu. The tumor in his neck area did shrink dramatically after just one round, so that doesn't surprise me. Obviously, surgery is not an option for him. 

We are going to City of Hope in Southern California on Tuesday to meet with an EC specialist and get a second opinion regarding treatment. I'd be interested to know your husband's progress with his treatment, and I will hope for the very best for you both. Take care.

 

 

I had a similar diagnosis 16 months ago, spots on neck AND liver, non-operable, and started with similar treatment. Then I was tested Her2+, began herceptin ... and am now in remission.  There is hope.