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New and so many questions
My husband, Alan was diagnosed with gastric/esophageal cancer in May 2009. Since that time he has had 5 weeks of daily radiation and two week-long chemotherapy treatments as an inpatient. Following that, he went to Stanford hospital to have surgery to remove parts of his stomach and esophagus. It was a very difficult…
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Taxol...anyone ever take this drug?
Lyle's case has been challenging for the doctors. After many consults with the Tumor Board and Mayo...the decision seems to be that with Lyle's other health issues...Taxol will be the best choice. We are wondering if anyone has taken this drug...and how did you do on it? Susie
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Anyone else have mets to muscles and bones?
My husband, Hal, 57 yr. old, began this EC journey back in November 2009. He had difficulty swallowing, had endoscopy, found tumor, spread to lymphs and biopsied discovered mets to muscles and bones (ribs, tailbone, muscles all over - legs mostly.) He began having pains in legs, pain has gotten increasingly worse over…
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Hey Luis,
Hi, Thank you for your kind words, but all I did is give you a good swift kick in the you know what. You are doing the rest. I was really glad to see that you posted. I was actually starting to worry about you. I hope things continue to go well and please keep me posted on your progress. Remember I am just the messenger,…
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New update on husband-not good news
To all who have emailed me, talked to me on the phone and posted on my posts, I just wanted to update all of you. Eddie is not doing well, he is going into his second round of chemo next week after the past three rounds failed and showed that the cancer actually grew while doing those chemo sessions., his attitude is very…
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Dad started chemo Tuesday (Carboplatin & 5FU) - Drugs and Blood Count Questions
Dad started chemo Tuesday. He was there about an hour and a half and came home with a pump that will be removed Saturday. Doesn't got back again for about a month. The drugs listed in the binder they gave him are: Decadron Aloxi Pepcid Carboplatin (400 mg) 5FU CADD (or CAPD) (7200 mg) Found information about the drugs on…
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Gift ideas for male undergoing radiation and chemo
I'm looking for gift ideas for a male friend who is about to undergo an agressive radiation and chemo regime simultaneously. Thanks, Being There
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how long to get used to feeding tube?
Tyler had a g-tube inserted 5 days ago. We talked to the nurses from the formula company as well as hospital dietitian. They said to gradually increase amounts of formula and either syringe or IV bags could be used, whatever was tolerated. Things seemed ok with the syringe until yesterday. From Monday midnight til Tuesday…
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My brave brave husband
My husband has not been doing well the past few months. His cancer is growing very rapidly and taking over his body. We called in Hospice last week to help keep him more comfortable but on Thursday the doctors told him the chemo Taxol and Carboplatin he had the week prior had a positive response. We asked the doctors if he…
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what are options after radiation 'closes' throat?
I have a dear friend who says her doctor just told her that he could do nothing about her throat having closed up after radiation. She's stage 4, has had no surgery, just radiation. months later, she's still on a feeding tube, weight very low. I want to go with her to her next appt, and know that we'll need the info on the…
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My dad's Time has come.....
Hello to all my wonderful CSN friends, My dad has had more than enough of this horrible cancer. I can not blame him. He put up a great fight against the ec and won, but when it went to his liver in December, it has been all down hill. He did finish one round of chemo for the liver cancer, but that just about killed him. He…
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Mom and I are on information overload and dad seems non-chalant
Hello. Me again. My father was recently diagnosed with inoperable stage IV esophageal cancer. He begins chemo on Tuesday, March 9th. I'm sure what I'm about to describe is typical but I'm looking for suggestions how to handle it. We've been getting a good bit of information from the doctors so far plus my mother and I have…
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Switching Med center-3 week wait..
I met with the tumor board at the med center where I had my Endoscopy last week and was told I was stage 3A and given a treatment plan..I decided to switch to UCSF and had all my records faxed there on Friday 3-5-10.Got a call today that the earliest they can see me is 3 weeks away,which will be 7 weeks since an endoscopy…
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New and so many questions
My husband, Alan was diagnosed with gastric/esophageal cancer in May 2009. Since that time he has had 5 weeks of daily radiation and two week-long chemotherapy treatments as an inpatient. Following that, he went to Stanford hospital to have surgery to remove parts of his stomach and esophagus. It was a very difficult…
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New and so many questions
My husband, Alan was diagnosed with gastric/esophageal cancer in May 2009. Since that time he has had 5 weeks of daily radiation and two week-long chemotherapy treatments as an inpatient. Following that, he went to Stanford hospital to have surgery to remove parts of his stomach and esophagus. It was a very difficult…
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Update on my wife Linda
This is Abe AKA Runabe have not posted for a while just always staying on the side Linda went back to Sloan-Kettering on Thursday for her Cat scan seven months after surgery ALL IS OK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Linda also went to the beauty parlor had her hair cut and died NO MORE WIGS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I just…
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Not sure how to care for my husband
My husband has had a long battle with EC...was diagnosed at stage IVa; the original chemo-radiation knocked it back, but it came back with a vengeance and spread to his liver and then brain. We had hopes of enrolling in a clinical trial, but this was before there was brain involvement, and that disqualified him. He has had…
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Any insights on surgery decision?
My 62 year old manfriend was diagnosed 12/23/09 with T3N1 squamous EC. The primary lesion is just under the sternum, the node near the collarbone. In the initial blur, we both heard the docs explain that any surgery would have to be delayed until the lesion was (hopefully) shrunk with chemo/rad. He's had 1 week of…
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EC Chemo cycle question
Hi All, I'm just recovering from side effects from my 2nd. chemo treatment. They seem to appear on the 6th. day following treatment. My thinking is that if the chemo is working, it must make a make a pretty toxic time bomb. All those drugs and dead cells have to work their way out at some point. If this is true, then I can…
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Back Pain
My father, Oscar, was recently diagnosed with stage IV esophageal cancer. His first chemo treatment is this Tuesday, March 9th. How we came to his diagnosis is for the past 3 months or so dad has taken to sleeping on the recliner because his back is hurting. Even with sleeping in the recliner he was not sleeping more than…
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Countdown to surgery
Well, this will probably be my last post for a week or so. I’ll be leaving tomorrow afternoon to travel to UPMC Presbyterian in Pittsburgh for my Esophagectomy which is scheduled for Monday morning. I’ve gotten quite a lot of excellent information and support from all of you and I sincerely thank each of you for that. I’ll…
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Digestion/Activia/Constipation/Food getting caught
I was wondering if anyone has tried Activia to aid in food dogestion. Also I was wondering if anyone struggles with constipation? Ive also seem to have started getting food caught. Any suggestions??
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Awareness Event
For any of you in the Hattiesburg, MS area, the school where I teach is hosting a 5K Run/Art Walk on Sat., Apr. 17 to raise awareness of Esophageal Cancer. Each year our school hosts this event for a charity that has touched our school community. This year it is especially dear to me as my husband was diagnosed with EC on…
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Numbness and Persistent Cough
It has been almost 3 months since my husband's surgery. He continues to have numbness in his fingers and toes along with a persistent cough. I was wondering if anyone else has had similar problems. The cough often leads to vomitting and I am very worried about what effect this will have on his new esophagus/stomach. I…
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Something I found
I just had to share this with you all...Steve was a biker and I found this the other day online, and it really hit home. Since I found it, Steve's friends have put it on a plaque so I wanted to share a little of what my husband was and still is~~~ I hope this is not inappropriate or hurtful to anyone. Memories of You Each…
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update on Paul
I think the last time I posted Paul was in the hospital with liver problems. It has been a rough ever since. He spent about a week in rehab to gain his strength beck from his ICU stay and was doing and feeling well. A UTI landed him back in the hospital where the liver started to fail again. He had a stint put in that…
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Prognosis Question - Should the patient be there when we ask what the prognosis is?
I'm new to the boards. My 80 year old father was recently diagnosed with esophageal cancer. He had CT scan on February 16th that identified a tumor in his esophagus and an endoscopy the following Monday, February 22nd. The following day he was told that the tumor was cancer and an appointment was scheduled on March 1st…
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Update on my mom's EC
So, she was staged last week at IIb. Her PET test took place on Wed and yesterday she met with the oncologist for the first time. The oncologist informed her that the PET test revealed a potential issue in her colon as well. They are now scheduling for a colonoscopy and it will be performed first thing on Tuesday. My dad…
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Xeloda and oxalipaltin
Ed has been on xeloda about 11 days and one iv infusion of oxalipaltin., he has been in bed every since, 24 hours a day, every day. He says "he is tired", eating a bit, drinking some. Is this normal?????????? He has until this sunday to finish the 14 day run of the xeloda. The dose of this drug is 3 pills in the morning…
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Emend
I have completed my 4th of 6 chemo treatments. I am still having issues with Stomach nausea, and getting worse. I have tried several meds but found out I was allergic to about the first three we tried, which made it even worse. I am currently on Lorazepam (Antivant)/ 1 mg three times a day and Anzemet, 100 mg once a day…