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Hiccups!
My Dad's first treatment was yesterday...... cisplatin, taxitire, 5FU. He woke up at 2:30am with hiccups and he still has them. Omg what in the world is this about? Melody Father, 59 yrs old stage 4 gastroesophageal junction tumor..
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Dad - 5 week post surgery - caretaker question
My father had partial re-section on 2/20 - after some minor complications came home and is recovering. He is 82 years old and was in very good health prior to surgery and living on his own. My sister and I both live far away - i am a plane ride away and she is 2 1/2 hours drive. He is not having a ton of symptoms but the…
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Jerry's April Update
Well, okay. EC at the gastroesophageal junction, of course... And now mets to the adrenals. So, I'm on my second run of chemo, and this is the second infusion/pump. Y'know, sadly, before I went on this second run, I was feeling pretty good. But now... Ah, phooey. So, every two weeks -- Leucovorin, and Oxaliplatin for a…
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Posted by Michelle - LilChemoSmoker on Facebook this morning
Posted by LilChemoSmoker this morning We have entered the final stretch of our journey together in this life. Eric has become unaware of his surroundings and "why" he is here or "what" he is to do next. He does not want to sleep, but his body is tired and winning that argument. We have had nine months today since his…
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A Bump In The Road
As some of you know, I spent some time at "hospital camp" last week over pnuemonia and a kidney infection. I am sorry to report that we don't seem to be getting it together as of yet. I am still running a low grade temp and feel worse than a bad day in a kennel. Called the doctor on call yesterday as I had a tightness in…
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Doctor calls this brain failure?
Its been alittle while since i last posted. My dad was diagnosed with stage four esophageal cancer in lymphs, liver and kidney back in Oct of 2011. Since then we had a trail for alittle while and had a really great scan at eight weeks of 50% shrinkage. Continued on till cancer outsmarted chemo and changed to next chemo.…
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Surgery is two days away and am getting nervous.
My father will be having surgery April 3rd, MIE. Can you share what we should expect? I am very fearful and praying hard... Lynn
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Update on Don - Terry, William, Paul, Cora, Bob, Niki, Sam, Donna, Janet, angie Sajanson, CatpDave,
Hi Everyone! Trying to catch up on the news on our board and wanted to say THANK YOU to each one of you for all of your encouragement and advice. Jude sent me some great ideas for meals for Don and I'm adding avocado to the grocery list I am making. Monica - here is the link for the wedge (CaptDave sent this to us and I…
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ArchTB are you out there?
Checking in with JoelC got me to thinking about our other friends that we haven't heard from in awhile. I completely understand wanting to get back to life and living!! But, just would like to check and see how you and Tom are doing. Last we heard recovery was going well and you guys had a scan coming up. Hope everything…
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MIE over Thanksgiving- Recurrance ALREADY??
Hi friends- I've been MIA from this board mostly because we've been focusing on my mom's recovering from MIE. They had clean margins and all 22 lymph nodes came back clean. MIE was performed over Thanksgiving. First post-op PET was 2/6/12, where the doctor noticed some "areas of concern" but thought it may be post-op…
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Recurrence and Abdominal Pain
Its 99% certain my mom has recurrence, but we are waiting for biopsy results which were taken from behind her belly area. Every time my mom finishes a meal she has pain in her intestinal area that radiates to her back. So far 3-4, 500 mg tylenols are managing the pain. She will be starting chemo in the next few weeks too.…
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Don is home!
Don's swallow test was just fine and we came home this afternoon! Home Sweet Home!!! But wouldn't you know - had him in a wheelchair and all of his things in another wheelchair - had to wait at the hospital pharmacy for 45 minutes for prescriptions - but they had some musicians performing in the lobby area which was very…
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Diagnosed yesterday???????
I probably am about to describe a scenario that you are all familiar with. I went yesterday morning for a gastronomy because I was having trouble swallowing and a constant pain just below my ribs, where I felt my Esophagus met my stomach. I have a history of GERD and a Hiatus Hernia. All was progressing smoothly until in…
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Developing Symptoms
My ex husband was diagnosed with stage iv cancer in July. They gave him 3 rounds of chemo 3 weeks apart. The cancer had metastasized to his liver at that time. In December he went overseas and planned to be back this week. He called me last week and said his back hurt all the time and the meds didnt help. Today he called…
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My heartfelt sympathy is with all of you
To Everyone who has lost someone: Many of you do not know me but I use to post on here almost daily when my journey started October 10,2010 when my beloved husband Ed, was diagnosed with this terrible cancer, stage four right from the beginning. He lasted eleven months during which time he did six months of chemo then it…
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Class Motto by Terry
I love this class motto Terry posted: Credit for the class motto to Jeff Thomas - known on the forum as JThomas233, not JeffT. Quoting Jeff from NikiMo's "Last Day of Radiation" thread posted 07/28/2011 http://csn.cancer.org/node/223281 As a contributing member of the Sophmore class, and because I was a Fraternity member…
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Total Esophajectomy - Recovery Process
Hello, I am 29, had my surgery about 3 weeks ago, and am now trying to figure out how to manage my eating and drinking. I have had problems with dumping and lately gas. Every time I eat or drink I get a feeling in my new esophagus - like I want to throw up what I just had, and ultimately I end up running to a sink to…
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Slow Digestion
I have recently had another EGD done and they found food in my stomach. So, I had another test done where they scanned for 2 hours after eating a radio active sandwich. The results where that 70% of the sandwich was still there after 2 hours. So, my question is has anybody else had this problem? Also, what were the…
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Don Reed surgery went well
Don's surgery went very well Thursday. I apologize to not post here earlier. Short nights and long days - you all know that feeling. This is only post-op day 2 and already you can see such a big difference - he gets stronger by the hours. They are intending to pull the nasogastric line in the morning and I think he will…
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Botox Shots
Has anybody here ever recieved a Botox shot in the stomach to help in digestion? My doctor wants me to have them to help, but I would like to know if they work or not.
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Hard days
Tonight is the first service for mom. I thought the disease, treatment, and hospice care was rough, but this is so much worse. Does anything get easier?
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It has been a while
Hello, It has been a while since I have been on here. I just wanted to give the newbies on here a word of encouragement and give the seasoned veterans an update. March 24, was the one year mark for my surgery. I visited Dr Reed yesterday, March 27, and everything looked fantastic. She released me, and said no reason to…
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Home From Hospital Camp
I had a less than a good week last week and had talked to the oncologist a couple of times. Saturday was a very good day and I thought we were on the uphill climb. All of us assumed my down feeling was a combination of Nulasta and my treatment both last week. Sunday I woke up in much pain about 4am, so I took some oxy but…
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radical radiation leads to damage - heart, lungs and spine
Does anyone have any experience with radiation induce pleuritis The oncologist considered this would be a short term issue but the damage is increasing. Hubby is has gone from breathless on exercise to at rest within days! No explanation has been forthcoming or possible treatment/management offered. Radiation was 6 Gy - on…
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tumor in esophagus causing problems--need help!
Hello, I have a brother who has a big tumor in his esophagus. Lately, he's been having a hard time drinking nutritional milk. Food doesn't work for him anymore. It seems as though the tumor is blocking most of his food pathway to his stomach and the lower esophageal sphincter seems to be closed sometimes. He's been…
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Something new that I hope will help others who follow
It has been 3 weeks since Bob passed and I am still trying to realize he is truly gone. He touched so many lives in such a quiet way and we never knew it was even happening. He was a very humble man. Some of his words as he went to his last surgery, that we were never to be able to talk with him again, were that he wanted…
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Some happy news on our family's challenges
Some of you may remember that our family has had some challenges in the last 9 months. 1)Husband, Larry, was diagnosed with Stage IV EC (distant supraclavicular nodes involved) in late June, 2011. He had 9 rounds of Oxaliplatin and Xeloda which were effective and he tolerated well. These ended just before Christmas. PET/CT…
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Good Result - wonderful day!!!
I don't post in here too often, but I follow all the posts regularly. I wanted to share some good news after such a long struggle. Rob was diagnosed in the summer of last year with EC stage 111. Fortunately, the EC was operable and on the 29th February, Rob had surgery in Addenbrooks Hospital Cambridge UK. It was not the…
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The battle is coming to an end for my dad
I know I haven't posted much, but my dad was diagnosed in March of 2010. The cancer was at the junction of his stomach and esophagus, and one lymph node was positive. He was treated at MD Anderson and went into remission, but was not a candidate for surgery because of his health. We found out in October of 2011 that it was…
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Decisions Decisions.... Surgery or No Surgery???
Update on Popi... Background: -T3N1 in Nov, 2011. -Chemo and Rads completed. Jan, 2011 -Endoscope and PET March, 2011.. -Results from PET, no spread or cancer detected. -Results from Endoscope-Surgeon said he could not find any evidence of cancer:) He took 5 biospys of the area where the cancer was. We will get results…