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My brother's petscan results
Petscan shows a lot more shrinkage of the tumor...no cancer showed up anywhere else in his body!! So Jr continues with his chemo and in 2 months will be retested. Before they give him his chemo they first IV drip benadryl, (has anyone else had this done)and then they Iv drip meds for nausea and then the chemo. While he was…
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Callaloo celebrates 18 months anniversary
18th months since they found this tumor, and I'm still going strong, clean CT and MRI's to boot. Woo hoo! Thanks to Barb again for prompting me to post. I want my posts to be little rays of hope for those battling stage IV. But I have to admit the last few weeks have not felt very hopeful to me. I've been plagued for at…
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I am so proud of you
I do not post often , but I read everything, and I would like each and everyone of you to know that you have more guts than any people I have ever met, Whether you are an EC patient or an EC caregiver. The pain and suffering this disease causes is so unbelievable but you all find the courage to write and ask questions…
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Chest Pain from Acetaminophen?
My Dad (Mike, 50 y/o, Stage IV) has been taking Lortab for several years now for back pain (degenerative discs, I think) and recently, since he started IV and oral chemo last friday, has been getting increasingly painful chest pangs. Now, obviously that sounds stupid, given that he has EC, but despite being Stage IV, he's…
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Will, Advanced Directive, Trust
I just watched a recorded episode of Suze Ormon and the topic she covered was getting a will, trust, advanced directive set up. She ended the show with a free giftcode on her website to get the documents set up for free. It's a limited time offer. I just went out there and got it started and saved my info so that I can go…
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Germs during Chemo/Radiation
My mom will start Chemo/Radiation next week. How paranoid do I need to be about keeping her away from public places, my children when sick, going on vacations, etc. I see people here posting that they are still working. How is that possible when there's so much possibility of catching a cold or any other infection/virus?
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What are hot spots????
Can someome tell me what hot spots mean from a petscan? I just found out that there are 3 hotspots that showed up in my brother but the doctor is not concerned about them but said they will keep these watched. What does this mean????? Should we be concerned???
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Herceptin
Has anyone received Herceptin? My husband is starting it with his 3rd round of chemo on Monday. I was wondering if anyone knew how much this would help. Jackie
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Being discharged and pathology report
Hi friends, Jeff is being discharged from the hospital today. The surgeon came by and said he is making good progress and if we felt comfortable going home he was ok with that decision. So we are waiting for the discharge papers!! Jeff's pain has gotten a little worse since they took him off of the numbing agent, but it…
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Friends
I'm relatively new to this discussion board and I have 2 friends and I don't know how I got them. I'd like to connect with more of you but I don't know how to add friends. This site is an amazing tool for information and for venting and I've started to check it regularly. There are several of you who have posted and some I…
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pain meds and constipation
We are in a battle with pain meds and constipation. My husband has always been very sensitive as far as GI side effects are concerned and now is no difference. He takes a narcotic and gets constipation, he takes something to relieve said constipation and gets diarrhea - very little happy medium . . . any suggestions? He…
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Update On John
Hi all I thought I would give you an update. Monday was a rough day for John but he was doing much better by late Monday afternoon. Fri. & Sat. nights he did not sleep very well, the nurse on days (ICU) really tried to help manage his pain but by Sunday night he was not feeling very well due to lack of sleep. The nurse…
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Not Curable but Treatable?
Hello, I wondered if anyone could help me. Any assistance or suggestions that can be provided would be greatly appreciated. My mother is 86 years old and was diagnosed with esophageal cancer in February. She had a PET Scan done in February and another PET Scan done recently in August. The initial PET Scan showed that she…
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Now stage IV A
I went in today for the full body PET/CT scan that my surgeon ordered as a follow up to a suspicious swollen / lobulated node found on my second (MIE 9 months out) follow up scan. The only thing that lit up was the node of concern so it is extremely unlikely that it was a false positive. I’m scheduled for a biopsy this…
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oral chemo and missed pills HELP
ok, I am starting with a deep breath or two as I am freaking out. I put hubbys pills back in the cabinet last night and it didn't look right, but really am trying not to be a nag. So I just checked and counted them, there are WAY too many extra. First thought call dr asap. No breath. think. Ask for help from you all. He is…
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Out of ICU, walking, swallow test tomorrow
Hi all, Just an update on my Jeff. He left the ICU yesterday afternoon, he had been in ICU for 2 extra days because there were no other beds available on thoracic floors. We were more than happy to be in the ICU, they are so attentive and Jeff had a private room. Well he lucked out and still has a private room, and I put…
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Very exciting research
With a background in molecular biology I find this research fascinating. With having a husband with cancer I pray this research will lend itself to a cure. Most exciting part for Jeff and I is that this research team is at our cancer center University of Pennsylvania. Leukemia Breakthrough - Serial Killer T Cells Wipe Out…
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A word about stageing
The National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) has issued new staging guidelines (as of this year), and have done away with the IVa stage. It's now all stage IV, whether the distant site is an organ or lymph node. I see some doctors are still using the old terminology. This can be deceiving, making patients think their…
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A failed experiment
Hi gang; Well my little pain experiment was a failure after less than 24 hours, the pain in my abdomen ( I believe it's my liver) woke me up and it's terrible. Back on the Dilaudid. I dont know what to do or where to turn. Every day is a horror now and I don't want to put my wife through months (oh God let it not be years)…
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Xeloda has run it's course
Had a CT scan on Tuesday and had an appt. with my oncologist this morning and the news was not real good.There is now a spot in my liver and some activity again in the esop. Time to look at changes she says to me. After an hour plus conversation, I am coming off Xeloda and looking at starting on Trexatol and if the test on…
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Callaloo
Where are you honey/ I will call you to see what is going on. Are you vacationing in the sun or just working too hard Love Barbara
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Great Resource
I have noticed many of the newbies here posting questions about staging and treatment. Dr. Ajani of MD Anderson has a facebook page that lists much information I think some of you might find useful. If you search facebook for "Esophageal and Gastric Cancer Resource" his facebook page should come up. There are many links…
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Clean Scan
I don't know if I should get excited about it or not but Saturday night, I had to go to the Emergency Room due to an infected J-Tube site. The tube was removed about a month ago and the site started showing signs of infection Saturday. Well, as part of the diagnostic process, they did a CT on me with contrast dye. I…
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next step?
49 year old son just finished second round of chemo and radiation...scans in couple of weeks....what next? Mayo's cancelled surgery because lymph node was found during ultrasound endoscopy. need encouragement for him, wife and 3 kids...Mr. Mom for last 5 years because wife has travel job. hearbroken mom
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new here and to esophageal cancer
My husband has recently been diagnosed with esophageal cancer at the bottom of the esophagus. The PET scan showed a few lymph nodes affected also in the clavicular area. He has started chemo of 1 treatment every 3 weeks and radiation 5 days a week for around 33 visits that we know of. After reading here, I am wondering why…
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Help Please !!
Hello Everybody, This is my second post... since my dads (50 yrs old) Diagnosis Ca Esophagus (GE Junction)Adenocarcinoma T3N1M0 LINE OF TREATMENT Esophagectomy done 3 cycles of Post-Op Chemo consisting of (180mg Docetaxel, 150mg Cisplatin and 1000mg 5-FU) His latest PET scan after the above treatment shows- Few wall…
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9-11
In 2001 Tom was renting an apartment on Liberty street in Downtown Manhattan. A loft space that he and his other architect friends converted to a nice modern apartment. The location was great with a World Trade Center subway just down the stairs. The only complaint he had was the noise of water tracks early in the morning…
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How many lymph nodes removed during esophagectomy?
This question comes from some observations made in Niki’s en-bloc esophagectomy post. I would be curious to know how many nodes were removed during your/or loved one’s esophagectomy (any type). I ask this question because during my MIE I had 15 nodes removed. I remember asking my surgeon when I woke up how many nodes were…
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Thank you all for your encouragement
Thank you all for such wonderful thoughts of encouragement. You give me strength to face the next day. There has been no change in Bill's condition after his stroke a week ago, still not waking up. God bless all of you in your personal struggles. Kateel
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JG tube - I'm royally pi**ed off!
I am so furious with the medical establishment I could spit. On monday when I had the feeding tube surgery, the surgeon who was actually performing the procedure approached us literally on the way into the OR. He explained that my oncologist had ordered a G tube, but the surgeon felt that it should be a JG tube instead…