Stage 4 survivor

theresa11

Wonderful!
This is such a wonderful thing to hear! Where did you go for treatments? (city, state) My "second dad" has stage 4 esophageal cancer, he had a complete esophagectomy and they just told us he has about a month to live. I feel like how can someone tell you how much time you have. I guess I feel like I need someone to talk to who has been through this. If you wouldnt mind, I, as well as my sister would love to talk or email with you. I hope you had a great holiday and have a great new year.

mscott77

wee jane said:

stage 4 gastro esophageal cancer
I was diagnosed with stage 4 EC (mets in liver) in October 2008. Iwas treated with palliative chemotherapy (ECX) for 5 cycles. The tumors shrank a lot but are still present. I have regular scans but so far my disease is entirely stable. I have no real symptoms and lead an active and enjoyable life. I have changed my diet radically and take a number of supplements including mistletoe, turmeric, Manuka honey and bitter apricot kernels. As you can imagine my oncologists are pleased but a little surprised! I hope my story gives you some hope.

Thanks so much for your
Thanks so much for your inspiring and encouraging words! I have a dear friend who was recently diagnosed with stage VI bile duct cancer and believe that in addition to modern medicine, nutrition is very important. Do you have any more insight regarding your diet you can share?

Thanks again!

Taj

brittnsean42 said:

Hello,
This is my first
Hello,
This is my first time writing and i was reading everyone's posts and yours is so familiar. My mother who is only 52, was diagnosed in July with stage 4 EC and it has also has spread to her liver. They say she is not a candidate for surgery. She is now finished with radiation and will start chemo soon. I was wondering how your father was doing and what you and your family are doing to deal with all of this?

Hello, My BIL has been

Hello,

 

My BIL has been detected with stage 4 EC. Wanted to get in touch with you about the options/ treatement that you guys did. It will help if i can talk to any survivor. I dont see any recent post in here. 

sherry1352

not enough sleep

I have esophageal cancer. My oncologist says stage 2 the enoscopy dr says stage 3. Anyway I wonder if the pill form of marijuanna called Marinol would help you sleep. It knocks me out! Walgreens has it you just need a doctors prescription and good insurance to get it. I wouldn't trust any unregulated form of MJ. Good luck! Sherry

sherry1352

LilChemoSmoker said:

Pay attention to the posting dates my friends...
Jason,

I don't know Katana's status at this point, but I can tell you that this posting is nearly 3 years old. Please pay attention to the original posting dates on these postings.

Regards,
-Michelle

dates

Thanks for the heads up on the dates. I see most of these posts are old.

Dleo6446

sherry1352 said:

not enough sleep

I have esophageal cancer. My oncologist says stage 2 the enoscopy dr says stage 3. Anyway I wonder if the pill form of marijuanna called Marinol would help you sleep. It knocks me out! Walgreens has it you just need a doctors prescription and good insurance to get it. I wouldn't trust any unregulated form of MJ. Good luck! Sherry

Stage IV Esophageal Adenocarcanoma

Encouragement is a wonderful thing and there are lots of things to say about attitude, and encouragement.  

Jan 2, 2014 I was told that the results from endoscopy revealed a large mass at GE junction

Jan 6, 2014 Diagnosed with Adenocarcanoma of the Esophagus

Jan 7, 2014 CT scan revealed Esophageal mass and 2 Hepatic masses

Jan 14th, The Doctor says that the disease is terminal and surgery will do not good but treatment could control possibly and a prognosis of 6 months to 1 year 

Jan 27th, Met my oncologist, and my first impression was "Oh great, here I am with terminal cancer and they give me a high school girl for a doctor".  At first interview she introduced herself to me, my wife and my daughter and spent a lot of time talking to the two of them.  Then she said tell me what you know about your cancer and I told her everything that I knew about it.  Then my daughter asked her about a prognosis and She said 6 months  maybe a year if we have good success with the therapy.  As soon as she said that she looked at me and said I know you are a fighter aren't you and I told her I was, then she sort of giggled and said  Let's fight this thing together..

Feb3, 2014  Porta Cath installed in upper left chest

Feb 6, 2014, First day of infusion with Folfox.  My Doctor decided to only use the Oxaliplatin and 5FU, and you know exactly what and how I felt that first day and through all of this so far up to date.

My cycle was every two weeks.  From that first time to this day, there are tons of prayers being sent up for me, my family, my Oncological team, my pharmacologist and after 6 cycles  Dr. Sherrod said lets shoot a scan and see if we are making any progress.  They did the scan on April 8th. and you know the anxiety I felt in anticipation of the report from the scan.  She told me she would call as soon as she read the scan and she did.  The morning of the 9th, she called and started talking about my side effects from the chemo.  There weren't very many at all.  No nausea, no hair loss, no constipation or diahrrea, only jaw pain, cold sensativiy, and minor upper chest pains. Then she started to giggle and said"I read your CT scan and I wanted to tell you that the Mass at the junction is not measurable at all.  And the Hepatic masses are significan'y smaller.  It's working far far better than I had even hoped for".....

You all know how I felt hearing that, the happy emotions, the tears and the prayers that followed are now precious memories of something so good from something so bad.

It's now one year and one month into the treatments and my port has been removed and at last scan in January, there was nothing "remarkable" as it says on myt scan detail.  I have been on Capecitabine but have been off of it now for two weeks.  I know that at some point I will have to go back on it I think  having mets to the liver but for now, all is good.  We shoot another scan on the 26th of March and I am confident that it will too be recorded as "nothing remarkable"

I am a veteran of the Viet Nam conflict and all of this was done through VA Hospital but all of My Oncology team is from Vanderbilt Hospital which is adjacent to our VA Facility.

Doctor Amanda Sherrod, my family, and all my friends have been incredibly imortant in helping to keep my attitude high and my expectations even higher and I cannot stress the importance if doing that.  I thank God every day, many times a day for what he has done for me and I pray for all those that have been going through what I have been going through.

One of the most important parts of batteling this beast is being able to talk about it to family and friends.  Their support is intensified when they understand what you are going through and can help you with managing that mentally, and they do it well.  Talking to others that are going through the same thing is essential as well.  There is a different level of understanding when talking with other patients.

Sorry for the diatribe and lengthy post, I just felt I needed to say what I did.

May God Bless All

LD