Break is over

MAE66
MAE66 Member Posts: 66
edited March 2014 in Esophageal Cancer #1
The break from treatment is over. As some of you may remember my husband completed 6 rounds of chemo and five weeks of radiation. Our Dr. suggested he take December off from treatment to regain strength, enjoy the holidays and we would re group in January. During the break we went for a second opinion and a follow up EDG. Our second opinion Dr. agreed with our current Dr. that Xeloda is the next step. The endoscopy showed that the esophagus had opened up and the stint had fallen into his stomach. The ultrasound showed the tumor to be T3 NO MX. I don’t know how common this is, to have a spread with no lymph node involvement, it has always seemed odd to me. The Drs. don’t seem to question it since he is stage 4 and the tumor staging doesn’t change treatment or prognosis. The biopsy taken showed “no clear evidence of cancer”. I am not sure exactly what this means, but I am thinking it is good, or at least it is not bad. A PET and CT are scheduled for the 13th; hopefully he will get the go ahead for the Xeloda. One concern we have is that on previous CT/PET scans no activity has shown up when there was cancer present. It was able to pick up what the radiologist referred to as inflammation that would come back as a clear scan. Has anyone else had this experience? Even if the PET/CT comes back clear, how can we trust it?

I am catching up on reading others posts. I am sorry to hear that the New Year is proving challenging. I will continue to keep everyone in my thoughts and prayers.

Susan

Comments

  • Donna70
    Donna70 Member Posts: 852 Member
    #2
    clear CT/Pet scans
    Hi Susan,
    I had the same experience with my first CT/PET scan before treatment coming back clear and then finding out I was stage III with one lymph node. The tumor was 4 cms and did not light up. Now I had a CT/PET scan before my surgery on 12/8 and it was said to be clear, nothing lit up and after the surgery I was told 18 nodes clear and one positive for cancer. Nothing lit up then either. Don't understand why that happens but I know someone else has mentioned it too. I understand what you mean about not trusting them the scans, I have come out and told my drs how can I trust them when they don't show my cancer. I just have to hope the treatments will work. I will pray for your husband and hope the meds will work for him. So many people are saying that cancer is going to be considered a chronic illness and think we could all take that as long as it gets stopped. Best of luck to you and your husband.
    Donna70
  • Unknown
    Unknown
    #3
    Donna70 said:

    clear CT/Pet scans
    Hi Susan,
    I had the same experience with my first CT/PET scan before treatment coming back clear and then finding out I was stage III with one lymph node. The tumor was 4 cms and did not light up. Now I had a CT/PET scan before my surgery on 12/8 and it was said to be clear, nothing lit up and after the surgery I was told 18 nodes clear and one positive for cancer. Nothing lit up then either. Don't understand why that happens but I know someone else has mentioned it too. I understand what you mean about not trusting them the scans, I have come out and told my drs how can I trust them when they don't show my cancer. I just have to hope the treatments will work. I will pray for your husband and hope the meds will work for him. So many people are saying that cancer is going to be considered a chronic illness and think we could all take that as long as it gets stopped. Best of luck to you and your husband.
    Donna70

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