Father had surgery 10 days ago.

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  • paul61
    paul61 Member Posts: 1,391 Member
    #22
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    Joey524 said:

    Thanks
    Thanks Paul. So I really should discourage the radiation. I mean I guess understand the reasoning for it but if there's no tumor there wouldn't the chemo take care of anything else. So chemo doesn't sound like its to "bad". Will he lose his hair?

    Thanks,
    Joey

    I would ask the oncologist why radiation is a better alternative
    Joey,

    Your father may or may not lose his hair depending on what chemo drugs are used. If they choose to do chemo alone they will probably use a combination of drugs. Many of them cause hair loss.

    The question I would ask my oncologist if I were your dad would be. "Explain to me why you think radiation and chemo is a superior treatment to chemo alone in my particular situation." "Review with me the risks of radiation and chemo vs chemo alone in my particular case."

    I would want to understand why my oncologist thinks the additional risk of radiation is warrented in my particular case.

    At then end of the day; all cancer treatements have risks, side effects, and cause long term change in our bodies.

    If it were me, I would want to be clear that the potential outcome was worth the additional risk.


    Paul Adams
    AKA "paul61"
    McCormick, South Carolina
  • Joey524
    Joey524 Member Posts: 16
    #23
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    paul61 said:

    I would ask the oncologist why radiation is a better alternative
    Joey,

    Your father may or may not lose his hair depending on what chemo drugs are used. If they choose to do chemo alone they will probably use a combination of drugs. Many of them cause hair loss.

    The question I would ask my oncologist if I were your dad would be. "Explain to me why you think radiation and chemo is a superior treatment to chemo alone in my particular situation." "Review with me the risks of radiation and chemo vs chemo alone in my particular case."

    I would want to understand why my oncologist thinks the additional risk of radiation is warrented in my particular case.

    At then end of the day; all cancer treatements have risks, side effects, and cause long term change in our bodies.

    If it were me, I would want to be clear that the potential outcome was worth the additional risk.


    Paul Adams
    AKA "paul61"
    McCormick, South Carolina

    Thats what we'll do.
    Thanks Paul, We have been writing down questions to ask the doctor because seems like my parents go blank inside the doc. office and when they call me and I ask them questions they go " oh i didn't think about asking that". So we will be asking the questions that you posted. I really don't think he needs radiation but again I'm no doctor. But thanks for helping Paul.

    Joey
  • Unknown
    Unknown
    #24
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    Joey524 said:

    Thats what we'll do.
    Thanks Paul, We have been writing down questions to ask the doctor because seems like my parents go blank inside the doc. office and when they call me and I ask them questions they go " oh i didn't think about asking that". So we will be asking the questions that you posted. I really don't think he needs radiation but again I'm no doctor. But thanks for helping Paul.

    Joey

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  • Joey524
    Joey524 Member Posts: 16
    #25
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    unknown said:

    This comment has been removed by the Moderator

    Thanks
    Hi William, I want to thank you for taking the time to write back. Lots of helpful information. I just wanted to clear a small thing up. My father never received radiation or chemo prior to the surgery. They just went straight to surgery because they said that the tumor was small. Which is why im still confused as to why they want to do radiation after now that the tumor is gone. As of now, I don't know what type of chemo meds he is going to be receiving. But as soon as I know I will post it up here for any input. I am in agreement with not doing radiation. I rather him just do chemo and if he needs radiation afterwards then that's when we'll do it. But if the reason for this "clean up" is because of abnormal cells in one of the lymph nodes and that was removed then why are we just aimlessly shooting radiation. Sometimes simple logic doesn't seem to make it into a doctors head. Haha

    Joey
  • Unknown
    Unknown
    #26
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    Joey524 said:

    Thanks
    Hi William, I want to thank you for taking the time to write back. Lots of helpful information. I just wanted to clear a small thing up. My father never received radiation or chemo prior to the surgery. They just went straight to surgery because they said that the tumor was small. Which is why im still confused as to why they want to do radiation after now that the tumor is gone. As of now, I don't know what type of chemo meds he is going to be receiving. But as soon as I know I will post it up here for any input. I am in agreement with not doing radiation. I rather him just do chemo and if he needs radiation afterwards then that's when we'll do it. But if the reason for this "clean up" is because of abnormal cells in one of the lymph nodes and that was removed then why are we just aimlessly shooting radiation. Sometimes simple logic doesn't seem to make it into a doctors head. Haha

    Joey

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  • Joey524
    Joey524 Member Posts: 16
    #27
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    unknown said:

    This comment has been removed by the Moderator

    No problem
    Hey William, no problem on the whole pre chemo stuff. I just wanted to make sure you had the facts in case it changed anything. But I already talked to my father about not getting radiation and when they go back to the doctor they will talk about that. Also i have no idea what your talking about when it comes to the dilation. I will ask my father if he has been coughing at all or clearing his throat. I just seen him on Monday and I don't remember him coughing or anything. But i will ask just to double check. If you could just give me some more information on the dilation of what it means and why it needs to be done. That'd be helpful. Some good news i don't think my father lost any weight this week. Since the surgery which was exactly a month ago today. He has lost 10lbs. And this week he seems to have held his own. So i guess that's good but I'm assuming that he will lose some more once the chemo starts in 18days. But maybe it wont. I can only hope.

    Joey
  • unclaw2002
    unclaw2002 Member Posts: 599
    #28
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    Joey524 said:

    No problem
    Hey William, no problem on the whole pre chemo stuff. I just wanted to make sure you had the facts in case it changed anything. But I already talked to my father about not getting radiation and when they go back to the doctor they will talk about that. Also i have no idea what your talking about when it comes to the dilation. I will ask my father if he has been coughing at all or clearing his throat. I just seen him on Monday and I don't remember him coughing or anything. But i will ask just to double check. If you could just give me some more information on the dilation of what it means and why it needs to be done. That'd be helpful. Some good news i don't think my father lost any weight this week. Since the surgery which was exactly a month ago today. He has lost 10lbs. And this week he seems to have held his own. So i guess that's good but I'm assuming that he will lose some more once the chemo starts in 18days. But maybe it wont. I can only hope.

    Joey

    Joey,
    One more piece of
    Joey,

    One more piece of advice. I would ask the doctors to leave the feeding tube in until all the chemo is finished. Chemo can create some eating and hydration problems and already having the feeding tube in can allow your dad to get nutrition. If he doesn't need to use it he will need to get it flushed at least once a month at the hospital and keep it clean from infections.

    Good luck,
    Cindy
  • Joey524
    Joey524 Member Posts: 16
    #29
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    unclaw2002 said:

    Joey,
    One more piece of
    Joey,

    One more piece of advice. I would ask the doctors to leave the feeding tube in until all the chemo is finished. Chemo can create some eating and hydration problems and already having the feeding tube in can allow your dad to get nutrition. If he doesn't need to use it he will need to get it flushed at least once a month at the hospital and keep it clean from infections.

    Good luck,
    Cindy

    Good Advice
    My father has had the feeding tube in for a month so far and hasn't used it once. I don't think he has had it flushed but I think he said its starting to hurt. And he just really wants it out..lol. But i will forward that info to him. Thanks for all the info!!

    Joey
  • Unknown
    Unknown
    #30
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    Joey524 said:

    No problem
    Hey William, no problem on the whole pre chemo stuff. I just wanted to make sure you had the facts in case it changed anything. But I already talked to my father about not getting radiation and when they go back to the doctor they will talk about that. Also i have no idea what your talking about when it comes to the dilation. I will ask my father if he has been coughing at all or clearing his throat. I just seen him on Monday and I don't remember him coughing or anything. But i will ask just to double check. If you could just give me some more information on the dilation of what it means and why it needs to be done. That'd be helpful. Some good news i don't think my father lost any weight this week. Since the surgery which was exactly a month ago today. He has lost 10lbs. And this week he seems to have held his own. So i guess that's good but I'm assuming that he will lose some more once the chemo starts in 18days. But maybe it wont. I can only hope.

    Joey

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  • Joey524
    Joey524 Member Posts: 16
    #31
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    unknown said:

    This comment has been removed by the Moderator

    Another Update
    Hey friends! Here's another update on my father. Well he went for some test to see if he was going to get radiation. Ends up, he is NOT getting radiation because they said they cant perform it without damaging other organs. So my father is just going to be getting chemo. Tomorrow he goes to get his port in and he's a little nervous about that. I told him that its relatively painless and shouldn't bother him once its in...but I could be wrong. He did however get the feeding tube out since he was never using it. He's eating really well at this point. However he did lose about 15lbs now. He started at 165 and now he's around 152 or so. But we all knew that was to be expected. Um..I do have the actually chemo he is going to be getting, I tried going onto the chemocare.com site but I couldn't really figure it out. So heres the chemo my father will be receiving. folfox 5fu leucovorin + oxaliplation. If anyone has any history with this type I'd appreciate some feedback on it. This way I can tell my father. So far all the information I've learned from here, has helped my father directly. So as always I appreciate it.

    Thanks,
    Joey
  • paul61
    paul61 Member Posts: 1,391 Member
    #32
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    The placement of the "port" should be painless
    Joey,

    When they insert the "port" your father will be under a mild anesthetic and should not feel a thing. There is some minimal surface soreness around the port area while the small incisions they made heal. Once it is in it makes the IV process used for chemotherapy much easier.

    Here is a site reference for potential side effects of Florouracil (5 FU)

    http://www.chemocare.com/bio/fu.asp

    Here is a site reference for potetnial side effects of Leucovorin

    http://www.chemocare.com/bio/leucovorin.asp

    Here is a site reference for potential side effects of Oxaliplatin

    http://www.chemocare.com/bio/oxaliplatin.asp


    These three drugs are commonly used in the treatment of EC. I had a slightly differnet combination of drugs for my chemo so I can't personnaly speak to the side effects. But since these are drugs commonly used your oncologist will have other support medications to deal with the potential side effects like nausea and diarrhea.

    We will be praying all goes well for your dad.

    Best Regards,

    Paul Adams
    AKA "paul61"
    McCormick, South Carolina
  • Joey524
    Joey524 Member Posts: 16
    #33
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    paul61 said:

    The placement of the "port" should be painless
    Joey,

    When they insert the "port" your father will be under a mild anesthetic and should not feel a thing. There is some minimal surface soreness around the port area while the small incisions they made heal. Once it is in it makes the IV process used for chemotherapy much easier.

    Here is a site reference for potential side effects of Florouracil (5 FU)

    http://www.chemocare.com/bio/fu.asp

    Here is a site reference for potetnial side effects of Leucovorin

    http://www.chemocare.com/bio/leucovorin.asp

    Here is a site reference for potential side effects of Oxaliplatin

    http://www.chemocare.com/bio/oxaliplatin.asp


    These three drugs are commonly used in the treatment of EC. I had a slightly differnet combination of drugs for my chemo so I can't personnaly speak to the side effects. But since these are drugs commonly used your oncologist will have other support medications to deal with the potential side effects like nausea and diarrhea.

    We will be praying all goes well for your dad.

    Best Regards,

    Paul Adams
    AKA "paul61"
    McCormick, South Carolina

    Thanks
    Thanks Paul for that info. I forwarded it to my father. I doesn't seem to bad but I guess it will depend on how it will affect him. He's saying that the duration is 8 weeks of treatments over 4 months. He is going to be getting treatment every other week. So I was curious will the symptoms stay with him even on the week that he isn't getting treatments?

    Thanks,
    Joey
  • Unknown
    Unknown
    #34
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    Joey524 said:

    Thanks
    Thanks Paul for that info. I forwarded it to my father. I doesn't seem to bad but I guess it will depend on how it will affect him. He's saying that the duration is 8 weeks of treatments over 4 months. He is going to be getting treatment every other week. So I was curious will the symptoms stay with him even on the week that he isn't getting treatments?

    Thanks,
    Joey

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  • Joey524
    Joey524 Member Posts: 16
    #35
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    unknown said:

    This comment has been removed by the Moderator

    Small Update
    Well...today my father started his chemo treatments. Actually i finally got him to sign up to this site soo maybe he'll write something on here at some point. But the treatment went fine so far I was curious and my father was also, if he was going to get side effects from the chemo how soon will he start getting them? Days? Hours? Weeks? Just curious, I understand its different for everyone, but maybe there's a roundabout time frame.

    Thanks,
    Joey
  • Unknown
    Unknown
    #36
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    Joey524 said:

    Small Update
    Well...today my father started his chemo treatments. Actually i finally got him to sign up to this site soo maybe he'll write something on here at some point. But the treatment went fine so far I was curious and my father was also, if he was going to get side effects from the chemo how soon will he start getting them? Days? Hours? Weeks? Just curious, I understand its different for everyone, but maybe there's a roundabout time frame.

    Thanks,
    Joey

    This comment has been removed by the Moderator
  • Joey524
    Joey524 Member Posts: 16
    #37
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    unknown said:

    This comment has been removed by the Moderator

    Update (Weight Loss)
    ok..so here's whats going on. My father has been losing weight much faster then prior to starting his chemo. He's only had one treatment so far and he's lost like 4lbs in 3 days. His appetite is still the same as before the chemo and his intake of food as been about the same. Is this normal? Also i know and he now HE does, that he should've kept the feeding tube in for just these reasons, but what can he do to prevent weight loss? My mother said that according to the doc. She has to call them if he loses 5lbs within the week. What is the doc going to do? Or is he just going to note that in the file? Any advice or help would be greatly appreciated. Oh, other then the weight loss, my father says he feels fine. Been fairly active, looking for a new house, shopping, fixing water sprinklers. So all in all he's "ok" but the weight loss has got my mom on edge and really she needs some words of advice and maybe some calming information.

    Thanks all,
    Joey
  • stepmj
    stepmj Member Posts: 32
    #38
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    Joey524 said:

    Update (Weight Loss)
    ok..so here's whats going on. My father has been losing weight much faster then prior to starting his chemo. He's only had one treatment so far and he's lost like 4lbs in 3 days. His appetite is still the same as before the chemo and his intake of food as been about the same. Is this normal? Also i know and he now HE does, that he should've kept the feeding tube in for just these reasons, but what can he do to prevent weight loss? My mother said that according to the doc. She has to call them if he loses 5lbs within the week. What is the doc going to do? Or is he just going to note that in the file? Any advice or help would be greatly appreciated. Oh, other then the weight loss, my father says he feels fine. Been fairly active, looking for a new house, shopping, fixing water sprinklers. So all in all he's "ok" but the weight loss has got my mom on edge and really she needs some words of advice and maybe some calming information.

    Thanks all,
    Joey

    Weight Loss
    Hi Joey -
    First every case is different.

    In my Dad's case, (diagnosed 1 year ago with EC stage 4 with mets to the liver) the weight loss tipped that the chemo (10 mos worth) was no longer working and the cancer had grown. When we noticed the weight loss, the doctor rushed a pet scan for the following morning and we had results the following afternoon. What we learned was the cancer in the esophagus was still reduced but the cancer in the liver had grown significantly.

    In your Dad's case, let's expect the worst but hope for the best. Call the doctor immediately and report the weight loss - don't wait for the 5th pound - do it now. Based on our experience I would push for an immediate pet scan. There's a lot of experience on this site so others may make additional recommendations - but at minimum, call the doctor and see what he/she says.

    I don't want to worry you but I have to be honest - stay positive and move quickly to get the facts.

    And keep in mind - EC is a journey - there are many twists and turns in the road. If this is one of those, you WILL get through it!! (with support from folks on this board!)

    Let us know how it goes!
    MJ (MaryJo)

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