Has anyone had the tumor come back to the stomach area after surgery, radiation and chemo?

Grandma Jo

My daughter is having problems swallowing again one year after radiation, chemo, and the Ivor Lewis operation. She has had chemo within the last six weeks and this did not change anything. Two weeks ago she began having trouble swallowing and coughs during eating. Has anyone had this happen after all these steps? In November of 2009 she lost 40 pounds from not being able to eat or drink. Now almost a year later she is gaining slowly and now the last two weeks she is feeling more and more unable to swallow.I would appreciate any thoughts on this. Thank you . A very worried mother.

sandy1943

Hi, I'm wondering why she
Hi, I'm wondering why she had chemo within the last six weeks, when her surgery was a year ago. The swallowing difficulty might be her esophagus closing and she needs a dilation. I have had to have this done three times. She needs to see her gastrologist or onclogist to find out whats going on.
Sandra

Unknown

This comment has been removed by the Moderator

Grandma Jo

sandy1943 said:

Hi, I'm wondering why she
Hi, I'm wondering why she had chemo within the last six weeks, when her surgery was a year ago. The swallowing difficulty might be her esophagus closing and she needs a dilation. I have had to have this done three times. She needs to see her gastrologist or onclogist to find out whats going on.
Sandra

esophagus problems again
Thank you Sandy for replying to me so quickly. My daughter had radiation and chemo for 28 days and then an Ivor Lewis surgery. She has i/3 of her stomach left and 1/3 of her esophagus left. She had fluid on her heart in December and was hospitalized . They put a filter in her heart to catch any small clots and this has since been removed . In April she had fluid drawn off her lung and they found a blood clot in the other lung. In June they found spots on her liver and suggested chemo to slow down the progression of the tumors. This proved to be too much for her the neuropathy, in her hands and feet ,was too much to bear so she decided to just stop the chemo and now is seeing a homopathic doctor and a massage therapist. She was doing pretty good with digesting food and put on a few pounds but in the last few weeks she can't eat without coughing and pressure in the same area as before the surgery. We are all beside ourselves with fear. She has an appointment next week to see where we go from here.
When you had the dilation did you go into the hospital for any length of time? Was the dilation because you had scar tissue?
I welcome any advice or information you can give me . I just worry day and night about her.
I wish you peace and strength. Grandma Jo

Grandma Jo

sandy1943 said:

Hi, I'm wondering why she
Hi, I'm wondering why she had chemo within the last six weeks, when her surgery was a year ago. The swallowing difficulty might be her esophagus closing and she needs a dilation. I have had to have this done three times. She needs to see her gastrologist or onclogist to find out whats going on.
Sandra

esophagus problems again
Thank you Sandy for replying to me so quickly. My daughter had radiation and chemo for 28 days and then an Ivor Lewis surgery. She has i/3 of her stomach left and 1/3 of her esophagus left. She had fluid on her heart in December and was hospitalized . They put a filter in her heart to catch any small clots and this has since been removed . In April she had fluid drawn off her lung and they found a blood clot in the other lung. In June they found spots on her liver and suggested chemo to slow down the progression of the tumors. This proved to be too much for her the neuropathy, in her hands and feet ,was too much to bear so she decided to just stop the chemo and now is seeing a homopathic doctor and a massage therapist. She was doing pretty good with digesting food and put on a few pounds but in the last few weeks she can't eat without coughing and pressure in the same area as before the surgery. We are all beside ourselves with fear. She has an appointment next week to see where we go from here.
When you had the dilation did you go into the hospital for any length of time? Was the dilation because you had scar tissue?
I welcome any advice or information you can give me . I just worry day and night about her.
I wish you peace and strength. Grandma Jo

Grandma Jo

unknown said:

This comment has been removed by the Moderator

Thank you Mr Marshall
Thank you William for posting back to me so quickly. This evening I have finally gained my strength back and can post back. Sometimes fear overtakes me and fatigue from my insane life so I step back for a day and regroup.
I thank you for all the research and information you have sent me. I will show this to my daughter too. Here is a little background information on what has been going on since I posted last. In April my daughter began eating , gaining weight, went back to work full time , looked and felt wonderful. Suddenly she had such pain and had to have fluid drawn off her lung. She had also a blood clot in the other lung.In June she had a CT scan in Boston and they found spots on her liver and suggested chemo. In July she began the chemo pump with oxyplatin and FU-5. THe neuropathy was so bad she could hardly walk or hold objects in her hands. In Sept. she had a CT scan and the tumors were unchanged so the chemo was stopped. She now sees a homopathic doctor to get the toxins out of her body from the chemo. In the past few weeks she is having a hard time to swallow and the food seems to sit and won't go down .She has an appointment to see her oncologist next week. I am praying it is only scar tissue and can be taken care of.
You asked about my mother. On the eve of her 90th birthday she was taken to the hospital and after recovering had to be taken to a nursing home after all those years on the farm. It broke my heart as well as hers.My sister ,who had been helping us take care of my daughter and grandson, had to leave us and go to help Mom . As our tragic lot would have it she woke from her sleep paralyzed on the right side from a spinal stroke. She was months in Mayo clinic. The miracle of her trust in God has helped her after six months to start walking with a walker.She is the best inspiration for everyone she meets. Our family has given all the local medical services a big boost this past few months: My husband had surgery on both hands for paralysis, my daughters husband had a stroke to the brain and is disabled, my grandson has had a complete shut down of his kidneys, I had intensive rotator cuff surgery and Lyme disease from a tick bite. William I bet you think I am making this all up!
The strength and courage my grandson and my beautiful daughter display every day in the face of their trials keeps me marching onward helping where and when I can .
I wish all the courageous people on this site a peaceful holiday with their loved ones.

dsmasters

I am sort of going through the same thing
I had the Ivor Lewis surgery back in June and they told me that they got all the known cancer out. My oncologist wanted to still do chemo as a precaution and so we did 6 doses every 3 weeks. I just had my last dose 2 1/2 weeks ago.

About 4 weeks after the surgery (around the beginning of July) I had trouble swallowing again. It was determined that it was scare tissue from the surgery (no reoccurance of cancer thank God). Over the next few weeks I had a couple of dilations and finally a stent placed in my esophagus. After 6 weeks the stent was removed and another one was placed. The second stent was removed about 3 1/2 weeks ago.

I have started to have trouble swallowing again and according to my GI doc it is a combination of the side effects of chemo causing esophagitis and the scare tissue that is there from the surgery. I tried to wait it out for the side effects of the chemo to wear off but it is too difficult to eat right now. I am planning on asking for another dilation this coming week and another stent. I am not sure what the long term solution is.

I will admit that this is not any fun after all the rest of the thngs that I have been through but honestly at least I am not battling cancer any longer. That is actually why I responded to this post. There is a strong possibility that your daughter does NOT have a recurrence of cancer causing this. The chemo drugs that they gave me were known to cause esophagitis and it is a good possibility that this what is happening with her. Either way she should get in to see a GI doc and either get a barium swallow and/or a EGD to see what is going on.

In regard to the dilation - this is an afternoon procedure and is painless. The times that I have had it I have had a scratchy throat for a day at worst. My first stent didn't go exactly where they wanted it and I was in the hospital for 2 days for them to monitor it. Unfortunately this was the day after my first dose of chemo and so I had those side effects to deal with at the same time (lesson learned - don't do chemo and major procedure back-to-back if can be avoided).

I know with my wife and I our minds jump to the worse any time a symptom like this pops up. I does not always mean that it is the worst case scenario though. Chemo is bear and it wreaks havoc on the body - especially the digestive system.

One last note - chemo is generally cumulative which means that over time the side effects stack up on each other as more dose are administered. This may be why she started to see these issue with swallowing now as opposed to the beginning of this last round of chemo.

I hope this info helps!

Grandma Jo

dsmasters said:

I am sort of going through the same thing
I had the Ivor Lewis surgery back in June and they told me that they got all the known cancer out. My oncologist wanted to still do chemo as a precaution and so we did 6 doses every 3 weeks. I just had my last dose 2 1/2 weeks ago.

About 4 weeks after the surgery (around the beginning of July) I had trouble swallowing again. It was determined that it was scare tissue from the surgery (no reoccurance of cancer thank God). Over the next few weeks I had a couple of dilations and finally a stent placed in my esophagus. After 6 weeks the stent was removed and another one was placed. The second stent was removed about 3 1/2 weeks ago.

I have started to have trouble swallowing again and according to my GI doc it is a combination of the side effects of chemo causing esophagitis and the scare tissue that is there from the surgery. I tried to wait it out for the side effects of the chemo to wear off but it is too difficult to eat right now. I am planning on asking for another dilation this coming week and another stent. I am not sure what the long term solution is.

I will admit that this is not any fun after all the rest of the thngs that I have been through but honestly at least I am not battling cancer any longer. That is actually why I responded to this post. There is a strong possibility that your daughter does NOT have a recurrence of cancer causing this. The chemo drugs that they gave me were known to cause esophagitis and it is a good possibility that this what is happening with her. Either way she should get in to see a GI doc and either get a barium swallow and/or a EGD to see what is going on.

In regard to the dilation - this is an afternoon procedure and is painless. The times that I have had it I have had a scratchy throat for a day at worst. My first stent didn't go exactly where they wanted it and I was in the hospital for 2 days for them to monitor it. Unfortunately this was the day after my first dose of chemo and so I had those side effects to deal with at the same time (lesson learned - don't do chemo and major procedure back-to-back if can be avoided).

I know with my wife and I our minds jump to the worse any time a symptom like this pops up. I does not always mean that it is the worst case scenario though. Chemo is bear and it wreaks havoc on the body - especially the digestive system.

One last note - chemo is generally cumulative which means that over time the side effects stack up on each other as more dose are administered. This may be why she started to see these issue with swallowing now as opposed to the beginning of this last round of chemo.

I hope this info helps!

Dilation and stents
Thank you so much for posting to me. Today my daughter and I went to her oncologist. She can not swallow without pain and last night threw up after she ate. Sometimes she looses her breathe as if someone has hit her in the stomach. We will have a CT scan to see what is there and then go from there.
I would like to hear why you had the stent removed after 6 weeks and another one placed. Then the removal of a second stent. It sounds like you are going for the third stent. Did they cause you pain and thus their removal? Is the stent surgery complicated and painful?
Please tell me everything that will help us get through this new hurdle.
My daughter had the Ivor Lewis in November of last year. She has had a struggle of pain for over a year now. really from the time of her diagnosis of cancer in June of 2009. Her tumor was 7 cms. when discovered.
I thank you for your kind words of encouragement . Grandma Jo

Grandma Jo

dsmasters said:

I am sort of going through the same thing
I had the Ivor Lewis surgery back in June and they told me that they got all the known cancer out. My oncologist wanted to still do chemo as a precaution and so we did 6 doses every 3 weeks. I just had my last dose 2 1/2 weeks ago.

About 4 weeks after the surgery (around the beginning of July) I had trouble swallowing again. It was determined that it was scare tissue from the surgery (no reoccurance of cancer thank God). Over the next few weeks I had a couple of dilations and finally a stent placed in my esophagus. After 6 weeks the stent was removed and another one was placed. The second stent was removed about 3 1/2 weeks ago.

I have started to have trouble swallowing again and according to my GI doc it is a combination of the side effects of chemo causing esophagitis and the scare tissue that is there from the surgery. I tried to wait it out for the side effects of the chemo to wear off but it is too difficult to eat right now. I am planning on asking for another dilation this coming week and another stent. I am not sure what the long term solution is.

I will admit that this is not any fun after all the rest of the thngs that I have been through but honestly at least I am not battling cancer any longer. That is actually why I responded to this post. There is a strong possibility that your daughter does NOT have a recurrence of cancer causing this. The chemo drugs that they gave me were known to cause esophagitis and it is a good possibility that this what is happening with her. Either way she should get in to see a GI doc and either get a barium swallow and/or a EGD to see what is going on.

In regard to the dilation - this is an afternoon procedure and is painless. The times that I have had it I have had a scratchy throat for a day at worst. My first stent didn't go exactly where they wanted it and I was in the hospital for 2 days for them to monitor it. Unfortunately this was the day after my first dose of chemo and so I had those side effects to deal with at the same time (lesson learned - don't do chemo and major procedure back-to-back if can be avoided).

I know with my wife and I our minds jump to the worse any time a symptom like this pops up. I does not always mean that it is the worst case scenario though. Chemo is bear and it wreaks havoc on the body - especially the digestive system.

One last note - chemo is generally cumulative which means that over time the side effects stack up on each other as more dose are administered. This may be why she started to see these issue with swallowing now as opposed to the beginning of this last round of chemo.

I hope this info helps!

Dilation and stents
Thank you so much for posting to me. Today my daughter and I went to her oncologist. She can not swallow without pain and last night threw up after she ate. Sometimes she looses her breathe as if someone has hit her in the stomach. We will have a CT scan to see what is there and then go from there.
I would like to hear why you had the stent removed after 6 weeks and another one placed. Then the removal of a second stent. It sounds like you are going for the third stent. Did they cause you pain and thus their removal? Is the stent surgery complicated and painful?
Please tell me everything that will help us get through this new hurdle.
My daughter had the Ivor Lewis in November of last year. She has had a struggle of pain for over a year now. really from the time of her diagnosis of cancer in June of 2009. Her tumor was 7 cms. when discovered.
I thank you for your kind words of encouragement . Grandma Jo

Unknown

Grandma Jo said:

Dilation and stents
Thank you so much for posting to me. Today my daughter and I went to her oncologist. She can not swallow without pain and last night threw up after she ate. Sometimes she looses her breathe as if someone has hit her in the stomach. We will have a CT scan to see what is there and then go from there.
I would like to hear why you had the stent removed after 6 weeks and another one placed. Then the removal of a second stent. It sounds like you are going for the third stent. Did they cause you pain and thus their removal? Is the stent surgery complicated and painful?
Please tell me everything that will help us get through this new hurdle.
My daughter had the Ivor Lewis in November of last year. She has had a struggle of pain for over a year now. really from the time of her diagnosis of cancer in June of 2009. Her tumor was 7 cms. when discovered.
I thank you for your kind words of encouragement . Grandma Jo

This comment has been removed by the Moderator