Surgery or not

Cris

After radiation and chemo, my doctor reported the my PET scan showed no cancer. He then said it was up to me if I still wanted surgery. This was never optional before. He wants me to see the surgeon and do research. If there is no cancer why cut out my esophagus? I contacted a support group and they wrote back: "because you don't know that it is all gone. There have to be a million cells for the cancer to show up, and if you can be done with it, why not?
Also, you can have the tumor studied if it does come back to find the chemo that works best with your particular tumor."
I figure if the cancer does return I can get the surgery. I don't know what stage it was.
I'm 58, self supporting, overweight. I worry about the risks of surgery. Would love to hear opinions and experiences.

Unknown

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Unknown

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sandy1943

Hi Cris, I agree with
Hi Cris, I agree with William and Cherie. I don't understand a doctor that says no surgery. After chemo and surgery I tested positive for one lymph node that was tested.The test before surgery didn't show this.The best way of fighting EC is with surgery. It's not a picnic, But I am so glad I was stage 111 and was able to have it. That was in May '08 and I'm still testing cancer free.

Keep finding out all you can. I'm sure most will tell you not to gamble with your life.

Praying that God will lead you to make the right decision,
Sandra

Nancy21

unknown said:

This comment has been removed by the Moderator

Esoph cancer
Dear William Marshall,
This is completely new to me as to how to respond to someone on the site. I just left a message on some place in order to get in touch with you. My husband was recently diagnosed with stage 3 esoph cancer in Dec. He had 28 proton radiation treatments and 5 wks of chemo at MD Anderson in Houston. We live in Atlanta. Jim was in excellent health prior to his diagnosis. He has always been active-- never any meeds or health issues-- large or small. The only issue he had was acid reflux that he never had checked out-- unfortunately.

Now that the pre treatment is finished he faces the recommended surgery-- barring a mira Le from the Lord where his esoph would be totally restored like it was when the Lord created him we are standing on God's promises and Jim has had thousands of wonderful people praying.

The specialist in Houston tentatively scheduled the traditional surgery for March 16 th-- two weeks from now. He is set up to do the recheck on the PET scan n endoscopy on the 7-10 of March.
We saw your post and thot it would be great to chat with you and find out more about your procedure and Dr Luketich. Time is our issue at this point and the only way I can connect with you is at this site. I have never tried to answer on one of these before. I pray this is the way to connect. If not I'm sorry. .
I would be happy to leave my number if you would be able to call-- I will check for reply. Thank you so much for your testimony-- it meant everything to us. Jim is determined to live and to fulfill God's purpose in his life-- and to bless others for sure. Nancy D

Nancy21

sandy1943 said:

Hi Cris, I agree with
Hi Cris, I agree with William and Cherie. I don't understand a doctor that says no surgery. After chemo and surgery I tested positive for one lymph node that was tested.The test before surgery didn't show this.The best way of fighting EC is with surgery. It's not a picnic, But I am so glad I was stage 111 and was able to have it. That was in May '08 and I'm still testing cancer free.

Keep finding out all you can. I'm sure most will tell you not to gamble with your life.

Praying that God will lead you to make the right decision,
Sandra

Sandra,
I just left a
Sandra,
I just left a message trying to contact Wm66 5 mins ago. I'm reading all I can re surgery after chemo n rad for esoph cancer stage 3. My husband has completed the chemo n rad and is now going for the redo on pet scan n endoscopy.
You say here that u had the surgery-- did you have the traditional or the mie. Where did u have the surgery if I may ask.? Thank you as we are now praying and evaluating where to go and who to have do it. Thnx. Nancy

Donna70

sandy1943 said:

Hi Cris, I agree with
Hi Cris, I agree with William and Cherie. I don't understand a doctor that says no surgery. After chemo and surgery I tested positive for one lymph node that was tested.The test before surgery didn't show this.The best way of fighting EC is with surgery. It's not a picnic, But I am so glad I was stage 111 and was able to have it. That was in May '08 and I'm still testing cancer free.

Keep finding out all you can. I'm sure most will tell you not to gamble with your life.

Praying that God will lead you to make the right decision,
Sandra

get the surgery
Hi Cris,
I agree with everyone here encouraging you to get surgery and also I am wondering how you went thru chemo and radiation without knowing what stage you are. It just doesn't compute. I was a stage III and I met with the oncologist, surgeon and radiologist for my pre surgery treatment all with the understanding that I was going to get surgery. The PET scan never did pick up my cancer 4 cms and the 2 positive lymph nodes. I would not rely on tests to keep the cancer at bay. They are just not completely reliable. I hope that your surgeon will be more aggressive. You don't want to come back and find out you are fully involved with mets. I got my surgery in 12/09 and am having clean scans and hard as it was, I am so grateful to be here. Get the surgery but make sure your drs are used to doing this and if not get better ones. take care, good luck,
Donna70

dlrepic

Nancy21 said:

Sandra,
I just left a
Sandra,
I just left a message trying to contact Wm66 5 mins ago. I'm reading all I can re surgery after chemo n rad for esoph cancer stage 3. My husband has completed the chemo n rad and is now going for the redo on pet scan n endoscopy.
You say here that u had the surgery-- did you have the traditional or the mie. Where did u have the surgery if I may ask.? Thank you as we are now praying and evaluating where to go and who to have do it. Thnx. Nancy

Surgery
HI,
my father had chemoradiation and then the MIE. He is doing very well. He had positive lymph nodes after surgery so we tried to do Post-op chemo as well, but he developed blood clots and chemo was terminated after 10 treatments (hopefully that was enough). He has told many new EC patients that he has met that his surgeon was very good in Portland,OR.
Danielle

paul61

I would get a second opinion
Chris,

I would vote for surgery or at a minimum a second opinion on what approach to take. I can tell you that prior to surgery my CT scans and EUS tests showed now cancer outside my esophagus. The post surgery pathology showed cancer cells in one of the lymph nodes removed. That meant follow up chemo for me. While that was not fun I am happy that it was found and dealt with. You don’t mention what stage your cancer was in but the normal approach for esophageal cancer is pre-operative chemotherapy and radiation, surgery, and post operative chemotherapy if indicated by the surgical pathology.

Best Regards,

Paul Adams
McCormick, South Carolina

DX 10/22/2009 T2N1M0 Stage IIB
12/03/2009 Ivor Lewis
2/8 through 6/14/2010 Adjuvant Chemo Cisplatin, Epirubicin, 5 FU
6/21/2010 CT Scan NED

Life may not be the party we hoped for, but while we are here we might as well dance!

Bedee

Cris
I too showed no cancer
Cris

I too showed no cancer after chemo and rads, and my oncologist had never seen anyone do well after esophagectomy. He frankly couldn't recommend the surgery. However, I went to Univ of Washington, and to Mayo in Rochester. All the doctors - who specialize in this type of cancer - emphatically recommended surgery. I had it April 15, 2010. I was off work for several weeks, and it wasn't easy, but now I'm 100%, back to work, can eat most things, except chocolate, and am glad I had it done.

At the very least, talk to doctors who specialize in this and get their opinion.

BTW - as an added perk you'll lose weight.

best of luck
deb

Tina Blondek

Welcome
Hi Cris and welcome to our ec discussion board family. I agree, get the surgery done. Just because the PET scan does not show any cancer, it could still be there. Better to be safe than sorry. My dad had ec and could only have chemo and radiation. He was not able to have the surgery. 16 mos later, the cancer went to his liver and he passed away within 3 mos. Get the MIE surgery. It is the best one, and the best one to recover from. The chemo and radiation treatments treat the tumor, they make it smaller, they stop it from growing any larger, but it could still be there, and go to another organ in your body. I would also suggest a 2nd opinion from a surgeon who specializes in esophageal cancer. Hope this helps. Stay in touch. We will be thinking and praying for you.
Tina in Va

ArchTB

Our doctor said 70% chance of reoccurance
My husband is (fingers crossed) reacting pretty good to cancer treatment so far. So, I asked our oncologist at MSKCC about the possibility of not having the surgery if Tom has no sign of cancer after chemo and radiation. I don't know where he got the statistics from, but the oncologist said that there is a 70% chance of cancer reoccurring if no surgery is performed to remove the tissue.

BMGky

Surgery
Husband had clean PET scan following the prescribed chemo and radiation. Our oncologist said we do surgery anyway. Had traditional Ivor Lewis surgery. Not a piece of cake by any means. Post surgery report: Underneath the scar tissue in the removed esophagus, there were live cancer cells! The oncologist flatly stated: "That's the reason we do the surgery."

Recovery from surgery varies by person; however, you work through it and in about 6 months or so, things do get better.

1 year post-op: PET scan showed No evidence of disease. We just got back from Colorado. I got altitude sickness, felt awful, and guess who was having a ball and had no problem whatsoever physically--Yes. My husband. We humbly grateful for his continuing recovery.

DanaM

Going thru the same thing Cris...
My husband had an endoscopy done because he had severe pain in the upper right quadrant in the abdomen area. They biopsied several sites in his esophagus and found high dysplasia cells which we were told were pre-cancerous. We went to the University of MD, where they treat this condition with a procedure called cryo-ablation. The gastro doctor who was set to perform the procedure removed a cancerous lesion caused by Barrets which penetrated (3) layers of the esophagus. Needle biopsies of the lymph nodes proved negative. 2 surgeons pushed the surgery and my question was..if they removed the cancer and the lymph nodes tested were negative, why go there? My husband is very afraid-but wants to live. The esophogus organ can have cancer hiding anywhere. In order to eliminate the risk, the surgery must be done. Stick with Mr. Marshall's advice. My husband is currently reluctant to travel to Pittsburgh, but if it were me-I'd absolutely opt for the minimally invasive procedure. I remember years ago, they used to cut people open wide to remove a gallbladder. I had mine pulled out through a hole, and had nothing but bandaid cuts to show for it. Doctors perform within their training and comfort level-even in the face of new technology. Please consider Dr. Luketich as Mr. Marshall suggested. I'm praying that the Lord will move my husband in that direction. Mr. Marshall and his experience has been a blessing to me and many others. Mr. Marshall and Mrs.Loretta have extensive knowledge about this subject and even if we don't make Pittsburgh-we are stepping out in faith and choosing life. No one would want to have a surgery like this, but you'll have it and this too shall pass. There is LIFE after EC...My husband and I were lucky enough to watch an 8 year survivor preparing to chomp down a very delicious looking pecan desert and living as the good Lord intended. Like I told my husband, instead of eating like you shouldn't anyway (he's diabetic) you'll be eating the correct and recomended way, which is smaller meals at more frequent intervals. Don't be afraid, be of good heart. I'm adding you to my prayer list. When you recuperate, you can come back to this site and testify to others as Mr. Marshall has done, to give others suffering the same thing courage. God Bless You.

Gatoraid

Nancy21 said:

Esoph cancer
Dear William Marshall,
This is completely new to me as to how to respond to someone on the site. I just left a message on some place in order to get in touch with you. My husband was recently diagnosed with stage 3 esoph cancer in Dec. He had 28 proton radiation treatments and 5 wks of chemo at MD Anderson in Houston. We live in Atlanta. Jim was in excellent health prior to his diagnosis. He has always been active-- never any meeds or health issues-- large or small. The only issue he had was acid reflux that he never had checked out-- unfortunately.

Now that the pre treatment is finished he faces the recommended surgery-- barring a mira Le from the Lord where his esoph would be totally restored like it was when the Lord created him we are standing on God's promises and Jim has had thousands of wonderful people praying.

The specialist in Houston tentatively scheduled the traditional surgery for March 16 th-- two weeks from now. He is set up to do the recheck on the PET scan n endoscopy on the 7-10 of March.
We saw your post and thot it would be great to chat with you and find out more about your procedure and Dr Luketich. Time is our issue at this point and the only way I can connect with you is at this site. I have never tried to answer on one of these before. I pray this is the way to connect. If not I'm sorry. .
I would be happy to leave my number if you would be able to call-- I will check for reply. Thank you so much for your testimony-- it meant everything to us. Jim is determined to live and to fulfill God's purpose in his life-- and to bless others for sure. Nancy D

Surgery Options
I had non evasive surgery on December 14th. The traditional method is called Ivor Lewis and it is definitely a much more evasive and difficult surgery to recover from. My recommendation is to find a surgeon that has experience with laporscopic non-evasive surgery. I was out of the hospital in 6 days and it definitely was a better experience that the traditional method. Good luck!

Unknown

Nancy21 said:

Sandra,
I just left a
Sandra,
I just left a message trying to contact Wm66 5 mins ago. I'm reading all I can re surgery after chemo n rad for esoph cancer stage 3. My husband has completed the chemo n rad and is now going for the redo on pet scan n endoscopy.
You say here that u had the surgery-- did you have the traditional or the mie. Where did u have the surgery if I may ask.? Thank you as we are now praying and evaluating where to go and who to have do it. Thnx. Nancy

This comment has been removed by the Moderator

Cris

DanaM said:

Going thru the same thing Cris...
My husband had an endoscopy done because he had severe pain in the upper right quadrant in the abdomen area. They biopsied several sites in his esophagus and found high dysplasia cells which we were told were pre-cancerous. We went to the University of MD, where they treat this condition with a procedure called cryo-ablation. The gastro doctor who was set to perform the procedure removed a cancerous lesion caused by Barrets which penetrated (3) layers of the esophagus. Needle biopsies of the lymph nodes proved negative. 2 surgeons pushed the surgery and my question was..if they removed the cancer and the lymph nodes tested were negative, why go there? My husband is very afraid-but wants to live. The esophogus organ can have cancer hiding anywhere. In order to eliminate the risk, the surgery must be done. Stick with Mr. Marshall's advice. My husband is currently reluctant to travel to Pittsburgh, but if it were me-I'd absolutely opt for the minimally invasive procedure. I remember years ago, they used to cut people open wide to remove a gallbladder. I had mine pulled out through a hole, and had nothing but bandaid cuts to show for it. Doctors perform within their training and comfort level-even in the face of new technology. Please consider Dr. Luketich as Mr. Marshall suggested. I'm praying that the Lord will move my husband in that direction. Mr. Marshall and his experience has been a blessing to me and many others. Mr. Marshall and Mrs.Loretta have extensive knowledge about this subject and even if we don't make Pittsburgh-we are stepping out in faith and choosing life. No one would want to have a surgery like this, but you'll have it and this too shall pass. There is LIFE after EC...My husband and I were lucky enough to watch an 8 year survivor preparing to chomp down a very delicious looking pecan desert and living as the good Lord intended. Like I told my husband, instead of eating like you shouldn't anyway (he's diabetic) you'll be eating the correct and recomended way, which is smaller meals at more frequent intervals. Don't be afraid, be of good heart. I'm adding you to my prayer list. When you recuperate, you can come back to this site and testify to others as Mr. Marshall has done, to give others suffering the same thing courage. God Bless You.

Surgery
Thank you all for responding. I don't know why my doctor presented me with the option of surgery. When I saw him this week and told him I was having the surgery, he said it was the right thing to do. "You wouldn't want to have a reoccurance knowing you hadn't done everything the first time." Was he testing me? Gonna ask him the next time I see him. I'm having the traditional surgery 3/31/11. Thank you, again. Cris

unclaw2002

Cris said:

Surgery
Thank you all for responding. I don't know why my doctor presented me with the option of surgery. When I saw him this week and told him I was having the surgery, he said it was the right thing to do. "You wouldn't want to have a reoccurance knowing you hadn't done everything the first time." Was he testing me? Gonna ask him the next time I see him. I'm having the traditional surgery 3/31/11. Thank you, again. Cris

Cris - I would urge you to see if you can do the MIE
This is my personal opinion. Please consult with your medical professional
****************************************************************************

Cris,

While it may not sound like a big deal I would urge you to seriously consider the MIE. The difference to your recovery, and quality of life afterwards is significant. Are there surgeons at your hospital who can perform the MIE? If so I would try to discuss your surgical options or see if you could travel to have the MIE. The old traditional surgery is no longer the only option even if your current surgeon can only do that type of surgery.

In any event good luck.


Best,
CIndy

Unknown

Cris said:

Surgery
Thank you all for responding. I don't know why my doctor presented me with the option of surgery. When I saw him this week and told him I was having the surgery, he said it was the right thing to do. "You wouldn't want to have a reoccurance knowing you hadn't done everything the first time." Was he testing me? Gonna ask him the next time I see him. I'm having the traditional surgery 3/31/11. Thank you, again. Cris

This comment has been removed by the Moderator

Unknown

Cris said:

Surgery
Thank you all for responding. I don't know why my doctor presented me with the option of surgery. When I saw him this week and told him I was having the surgery, he said it was the right thing to do. "You wouldn't want to have a reoccurance knowing you hadn't done everything the first time." Was he testing me? Gonna ask him the next time I see him. I'm having the traditional surgery 3/31/11. Thank you, again. Cris

This comment has been removed by the Moderator