Radiation ?

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fredswilma
fredswilma Member Posts: 185
in Esophageal Cancer #1
Hi all
As those of you that are aware, my husband is stg iv with mets to the lungs and bone, he recently had a rod inserted in his leg to strengthen it as the cancer had basically eaten a hole in his femur, this has been really hard on him and now he relies heavily on morphein (thats not spelt right), to help with the pain. Other than that his eating is becoming more and more difficult and he is now on a pureed diet, with very little appetite, combine all that and his weight loss is dramatic, skin and bones really.
Our Onc and a radiation doctor has suggested that Mark has 1 week or 5 zaps of radiation to help with the bone pain and to see if it will improve his ability to eat, has anyone else had this done and what can we expect, I'm terrified of it, as I don't know how much more Mark's body can take, but Mark is keen to give it a go, I would love to hear of other's opinions and experiences.
Thanks in advance.
Thinking of you all.
Ann
Just another thought, the Onc has said no to any stretches and stents as his eosaphagus is to scarred, and with regards to a feeding tube again over here in NZ the only feeding tube that they will do is through his eosaphagus and once again they are scared of tearing it and causing further damage.

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  • Unknown
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  • fredswilma
    fredswilma Member Posts: 185
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    unknown said:

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    Thanks Sherri & William
    I have noted down those suggestions, we are seeing the Onc soon so will see what she thinks, with regards to the kids William, they really are coping well they understand that Dad is pretty crook and have really been stepping up, making sure the lawns are done and things that Dad would normally do they have been attempting.
    We have called in hospice now to try getting the pain under control, they have been fantastic, it is good to have an outside support system that I can call on when things get rough instead of having to visit the ED, which I think worldwide is a slow process.
    Thank you again for your thoughts and prayers.
    Ann
  • chemosmoker
    chemosmoker Member Posts: 501
    #5
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    Neurotin (Gabapentin)
    Glad to hear SOMEONE had the sense to say NO NO NO to stints and stretches at this stge!!!
    I know nothing of radiation, so I am sorry there but Sherri is SO right......

    Neurotin (Gabapentin) has been a LIFESAVER for me and for bone pain and mets to bones and appetite as well. I take it daily and the pain it has relieved is unlike any morphine or narcotic or anything else. ASK FOR IT RIGHT AWAY!!!


    Good luck and God bless

    Eric
  • cher76
    cher76 Member Posts: 292
    #6
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    Interventional radiology is possible way to go for feeding tube
    Rickie was on both of those drugs for the last several months, with some benefit. He also was unable to get anything down and if it had not been for the feeding tube I don't know what we would have done. His feeding tube was a PFG tube inserted into his stomach. I know that others on the board are always saying you must have a j tube, but that is not always the case. From my understanding to have a Jtube inserted is more of a surgical procedure than having a PFG tube placed (notice the F not E in the name. This stands for fluoroscopy). The Interventional Radiologist did go through Rickie's esophagus, but only with a guide wire. At the time his esophagus was quite narrowed with tumors as well as scar tissue. They use fluoroscopy (a type of xray) to help guide the wire into the stomach, and then inserted the tube from outside the belly into the stomach. Once placed a string was drawn on the tubing which created a "pigtail" on the end of the tube that was inside the stomach. This kept it from coming out. All of this procedure took less than 30 minutes under light sedation. Less than 2 hours later we were being trained on how to use it and they were feeding him with it. I know others here say there are more problems with a stomach tube, but Rickie never had any. He was never nauseated from it, had no problems with leakage, it only got a little clogged once (due to our error!), and was very small and did not show through his clothing. You can look up Cook Medical interventional radiology (this is the company that made Rickie's tube) and see what the feeding tubes look like. His was Wills-Oglesby Percutaneous Gastrostomy Set I do believe. His tube was placed at MD Anderson by the Interventional Radiology department. This is something you should ask your doctor about, as when it is done by interventional radiology it is not considered surgery, is minimally invasive, and use little sedation. The best part is that the wire that is passed down the esophagus is less than 5 mm in diameter, as is the actual feeding tube itself. Interventional Radiology is considered the cutting edge of medicine without the cutting, and is begin used for more and more procedures every day. Hope this helps.
    Cheryl
    Wife of Rickie, dx stage IV EC, Oct. 2010
    Mets to bones and brain
    Deceased Jan. 4, 2012

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