any body ever had a stent put in

ray slone
ray slone Member Posts: 25
in Esophageal Cancer #1
i had a scope done this week after the pet scan showed bone mets. the doc called today and said the places they biopsied in my esophagus tested neg for cancer. however he said by the looks of things down there that cancer is still there. now they want to do internal rad. or put a stent in. any body ever had this done? thanks to every one

Comments

  • jgwright
    jgwright Member Posts: 242
    #2
    I chose Rads
    And after 5 weeks, 5 days a week of radiation, the tumor shrank down to where it was for all practical purposes gone, although there was still some evidence of cancer. I can now eat just about everything, as long as I eat slow and take small bites and chew it well. In fact after dropping to 220 pounds, in the last 3 months I've put 5 pounds back on. No stent needed. From what I've read, stents can be quite problematic.

    --Jerry
  • lilrusty
    lilrusty Member Posts: 49
    #3
    Stents
    Hi Ray my husband had a stent put in because he couldnt swallow or eat. This was a nightmare. After they put the first one in he start to vomit blood and couldnt stop. Took him back to O.R. the stent was to big put a smaller one in. The vomiting of blood never stopped. My husband died 3 weeks later still not able to eat or keep even water down. I think the stent was a bad idea and I new from the boards but He let the Dr tell him it would get him eating again what they left out was that he was dying. Read other post here on stents. Thats my experience with it. Hope it helps. Wishing you good results in whatever u decide to do.
    Chrissy
    Wife of Rust
    Died Apri 1, 2012
  • lilrusty
    lilrusty Member Posts: 49
    #4
    Stents
    Hi Ray my husband had a stent put in because he couldnt swallow or eat. This was a nightmare. After they put the first one in he start to vomit blood and couldnt stop. Took him back to O.R. the stent was to big put a smaller one in. The vomiting of blood never stopped. My husband died 3 weeks later still not able to eat or keep even water down. I think the stent was a bad idea and I new from the boards but He let the Dr tell him it would get him eating again what they left out was that he was dying. Read other post here on stents. Thats my experience with it. Hope it helps. Wishing you good results in whatever u decide to do.
    Chrissy
    Wife of Rust
    Died Apri 1, 2012
  • lilrusty
    lilrusty Member Posts: 49
    #5
    Stents
    Hi Ray my husband had a stent put in because he couldnt swallow or eat. This was a nightmare. After they put the first one in he start to vomit blood and couldnt stop. Took him back to O.R. the stent was to big put a smaller one in. The vomiting of blood never stopped. My husband died 3 weeks later still not able to eat or keep even water down. I think the stent was a bad idea and I new from the boards but He let the Dr tell him it would get him eating again what they left out was that he was dying. Read other post here on stents. Thats my experience with it. Hope it helps. Wishing you good results in whatever u decide to do.
    Chrissy
    Wife of Rust
    Died Apri 1, 2012
  • rose20
    rose20 Member Posts: 258
    #6
    your decision "but"
    My brother had the stent put in when first diagnosed, which has been 21 months ago, and he has suffered greatly ever since.

    This is the cause of most of his horrible pain.

    Also food gets clogged in it and it is so hard to get it out.

    I would carefully think and research about a stent before considering it.

    Perhaps it has helped some but in my brother's case it has caused so much pain.

    May I also add that it never made him eat any better. He could only get down liquids for the longest time.

    They told him from the beginning that the stent was not to help him eat but to keep that area more opened.
  • Daisylin
    Daisylin Member Posts: 365
    #7
    rose20 said:

    your decision "but"
    My brother had the stent put in when first diagnosed, which has been 21 months ago, and he has suffered greatly ever since.

    This is the cause of most of his horrible pain.

    Also food gets clogged in it and it is so hard to get it out.

    I would carefully think and research about a stent before considering it.

    Perhaps it has helped some but in my brother's case it has caused so much pain.

    May I also add that it never made him eat any better. He could only get down liquids for the longest time.

    They told him from the beginning that the stent was not to help him eat but to keep that area more opened.

    stent
    My husband also had a stent placed. This was a total nightmare and will haunt me forever. The stent caused tearing, and I had to watch him throwing up blood for the final weeks of his life. Transfusions, blood clotting meds and an NG tube did not help to bring his levels up or stop the bleeding. They could not remove the stent, because the fear of causing further tears was too great.

    We also posted about it here, and were given many warnings about it, yet in the end my husband decided to go for it, with aspiration being a likely alternative. He was unable to swallow even his own saliva at this point. He was terrified of choking to death, so he chose to go with the stent. This was a huge mistake, and it cost him precious days, weeks or possibly months of his life.

    Please do some serious research before you consider a stent. There are some here who have positive stories, so of course this is my opinion only. If you chose to go for it, be sure that your blood counts are normal before they do the procedure. If your blood is too thin, you will increase your risk of bleed outs.

    Chantal
    wife of Lee, deceased Nov 8, 2012
  • T-Bird
    T-Bird Member Posts: 25
    #8
    rose20 said:

    your decision "but"
    My brother had the stent put in when first diagnosed, which has been 21 months ago, and he has suffered greatly ever since.

    This is the cause of most of his horrible pain.

    Also food gets clogged in it and it is so hard to get it out.

    I would carefully think and research about a stent before considering it.

    Perhaps it has helped some but in my brother's case it has caused so much pain.

    May I also add that it never made him eat any better. He could only get down liquids for the longest time.

    They told him from the beginning that the stent was not to help him eat but to keep that area more opened.

    Stent
    Hi Ray - I had a stent inserted back in October/11 to enable me to swallow easier and other than the first few days afterwards of nausea & vomitting, I have had no problems with it at all.

    I agree with everyone else, I would do some research & talk to your Gastroenterologist before deciding on having any procedure done - good luck with whatever you decide to do.
  • paul61
    paul61 Member Posts: 1,392 Member
    #9
    I would ask many questions before I let them place a stent
    Ray,

    I have no personal experience with the placement of a stent, but in the two years that I have participated in this group I have seen a few positive experiences with stents, and many negative experiences.

    Please take time to discuss this carefully with your gastroenterologist and understand the potential risks. The risks include, bleeding, pain, migration of the stent as the tumor size is reduced by treatment, and rupture of the esophagus wall during placement. I don't mean to sound like an alarmist and, as I said above, there have been some positive outcomes. However, the negative experiences far outweigh the positive based on input from our members.

    If there is a tumor blocking your ability to swallow, radiation should cause that to shrink over time.

    Ask many questions and get some specific statistics from your the doctor who is about to perform the procedure about his success rate.


    Best Regards,

    Paul Adams
    Grand Blanc, Michigan

    DX 10/22/2009 T2N1M0 Stage IIB
    12/03/2009 Ivor Lewis
    2/8 through 6/14/2010 Adjuvant Chemo Cisplatin, Epirubicin, 5 FU
    Two year survivor

    Life may not be the party we hoped for, but while we are here we might as well dance!
  • ray slone
    ray slone Member Posts: 25
    #10
    paul61 said:

    I would ask many questions before I let them place a stent
    Ray,

    I have no personal experience with the placement of a stent, but in the two years that I have participated in this group I have seen a few positive experiences with stents, and many negative experiences.

    Please take time to discuss this carefully with your gastroenterologist and understand the potential risks. The risks include, bleeding, pain, migration of the stent as the tumor size is reduced by treatment, and rupture of the esophagus wall during placement. I don't mean to sound like an alarmist and, as I said above, there have been some positive outcomes. However, the negative experiences far outweigh the positive based on input from our members.

    If there is a tumor blocking your ability to swallow, radiation should cause that to shrink over time.

    Ask many questions and get some specific statistics from your the doctor who is about to perform the procedure about his success rate.


    Best Regards,

    Paul Adams
    Grand Blanc, Michigan

    DX 10/22/2009 T2N1M0 Stage IIB
    12/03/2009 Ivor Lewis
    2/8 through 6/14/2010 Adjuvant Chemo Cisplatin, Epirubicin, 5 FU
    Two year survivor

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

    stent
    thanks paul for your reply. after reading things on the internet and post from my new friends here there is no way i want a stent. i have had radiation before. now they want to do the internal radiation, which scares me because the last time i had radiation my esophagus closes off to 4mm and i was only able to drink ensure. clearly with this there are no good answers.
  • Guigna
    Guigna Member Posts: 63
    #11
    ray slone said:

    stent
    thanks paul for your reply. after reading things on the internet and post from my new friends here there is no way i want a stent. i have had radiation before. now they want to do the internal radiation, which scares me because the last time i had radiation my esophagus closes off to 4mm and i was only able to drink ensure. clearly with this there are no good answers.

    my husband has a stent too
    if he hadn't gotten it, i don't think he'd be alive today. when he could no longer swallow, his mouth started to fill with saliva which was a terrifying feeling of choking. How long can a person endure that? I don't know.
    While it's true that having a stent is not as nice as the days when he had a working esophagus, he is able to eat and drink; he just has to be careful with it. No bleeding.

    Don't eliminate the stent from your list of possibilities. It may prolong your life.

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