Statistics

lenlee65
lenlee65 Member Posts: 40
in Esophageal Cancer #1
This is just my personal opinion but since I was first diagnosed about 18 months ago with EC I did a lot of research about the disease. I started working with the old Univac Computers back in 1965 and have used a computer is some shape or form since then so when I say researched I mean RESEARCHED. One thing I noticed but have not really followed up on because my personal fight with EC got in the way, is that years ago this disease was prevalent in the Far East and kind of rare in the US. But it seems to be occurring more here now. So the statistics are skewed somewhat by this because sadly, the more people who have the disease the better our medical people will get at treating it and I think it is occurring more because(once again, my opinion and no one else's) it has some ties to acid reflux which has some ties to stress and tension. So while you may be diagnosed as Stage III or IV and the statistics may look grim, everuy day advances are being made, new treatments are being tried and developed. Knowledge is power too. I read a post a few minutes ago urging everyone to not be shy when discussing things with your Drs and their staff. When I was in the hospital after surgery at one point I got on my beside phone called the Radiology dept and threatened to get an attorney and file suit against a Radiologist because the Dr was dragging his/her feet about reading my swallow test and I also once called the Director of Nursing (same hospital stay) and complained because I was in pain and cramping really bad, could not get a nurse to answer my page and I could hear a couple of them talking and joking in the hall outside my door. That particular phone call got some quick results. So do not be shy when dealing with these people, most want to help but they see so many people it is hard and difficult for them to remember and know everything about you. It is up to you to keep that information in and on their minds. And Never Ever Give Up!

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  • Unknown
    Unknown
    #2
    This comment has been removed by the Moderator
  • lenlee65
    lenlee65 Member Posts: 40
    #3
    unknown said:

    This comment has been removed by the Moderator

    Good Morning William
    I messed up a little bit with the statistics post. My goal was to try and cheer some folks up because my point with them is that the numbers are getting better and the odds for longer survival are getting better simply because treatment is getting better.

    The reason I was never told what stage my cancer was is probably that by the time I could be told the surgery was over, lymph nodes had come back all clear and my CT scan read no evidence of any cancer remaining. Before that I was so closed up even my saliva was pooling in my esophagus. The surgeon who put in my J-tube told my family that. And to be honest I may have been told at some point but don't remember because part of that time is a blurred memory to me. The reason I had the full blown surgery is because they were unsure about what stage I was in and I really did not much of an option. I was in the years between 62 and 65, retired and the only medical coverage I had was thru the Veterans Administration. I did check out my surgeon Dr. Giorgio Aru and he is the real deal so I trusted him and so far everything has been okay.

    Seal Team 6, my hats off to those guys. My Navy days go back to the time when there was only Seal Team 1 at Coronado and Seal Team 2 at Little Creek. I was attached to the Supply Dept that supported Seal Team 2 and got to know a lot of them and the other Special Warfare guys that were stationed there back then. I was not a Seal, just want to make that clear. I was just a fun loving, hard partying, Second Class Storekeeper who mostly played slow pitch softball back then. I have the utmost respect for all our Special Warfare people, theirs is a hard task and they never waver in their duties. Not political at all, they take the job of defending our country very very seriously and I am so glad we as a country have brave warriors like them.

    I guess one think I have failed to mention is that I suffered from acid reflux for years. My primary Dr kept at me to have an endoscopy done along with a colonscopy. Well I have 2 clean colonoscopies but did not have an endoscopy until I could no longer eat or drink much. I also had Barretts Esophagus, Dr Buckley the gastro doc told me that is what caused my cancer.

    Sometimes there is a silver lining in a black cloud. In my case it is this, when I got sick I was about 5'8" tall and weighed about 255 lbs. Today I am 5'7" tall and weigh about 160 lbs. I needed the weight loss badly but definitely do not recommend the diet plan.

    Speaking of computers, don't think I ever used the tapes and reels much but I have used a card or keypunch machine, collator, etc a few times. I remember buying this new kind of computer called and IBM PC. It did not have a hard drive, to boot it up you had to put an 8" floppy in and turn the machine on. My boss and I bought this new kind of software called Lotus 1-2-3 and we had to buy and extra 192K in memory to run it because you had to have 512K memory just to run Lotus. Thats K folks not Megs or Gigs. Those were the good ole days!

    Well I better shut up. Nice to meet you William. Everyone have a good day and Never Ever Give UP.
  • jgwright
    jgwright Member Posts: 242
    #4
    lenlee65 said:

    Good Morning William
    I messed up a little bit with the statistics post. My goal was to try and cheer some folks up because my point with them is that the numbers are getting better and the odds for longer survival are getting better simply because treatment is getting better.

    The reason I was never told what stage my cancer was is probably that by the time I could be told the surgery was over, lymph nodes had come back all clear and my CT scan read no evidence of any cancer remaining. Before that I was so closed up even my saliva was pooling in my esophagus. The surgeon who put in my J-tube told my family that. And to be honest I may have been told at some point but don't remember because part of that time is a blurred memory to me. The reason I had the full blown surgery is because they were unsure about what stage I was in and I really did not much of an option. I was in the years between 62 and 65, retired and the only medical coverage I had was thru the Veterans Administration. I did check out my surgeon Dr. Giorgio Aru and he is the real deal so I trusted him and so far everything has been okay.

    Seal Team 6, my hats off to those guys. My Navy days go back to the time when there was only Seal Team 1 at Coronado and Seal Team 2 at Little Creek. I was attached to the Supply Dept that supported Seal Team 2 and got to know a lot of them and the other Special Warfare guys that were stationed there back then. I was not a Seal, just want to make that clear. I was just a fun loving, hard partying, Second Class Storekeeper who mostly played slow pitch softball back then. I have the utmost respect for all our Special Warfare people, theirs is a hard task and they never waver in their duties. Not political at all, they take the job of defending our country very very seriously and I am so glad we as a country have brave warriors like them.

    I guess one think I have failed to mention is that I suffered from acid reflux for years. My primary Dr kept at me to have an endoscopy done along with a colonscopy. Well I have 2 clean colonoscopies but did not have an endoscopy until I could no longer eat or drink much. I also had Barretts Esophagus, Dr Buckley the gastro doc told me that is what caused my cancer.

    Sometimes there is a silver lining in a black cloud. In my case it is this, when I got sick I was about 5'8" tall and weighed about 255 lbs. Today I am 5'7" tall and weigh about 160 lbs. I needed the weight loss badly but definitely do not recommend the diet plan.

    Speaking of computers, don't think I ever used the tapes and reels much but I have used a card or keypunch machine, collator, etc a few times. I remember buying this new kind of computer called and IBM PC. It did not have a hard drive, to boot it up you had to put an 8" floppy in and turn the machine on. My boss and I bought this new kind of software called Lotus 1-2-3 and we had to buy and extra 192K in memory to run it because you had to have 512K memory just to run Lotus. Thats K folks not Megs or Gigs. Those were the good ole days!

    Well I better shut up. Nice to meet you William. Everyone have a good day and Never Ever Give UP.

    Cause By Type
    I'm curious. I kind of get the feeling that much of squamous cell might be caused by smoking, whereas adenocarcinoma seems to be primarily caused by acid reflux. But as I say, this is more of a "feeling" than a valid statistical survey. What do y'all think??

    --Jerry
  • TerryV
    TerryV Member Posts: 887
    #5
    jgwright said:

    Cause By Type
    I'm curious. I kind of get the feeling that much of squamous cell might be caused by smoking, whereas adenocarcinoma seems to be primarily caused by acid reflux. But as I say, this is more of a "feeling" than a valid statistical survey. What do y'all think??

    --Jerry

    I'm in agreement...
    Jerry,

    What research I've done supports your idea about squamous cell having a tight relationship with smoking and adeno being more reflux related. There is certainly crossover - it's not exclusive either way.

    Terry
  • jgwright
    jgwright Member Posts: 242
    #6
    TerryV said:

    I'm in agreement...
    Jerry,

    What research I've done supports your idea about squamous cell having a tight relationship with smoking and adeno being more reflux related. There is certainly crossover - it's not exclusive either way.

    Terry

    Definitely Crossover
    Yep, there are people who NEVER smoked or had acid reflux who got EC, or did one and got the other, but the preponderance of evidence seems that probabilities increase dramatically with one or the other "cause".
    --Jerry
  • unclaw2002
    unclaw2002 Member Posts: 599
    #7
    TerryV said:

    I'm in agreement...
    Jerry,

    What research I've done supports your idea about squamous cell having a tight relationship with smoking and adeno being more reflux related. There is certainly crossover - it's not exclusive either way.

    Terry

    I have also read that some
    I have also read that some of the adno EC - tied to acid reflux increase in the US is a change in our diet. While years ago we used to eat a meat and potatoes diet over the last 30 years there has been an increase in acid reflux. You may ask why --- a theory was advanced that it was the introduction of very spicy and hot foods that have more of a chance to (1) burn the esophagous going down and (2) turn into acid reflux and begin the acid wash of the lower espohagous. Highly spicy foods, think hot sauce, spicy wings, spicy mexican food,hot curries,and spicy asian food. In Asia and India amoung other areas the custom is to use very hot spices in food and also to drink lots of hot beverages. This article wasn't a scientific study but more one musing about why the sudden increase in EC in the US --- an it was noted that this change had occured in addition to stress and tension for sure.

    It is difficult to determine a cause and effect sometimes. As anyone can tell you just because the Roster crows and the sun comes up that doesn't neccesarily mean that the Roster is responsible for causing the sun to rise. But for me I think the stress and tension added to the diet change (and potentially a genetic pre-disposition to developing Barretts)may be a reason for its dramatic increase.
  • bawa
    bawa Member Posts: 39
    #8
    jgwright said:

    Cause By Type
    I'm curious. I kind of get the feeling that much of squamous cell might be caused by smoking, whereas adenocarcinoma seems to be primarily caused by acid reflux. But as I say, this is more of a "feeling" than a valid statistical survey. What do y'all think??

    --Jerry

    its not really cause by type
    My 33 year old sister never smoked or had acid reflux bu she has been diagnosed of stage four EC just two months back. There are such cases as well which are not the result of either or.
  • bawa
    bawa Member Posts: 39
    #9
    jgwright said:

    Cause By Type
    I'm curious. I kind of get the feeling that much of squamous cell might be caused by smoking, whereas adenocarcinoma seems to be primarily caused by acid reflux. But as I say, this is more of a "feeling" than a valid statistical survey. What do y'all think??

    --Jerry

    its not really cause by type
    My 33 year old sister never smoked or had acid reflux bu she has been diagnosed of stage four EC just two months back. There are such cases as well which are not the result of either or.

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