33 year old female - Just Diagnosed

The surgery is challenging but survivable

I can understand that at 33 with small children the diagnosis of esophageal cancer is shocking. I can tell you as an EC survivor, that the treatment can be challenging, but it is survivable and life goes on after treatment. I was diagnosed and had my surgery in December of 2009.  Approximately six months of 2010 was consumed in recovering from surgery.  I am now three years from surgery and back to doing all the things I love with some minor life style adjustments to accommodate my modified digestive system.

MD Anderson is one of the leading treatment centers in the US for EC so you are certainly in the right place to get the best diagnosis and treatment. It sounds like your cancer is localized and that is a very good thing.  Depending on the grade and location of your tumor you are either Stage 1 or Stage II. You are fortunate to be diagnosed at an early stage.

What to expect?

Most EC patients have some chemotherapy and radiation therapy first, then surgery to remove a portion of the esophagus and a portion of the stomach. Since your tumor is at the GEJ, your surgery will probably be an esophagectomy with gastric pull up. Given the location and your staging I would think you are a candidate for minimally invasive laparoscopic surgery called a minimally invasive esophagectomy  or MIE.  This approach has a much shorter recovery time because the incisions are much smaller than the traditional surgical approach.

Here is a brief overview that describes EC staging and treatment:

http://www.upmccancercenter.com/pdq_xml/cancer.cfm?id=54#

Given your age and overall health profile I would think your recovery time from surgery would be much faster than mine (I was 61 when I had my surgery and I had chemotherapy after my surgery because they discovered a positive lymph node in my post-surgical pathology)

Life style changes include the necessity to eat more frequent smaller meals than the typical three meal plan most of us are used to. I eat small amounts about 7 times a day with no meal being larger than about half of the amount I used to eat prior to surgery. You will also find you will need to avoid certain foods. In my case I have to avoid food items that are high in processed sugar.

The good news is that you are young, in excellent health, diagnosed at an early stage, and have a supportive family to help you through the treatment. I think you have every reason to be positive and optimistic.

Best Regards,

Paul Adams

McCormick, South Carolina

DX 10/2009 T2N1M0  Stage IIB - Ivor Lewis Surgery  12/3/2009 - Post Surgery Chemotherapy 2/2009 – 6/2009

Cisplatin, Epirubicin, 5 FU - Three Year Survivor

my husband had stage 3

Hi There. I wish you all the best. You will be fine. Have faith. My husband was diagnosed 2 years ago with stage 3. We were all is shock. How can you ever prepare for this. What the gentelman posted before is all the right things. My huband spent monthe in cornell university in ny. The dr. there saved his life. You have to have a positive outlook. I know it is easier said then done. Believe me it works. If you ever need somone to talk to im here..  917-880-7880.. My best to you.  My husband was diagnosed on his 45  birthday..  

 

paul61 said:

The surgery is challenging but survivable

I can understand that at 33 with small children the diagnosis of esophageal cancer is shocking. I can tell you as an EC survivor, that the treatment can be challenging, but it is survivable and life goes on after treatment. I was diagnosed and had my surgery in December of 2009.  Approximately six months of 2010 was consumed in recovering from surgery.  I am now three years from surgery and back to doing all the things I love with some minor life style adjustments to accommodate my modified digestive system.

MD Anderson is one of the leading treatment centers in the US for EC so you are certainly in the right place to get the best diagnosis and treatment. It sounds like your cancer is localized and that is a very good thing.  Depending on the grade and location of your tumor you are either Stage 1 or Stage II. You are fortunate to be diagnosed at an early stage.

What to expect?

Most EC patients have some chemotherapy and radiation therapy first, then surgery to remove a portion of the esophagus and a portion of the stomach. Since your tumor is at the GEJ, your surgery will probably be an esophagectomy with gastric pull up. Given the location and your staging I would think you are a candidate for minimally invasive laparoscopic surgery called a minimally invasive esophagectomy  or MIE.  This approach has a much shorter recovery time because the incisions are much smaller than the traditional surgical approach.

Here is a brief overview that describes EC staging and treatment:

http://www.upmccancercenter.com/pdq_xml/cancer.cfm?id=54#

Given your age and overall health profile I would think your recovery time from surgery would be much faster than mine (I was 61 when I had my surgery and I had chemotherapy after my surgery because they discovered a positive lymph node in my post-surgical pathology)

Life style changes include the necessity to eat more frequent smaller meals than the typical three meal plan most of us are used to. I eat small amounts about 7 times a day with no meal being larger than about half of the amount I used to eat prior to surgery. You will also find you will need to avoid certain foods. In my case I have to avoid food items that are high in processed sugar.

The good news is that you are young, in excellent health, diagnosed at an early stage, and have a supportive family to help you through the treatment. I think you have every reason to be positive and optimistic.

Best Regards,

Paul Adams

McCormick, South Carolina

DX 10/2009 T2N1M0  Stage IIB - Ivor Lewis Surgery  12/3/2009 - Post Surgery Chemotherapy 2/2009 – 6/2009

Cisplatin, Epirubicin, 5 FU - Three Year Survivor

Telephone Call

Hi Paul

 

Thanks for the phone and i did call my doctor to find out where the that lymph node was found and i was told it was an axes from the tumor whatever that means and it was a local and not distant. that sure made me feel real good. again thanks for the phone call it dide sure help to talk with someone.

 

tom

DX 1/23/2012 T3N1M0

Good Luck

Amanda,

Until you've been through it, there's no way to explain the feeling when your doctor tells you that you have cancer. Even though your world has just been turned upside down, you can overcome this hurdle. Last month marked the one year anniversary of my Ivor Lewis surgery and I'm doing everything I did before my diagnosis. I can eat just about anything I want to and the only lifestyle change is I have to sleep with my head and chest elevated. The chemo/radiation treatments and surgery are by no means a walk in the park, but you should be able to come through them just fine. Your age is definitely a big advantage for you. The other important factor is keeping a positive attitude. Even though you have been diagnosed with EC, be thankful it was caught in time for you to be a candidate for surgery. There will be some rough days ahead during the treatments, but stay focused on the finish line after surgery. I was 61 when I had my treatments and went back to work at my desk job 2 months after surgery.

Good luck in your EC journey. You'll find lots of support on this site. Feel free to ask any question because the survivors and caretakers are very willing to help.

Steve

DX 11/2011 T2N1M0 Stage IIB, Chemo and radiation 12/2011 - 1/2012, Ivor Lewis surgery 3/13/2012

I hope that you can find hope
I hope that you can find hope by reading all of our stories on here. Mine, is nothing short of a miracle. My father was dx with stage 3 EC 9/2013. It was a HUGE tumor 7.7cm located at the junction of stomach and top 1/3 of stomach had cancer. Spread to lymphnodes, "several" we were told. He did chemo/radiation with the plan of surgery to follow. Well , he had a lot of set back's prior to even starting chemo, delayed his tx, didn't start until end of Nov. He got through chemo/radiation with no J-tube, any nutrition had to be swallowed. Anything he would swallow would come right back up from chemo. It was VERY HARD, but he didn't complain once, and pushed through it everyday. He basically didn't eat anything, was just kept hydrated through IV at home. Towards the end of chemo, they said dad wasn't a good canidate for surgery. Even though he was only stage 3, they felt the set backs and lack of nutrition during chemo would keep him from healing. WE WOULDN'T ACCEPT NO FOR AN ANSWER. They were even more elated when they did the post op pet scan from chemo/radiation and said that he had a complete response. Even with that, we still pushed for surgery. He had the espohegectomy 4/1/13, and is on the road to recovery. He's improving little by little everyday. The greatest news was that we were told the lymphnodes removed during surgery showed no signs of cancer, even the "huge" one they found hidden behind his stomach. At this point, today he is CANCER FREE!!
When dad was dx I immediatly started researching on the internet. What I found and read was horrible. The day I joined here, I read stories of success, things I couldn't find on the internet. I know the news is frightning, and when they say your a statistic of one, it's so true. My father made me a believer. We will be praying for you!!!