Esophageal wall thickening
Hello I'm new to this thread I'm 43 years old a woman my name is Misty. 3 years ago I was having issues swallowing long story short they did an endoscopy and it showed some papillomas that he biopsied he told me they were non-cancerous and never really mentioned that I should follow up or anything being so young and busy with life I just went on with my life now it's 2022 about 3 4 years later I'm having worse issues swallowing my doctor sent me to the emergency room they did a CT scan that showed wall thickening of my esophagus they will not tell me that I don't have cancer they made it sound that it's a big possibility I'm scared it's going to be months before I can get into a GI to have a biopsy I'm just looking for some reassurance that this may just be the former papillomas I had before 3 years ago I'm wondering if that could cause wall thickening??
Comments
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Hello Misty, and sorry you have to be here but let me assure you this is a good place with people that have a lot of personal experience with H&N cancer and other issues.
My recommendation is for you to get to a well-rated ENT (Ear, Nose, and Throat) doctor to get your issues sorted out. When it comes to Head & Neck cancer the ENT is the front-line guy that monitors us throughout our situations and who we go to for follow-ups and the follow-ups usually run till we are 5 years out and showing no signs of cancer. So I would consider the ENT to be the front-line guy for other Head & Neck issues too. He or she can put a small flexible tube with a scope in your nose and feed it in and be able to physically look at your throat on the spot. It is a little uncomfortable but not too bad as they usually use a numbing spray before doing it. And to rule out any cancer or just to help see what problems you may have I would imagine he would order a CT Scan with Dye of the Head and Neck area. This scan is the basis for troubleshooting problems like yours I think. In your case, I would definitely request one, especially in light of your previous swallowing issues. So I am obviously not a doctor but that is my recommendation. Once you get with an ENT they can guide you from there as to exactly what is going on and offer further guidance on care and refer you to other physicians if needed.
Here is a link explaining the nasal scope, or nasendoscopy.
And here is a link about CT Scans with Contrast.
Wishing You the very Best
Take Care God Bless-Russ
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Thank you so much for responding I've been waiting all day hoping for someone to respond I was just in the emergency room and they did a CAT scan with contrast that's the people that told me I had thickening of my esophagus wall it didn't find any nodules that I'm aware of but it did show thickening so I'm wondering is that cancer or could that be from the polyps I had 3 years ago could they still be there and show up as well thickening what are the chances of this being cancer
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Hello misty, so glad you got the CAT Scan. If you are suspicious at all for cancer that scan should show it to them. If they have any suspicion of cancer, the next step would be for them to have you get a biopsy of the suspected cancer. If they didn't find any nodules and just thickening then I guess the next step is if they can determine if you have papillomas again or if they never went away. I did a search and they are a cause for concern and are causing you swallowing problems so somehow it should be addressed.
Here is a link explaining it.
Just do a search with the word "papillomas" and you will get lots of results, try to stay with reliable sites.
Wishing You the Best
Take Care God Bless=Russ
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Thank you so much and yes my CT scan showed moderate thinking of esophagus. They told me I wouldn't know if it was cancer until I have a biopsy but that's scheduled 2 months from now so I'm sick about this! Also I went and looked back on my test results and it starts off by saying indication neck chest cancer so I wonder does that mean that they think that I have it why does it say that on there I'm going to post my results below
[Content Removed by CSN Support Team]
CT CHEST W CONTRAST
NAMEVALSee Below For Report
Indication: Head/neck cancer, staging. Hx of esophageal mass and stricture, now with progressive dysphagia Comparison: None. Technique: Chest CT was performed using 1.25 mm collimation from the lung apices through the lung bases after the uneventful IV administration of 80 mL of Omnipaque 350. Coronal and sagittal reformats were obtained. Findings: Lungs and pleura: Exam sensitivity is degraded due to respiratory motion artifact. The lungs are clear. There is no pleural effusion. There is no pneumothorax Airway: The airways are patent. Vessels: The thoracic aorta is normal in caliber. The main pulmonary artery is normal in caliber. Heart, mediastinum: The heart is normal size without pericardial effusion. Lymph nodes: No enlarged lymph nodes in the mediastinum, hilar and axillary regions by CT size criteria. Esophagus: There is moderate circumferential wall thickening of distal thoracic esophagus (7-149). Thyroid: There is normal attenuation. Bones: There is no acute osseous abnormality. There is mild dextroscoliosis of the thoracic spine. No suspicious lytic or sclerotic osseous lesion. Visualized upper abdomen: Unremarkable Soft tissues: Unremarkable. Impression: 1. No suspicious pulmonary nodule or mass. 2. Circumferential wall thickening of distal thoracic esophagus. Recommend gastroenterology consultation and correlation with endoscopy results.
[Content removed by CSN Support Staff]
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Thank you so much and yes my CT scan
showed moderate thinking of esophagus. They told me I wouldn't know if it was cancer until I have a biopsy but that's scheduled 2 months from now so I'm sick about this! Also I went and looked back on my test results and it starts off by saying indication neck chest cancer so I wonder does that mean that they think that I have it why does it say that on there I'm going to post my results below
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OMG I just noticed that I'm trying to get it off but I can't find the three dots you're talking about
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I am not good at understanding those medical reports, hopefully, someone else will see it that knows the ins and outs of it.
They must suspect a possibility of cancer or they would not take a biopsy. Notice I said possibility, it's not cancer till they say it's cancer, so do your best not to worry, easier said than done.
I would call and push a bit to get a biopsy sooner because if there is cancer the smaller it can be taken care of the better and easier.
You are mentioning chest cancer and after looking at the report I don't see anything mentioning chest cancer I don't think.
The lungs are clear. There is no pleural effusion. There is no pneumothorax Airway: The airways are patent. Vessels: The thoracic aorta is normal in caliber. The main pulmonary artery is normal in caliber. Heart, mediastinum: The heart is normal size without pericardial effusion. Lymph nodes: No enlarged lymph nodes in the mediastinum, hilar and axillary regions by CT size criteria.
After looking at the report, the best I can tell is that all is clear. But I do see at the bottom they are recommending "Recommend gastroenterology consultation and correlation with endoscopy results. So they want a gastroenterologist to have a look at your throat internally I would say, which is good they can identify problems that way and they are right in there with a scope seeing the actual area firsthand. And you say they are having you get a biopsy, that is probably to verify that there is no cancer. According to what I read papillomas are outward growing lumps so anytime you have something like that is has a possibility to be cancerous so they just want to eliminate that possibility before moving forward. So do your best not to worry because there have been a number of people on here that had situations like this and till it was all said and done their biop[sies came up negative.
Hope some of this helped. I am learning from this I never knew there was something like papillomas that could affect the throat or the H&N area.
Take Care God Bless-Russ
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Misty on the top right of each of your post are 3 horizontal dots.
Left-click on them and you get an option to edit for 1 week, click on that and it reopens the post and you can highlight what you want to get removed and hit delete. This is nice to add stuff you think about later also.
Take Care God Bless-Russ
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I never knew of papillomas being in the lungs either or I'm sorry it's in my esophagus this is all new to me like I said that was 3 years ago they found the papillomas they biopsied on they never even mentioned that I needed to follow up although now today I know that I should have followed up with them but my point is now that I have this current CAT scan because I'm having trouble swallowing and chest pain they found on the CT scan where it says moderate thickening of the esophagus so because of that I need the biopsy to see if it's cancerous I'm just confused what thickening means does that mean there's a tumor there or could it be steal from the papillomas I had 3 years ago I know you don't know and you did help me I read your post thank you very much for responding I don't know your situation but I hope you're hanging in there and being strong this has been the scariest thing I've ever had to go through to existence over me but there's a part of my mind that wants to give up and say I'm already fine because they say the prognosis is so bad but I don't want to be negative like that I'm just battling a lot of depression cancer does run in my family and the doctors seem sad when they gave me this news as if it was cancer so I'm wondering why they put cancer staging unless they thought that it was and why they thought that it was these are just all the questions that spewing out of my mouth right now I don't expect any answers just rattling on this seems to be a great gathering of people here a bunch of people face in a disaster but pulling together to encourage each other definitely what I need right now I also had an ultrasound of my throat it showed some reactive lymph nodes they said they were not suspicious I think there was one that was suspicious but that was before I had the CAT scan so now I'm wondering if that means that there's cancer that spread to my throat there however was no lymph nodes shown on the CAT scan in my chest which that's good I can't figure out how to take my number down I guess if someone decides to call it I'll talk LOL
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Misty on the top right of every one of your posts are 3 horizontal dots you will see as long as you are signed in.
Left click on them and it will show a 1 week edit option, click on that and it will reopen the posting you are on so you can add or remove whatever you want.
Once you have highlighted the text you want to remove and delete it go to the bottom of the posting on the right hand side and click post comment so it basically saves your edit.
I hope this is clear enough.
You may want to remove your info because they can send spam your phone or target your mailing address with ads.
It is best to only have this info available to select people you choose to have it and you usually give it to trusted people privately. Not making a big deal out of this but the world nowadays is pretty screwey.
Take Care God Bless-Russ
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I wish I could screenshot you with my phone looks like so I can show you there's no three dots but it won't let me screenshot either I know there's a way to do this I just can't figure it out
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OK, Misty, I know you are being hit with a lot of info, and much of it is foreign to you, I get it we were all in your situation at one time. We were all freaked out, upset, and excited but the best thing is to go sit down and calm down a bit. They will be doing biopsies and checking you out and will come up with answers for you, trust in your medical team. Don't get a defeatist attitude right away, you probably don't have cancer. But they do the biopsies to be sure one way or the other. Look at it this way, if you do have cancer, well then it is there and you are working on getting whatever is going on taken care of so you are doing all you can right now and being proactive on it. And trust me these days if you do have cancer it is not a death sentence anymore, they have so many advanced ways to deal with it, you will get through this I am confident you will but first relax. We are here for you, you will be OK and one of the sayings on here is "It's not cancer till they say it's cancer" and there have been a few that posted on here and they said I am sure I have cancer and their biopsies came back clear, so all that worrying was for nothing. Sure you are going to be upset and worried but just keep it under control. So right now you don't have any cancer unless your biopsy says so. Right now you just have papilloma outward growing lumps that are affecting your swallowing and you are actively seeking to get it resolved.
Also Prayer Helps Always.
Wishing You the Best
Take Care God Bless-Russ
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Your words just gave me great comfort and perspective thank you so very much sleep with the angels goodnight
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I'm still trying to find the 3 dots I'm not sure why my phone don't show it. I've been up the last 2 nights with headache body ache flu like symptoms not sure if maybe I caught something from the ER or if this is symptoms from possible cancer. It feels like I'm getting worse by the day. I pray this is something else and surely it wouldn't be happening this fast.
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Misty calm down I can't imagine it would be the advancement of your current situation, whatever that exactly includes causing you to feel ill. Which we can't say anything about with surety because you have tests and a biopsy to complete yet before they can give you an assessment of your situation.
I would guess you got a bug of some sort at the hospital. Also, I assume there is still the possibility of covid although for a young person like you it probably doesn't pose any more risk than a flu bug.
Also, I think you have yourself very upset and have your mind continually thinking about your situation, and thinking the worst on top of it. Keep yourself busy, and try to keep your mind off it, you probably can't call any of your doctors because it is the weekend so if you feel really bad and think you need medical help you will have to go to the emergency room or around here there are what they call urgent care centers.
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Besides all that even if you could call your doctors they can't do anything till you go through the gastroenterologist's inspection of your throat areas and get the results of your biopsy. I understand how you feel, you want the problem resolved right now and want to be told everything is OK, we were all there at one time.
But we can only be in a hurry up to a certain point and then the situation runs in a methodical course and you can't go fast and neither do you really want them to go too fast. You want them to diagnose your problem exactly and come up with the correct solution and have your problem taken care of in a once-and-done one-shot fashion. When it comes to your situation and or a cancer situation you don't want to do this and do that and eventually solve your problem, serious issues are a one-shot deal and that is best.
As far as your phone is concerned I am not sure what is going on. Have you checked to see that your operating system and apps are updated to the latest versions? I see the 3 dots on my phone where I said they are at the top right of each post you made and you can edit for a week. Misty, I recommend looking at the top left of your page on your phone and you will see 3 horizontal lines, one on top of the other which is referred to as a hamburger by some. You want to tap on the 3 lines and you will get options in a drop-down. Choose Contact CSN and send a note to the admins asking why you can't see the dots on your phone. And also while you are at it just ask the admins to remove the desired text and they will be glad to do that for you. The admins on this site are very responsive and are quick to help and respond to any problems or questions you have. They have helped me many times and I can't say enough good things about them. They are the unsung heroes in the background keeping this site running smoothly
Again try to relax, calm down, call your doctors Monday, and push to get your biopsy pushed up to be done sooner and if you still don't feel good by then explain your symptoms to them and they may want you to go in to see them, or maybe not.
Try to have a good rest of the weekend.
Wishing You the Best
Take care, God Bless-Russ
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