Symptoms after treatment

vijaya60a
vijaya60a Member Posts: 1 Member
in Esophageal Cancer #1

Anyone experienced this?

My 75-year-old mother was diagnosed with adenocarcinoma (10 cm mass with distal thickening in the lower esophagus) back in June. She completed 6 weeks of chemo and 25 rounds of radiation (carboplatin and taxol) at the end of August. She is not a candidate for surgery. Her post-treatment PET scan showed significant tumor shrinkage and no metastases. The oncologist recommended a repeat scan in February to allow scarring tissue to heal fully.

She was managing to eat small portions post treatment but has struggled to gain weight. However, over the past week, she's started experiencing worsening reflux-like symptoms. She describes a feeling of something stuck in her throat and is finding it hard to push food down. She has also been producing excess saliva or mucus, which she keeps spitting out.

I’m worried about whether this could be a sign of the cancer coming back, even though her PET scan showed such promising results. Is this possible? We have a follow-up appointment with her doctor in two weeks, but her energy is dropping, and I'm unsure how to handle this in the meantime.

If anyone has experienced similar symptoms or has insights into what could be going on, I’d really appreciate hearing

I am really worried about losing her so soon

Comments

  • Eve2700
    Eve2700 Member Posts: 3 Member
    #2

    Hi my husband has the mucus and spits up all the time it is from the treatment it causing narrowing of the esophagus he can't get any food down either he had his esophagus stretched and can have a liquid diet like apple juice broth and milk he has his esophagus stretched for the last 3 months and having another one on Feb 3. He also has a feeding tube wich helps his last pet scan in Dec showed his tumor had gone and no new cancer . I am happy your mum got good results to. I know I also worry thst the cancer will come back but I am hoping and praying everything will be good for my husband and your mother. I hope this help. Take care stay strong

  • LimogesGuy
    LimogesGuy Member Posts: 18 Member
    edited January 7 #3

    first of all the excess saliva and foamy mucus, we’ve all experienced that. I wouldn’t call what your mum’s experiencing ‘reflux’. I associate that word with bringing up acid from the stomach. The food your mum feels is stuck in her esophagus, in my opinion never reached her stomach. She should bring it up and start again with food more fluid perhaps?

    I had a feeding tube (J-tube) fitted from the early beginning of my radiation and chemo treatment. This stopped my weight loss.

    I was told radiation might shrink my tumour so much, I might start eating by mouth again half way in my treatment.

    From memory it was a couple of weeks after my last radiation I tried some irresistible pudding and it surprisingly passed no problem. Then I was soon becoming more adventurous and by the time I had my surgery a month later, I was eating normally again, rarely using my J-tube.

    I still had the surgery and had to start learning to eat all over again a second time.

    I am now six months after surgery and eating practically normal again, although smaller portions.

    J-tube was removed two months after surgery, when I managed to keep my weight stable without using it for weeks.

    The acid reflux was a problem the first few weeks after surgery but is getting rarer and rarer I’m glad to report.

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