Why is the prognosis for EC so low?

NanseB
NanseB Member Posts: 16
edited March 2014 in Esophageal Cancer #1
My mother who is 67 years old has just been diagnosed. It is very scary for us all since she is a very petite woman to begin with. She did 5 days of chemo initially and now is in her 2nd week of radiation which she will have a total of 5 weeks. At the end of that, they will do a round of chemo again. Then they will look into surgery. I have been very traumatized by this since we are so close. I immediately did all kinds of research on the web and it made me even more upset. Why is the prognosis so short on this type of cancer. Reading all of the very positive stories on this site has been a great gift. You all are angels on earth to a stranger. Thanks!

Comments

  • Hope_Faith
    Hope_Faith Member Posts: 150
    #2
    ~ We're Here ~
    Hi there. I'm sorry to hear about your mother's dx with EC. My husband was dx back in August and it is a big shock. He's only 39 years old. We were told by Dr. Maish (UCLA) not to look it up online because it is very doom and gloom out there. However, Dr. Maish did say that the internet is not up to date with their new treatments and that they have much more success in treating EC now than they did a few years ago. So I hope that gives you encouragement that today's technologies have much more success with EC than before. Great news!

    Also, many people who have EC don't have any symptoms until it is at a later stage (my hubby is stage 3). In my hubby's case, he had acid reflux off/on. He did go to his primary care physician and he gave him indigestion pills. He was still having trouble a little but then it stopped so he thought he was fine. Little did we know, he had what's called, "Barrett's Esophagus" which masks the acid reflux symptoms to where he couldn't feel it anymore. Left untreated, it turns into cancer which it did in my hubby's case. He didn't know until he could no longer swallow food. That's when dr. ordered a scope of his esophagus and found the cancer.

    We are all here for you and know that you are not alone. We will help you through this however we can. This is a great site with lots of support.
    Many prayers,
    Shelly
  • emg09
    emg09 Member Posts: 228
    #3
    Hope_Faith said:

    ~ We're Here ~
    Hi there. I'm sorry to hear about your mother's dx with EC. My husband was dx back in August and it is a big shock. He's only 39 years old. We were told by Dr. Maish (UCLA) not to look it up online because it is very doom and gloom out there. However, Dr. Maish did say that the internet is not up to date with their new treatments and that they have much more success in treating EC now than they did a few years ago. So I hope that gives you encouragement that today's technologies have much more success with EC than before. Great news!

    Also, many people who have EC don't have any symptoms until it is at a later stage (my hubby is stage 3). In my hubby's case, he had acid reflux off/on. He did go to his primary care physician and he gave him indigestion pills. He was still having trouble a little but then it stopped so he thought he was fine. Little did we know, he had what's called, "Barrett's Esophagus" which masks the acid reflux symptoms to where he couldn't feel it anymore. Left untreated, it turns into cancer which it did in my hubby's case. He didn't know until he could no longer swallow food. That's when dr. ordered a scope of his esophagus and found the cancer.

    We are all here for you and know that you are not alone. We will help you through this however we can. This is a great site with lots of support.
    Many prayers,
    Shelly

    Hi,
    Welcome to the site.
    Hi,

    Welcome to the site. This site has provided me with so much information and support from the wonderful people on here. My dad has EC, stage 4. It's hard to watch your loved one suffer. Shelly is right, many advances have been made to fight this horrible cancer. Come to the site often for support, I find it very comforting!!

    Hang in there and keep your faith!!
    Erika

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