Back Pain

My father, Oscar, was recently diagnosed with stage IV esophageal cancer. His first chemo treatment is this Tuesday, March 9th. How we came to his diagnosis is for the past 3 months or so dad has taken to sleeping on the recliner because his back is hurting. Even with sleeping in the recliner he was not sleeping more than 3-4 hours a night. During this time we saw what my mother calls a general decline in health. He slowed down a bit, was losing his appetite and lost about 15-20 pounds. We felt this was due to his lack of sleep. If you're not sleeping, you don't feel well, you lose energy, etc. I suggested several times for them to purchase a new mattress because theirs was over 20 years old and that it was important to do so because without good sleep one's health and general quality of life decline because you're not getting rest and your body is not getting 'down time.' Bottom line is I didn't think my 80 year old father needed to be sleeping in a recliner for the rest of his life which could conceivably be 10-20+ years. So they bought a new mattress, a good memory foam mattress. Dad said the mattress was a lot better than the old one (more comfortable) but after a few nights he started sleeping in the recliner again. Concerned, mom went with him to his next doctor's appointment so she could stress dad's health concerns. Mom wasn't sure if dad wasn't telling the doctor everything (or not stressing it enough, you know, "Well, not sleeping too good" as opposed to, "My back is REALLY bothering me and I can't sleep because of it." Also dad doesn't hear well and the doctor has an Indian accent which may make it hard for dad to understand with his hearing problems.) The doctor prescribe dad some pain pills (which allow him to sleep in his bed all night) and ordered many tests because of dad's "general decline in health" and weight loss. It was discovered that he was dehydrated, had a urinary tract infection and then a tumor in his esophagus. An endoscopy a week later determined it was esophageal cancer and here we are a week later waiting for his first chemo treatment.

Back to his back pain. We have asked every doctor (GP, oncologist, chemo) if dad's back pain is related to the cancer. They have all replied, "Maybe, maybe not." Dad's getting a full body scan Tuesday morning before chemo so I'm sure we'll know more from that when we discuss the results with the oncologist on Wednesday.

Today dad left church after Sunday school before the morning service because his back was hurting him so much. (Of course, he won't take a pain pill because...I don't know why but he won't.) Anyway, for dad (who is a deacon) to leave church mom and I figure the pain must be pretty bad. And, of course, knowing absolutely nothing, mother and I are jumping to conclusions that the back pain IS related to the cancer and that this means the cancer has really, really progressed and is an indicator that the prognosis will not be good and...you know, all that run-away thought process stuff. And, of course, we've both cried about 'this sign.' (Not in front of dad, of course.)

I realize that we need to realize that there will be a lot of this sort of thing and that we can't jump to the conclusion that every little thing is some indication that the cancer has progressed and the end is near and blah blah blah. I know that. We both know that. We just don't know how to do that yet. But I wanted to come here and ask if any of you "know" if back pain is associated with esophageal cancer? I realize the answer will again be, "Maybe, maybe not" but in your experience, is back pain part of this?