Dad newly diagnosed

tdowdy
tdowdy Member Posts: 11
edited March 2014 in Esophageal Cancer #1
Thank you all for this wonderful resource!!! My dad (Bill -61) was recently diagnosed w/ EC. He had a pinky nail sized tumor w/ 1 lymph node involved. His surgeon is Dr. Luketich at UPMC. It's absolutley amazing what they were able to do laproscopically. It's been 3 weeks since his surgery and he's going in to be discuss what type of chemo will be adminstered this Thursday. Right now they are saying he will need 4 rounds that will be spaced out every 3 weeks.

My parents live in PA and I live in FL. Having this discussion board is such a great way for me to be able to keep involved w/ his treatment. My sister and I were both able to be with him thru his surgery and 1st 2 weeks of recovery. Since we have little ones we had to come back to our families.

We're so encouraged the stories of survival. We were very scared with the initial diagnosis, but have since learned more about not just relying on statistics. So far his recovery has been nothing short of remarkable, but we are all anxious about the chemo part.

Prayers to you all,
Tina

Comments

  • MOE58
    MOE58 Member Posts: 589 Member
    #2
    welcome tina
    I have to say since you mentioned the doctor get ready because there is a gentleman named WILLIAM MARSHALL, he will give you a long life history of him and this wonderful doctor that your father is using, he saved him and he is not in his 70"s (sorry william if I am wrong) Just hang tight he will reply.

    Oh and I think you are now TINA #4 we have several tina's on board.

    welcome and congrats. get ready for a journal and time to read it from Bill Marshall it will be long trust me

    Mine had the IVOR LEWIS surgery in Oklahoma so I wish you and your family the best

    MOE58/aka Lori
  • unclaw2002
    unclaw2002 Member Posts: 599
    #3
    Welcome Tina,
    I too am the
    Welcome Tina,

    I too am the daughter of a 78 year old dad w/ Stage III, T3, N1, M0 EC. I live in Delaware and he is in New Orleans. The distance is difficult but we talk on the phone almost every day and so it makes the distance a little easier. I try to help with paperwork and other adminstrative and research type things I can do from afar. I too have visited and will make another trip soon. You are correct it is difficult with children and jobs and lives but it is worth it to be there for them. Another thing several daughters and others have done on this site is to work on getting the various states to declare April Esophageal Cancer Awareness Month --- due to some hard work by Tina Linton and some others PA made that declaration in 2010. Getting education out to people, and more awareness and more research money we can make a difference.

    This place is a wonderful site with lots of important information. Laurie is correct that William will probably get in touch with you. He is a very generous person and provides much insight and information to many on this site and takes the time to provide links as well. You will certainly have something in common as you two have the same doctor and William credits him with much of his amazing recovery.

    As you go through recovery make sure to post any questions and perhaps you can share your experience as well. This site is made better by the many different points of view and experiences and everyones willingness to share.

    Welcome again,

    Cindy
  • Unknown
    Unknown
    #4
    This comment has been removed by the Moderator
  • tdowdy
    tdowdy Member Posts: 11
    #5
    unknown said:

    This comment has been removed by the Moderator

    Thank you for the gift of your wonderful journalistic style!!
    William,
    I've got to tell you how much I truly appreciate it!! I have been reading up on the site for a couple weeks before I even logged in. I've read many of your posts - they're honest and reasurring at the same time. In fact, I've quoted quite a bit of your posts to my parents. Right now, they're at the point where they are staying away from the web. They saw too many scary stats etc. right at my dad's initial diagnosis. So I guess I'm kind of like the info funnel for them.

    It sounds like you and Loretta are quite a bit like my dad, Bill and mom, Elaine. They've been together since high school and married for almost 43 years. They have 4 grandkids to raise too. My husband and our 2 girls Addie and Ally live here in Destin, FL. My younger sister and her husband and 2 kids live near Penn State. My dad had been considering retiring prior to his diagnosis. Now he's ready to get his treatment and then get on with all the fun stuff.

    We heard about Dr. L. from my parent's primary dr. My husband also has a dr. friend who knew him and his work well, so we decided to forgo the 2nd opinion and get going w/ treatment.

    I'm glad you had an easy time w/ your chemo. I'm definately concerned about it, but when we met with Dr. Gibson, Dr. L's onco, he said they will do everything they can to make my dad comfortable. He's not thrilled w/ the feeding tube, but as you say it's better than the alternative!!

    We actually aren't strangers to the big C. My husband is a 12 yr survior of Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. He had a tumor on his parodid gland, had it removed then had 6 rounds of chemo and radiation. His 1st 4 treatments weren't bad at all, but his last 2 chemos were pretty tough on him. We all hope and pray that dad's will go easily for him.


    Oh boy, I think I've out typed you!

    Thank you again for all your posts. You and the others on this site are such a blessing.
    Tina
  • tdowdy
    tdowdy Member Posts: 11
    #6
    unclaw2002 said:

    Welcome Tina,
    I too am the
    Welcome Tina,

    I too am the daughter of a 78 year old dad w/ Stage III, T3, N1, M0 EC. I live in Delaware and he is in New Orleans. The distance is difficult but we talk on the phone almost every day and so it makes the distance a little easier. I try to help with paperwork and other adminstrative and research type things I can do from afar. I too have visited and will make another trip soon. You are correct it is difficult with children and jobs and lives but it is worth it to be there for them. Another thing several daughters and others have done on this site is to work on getting the various states to declare April Esophageal Cancer Awareness Month --- due to some hard work by Tina Linton and some others PA made that declaration in 2010. Getting education out to people, and more awareness and more research money we can make a difference.

    This place is a wonderful site with lots of important information. Laurie is correct that William will probably get in touch with you. He is a very generous person and provides much insight and information to many on this site and takes the time to provide links as well. You will certainly have something in common as you two have the same doctor and William credits him with much of his amazing recovery.

    As you go through recovery make sure to post any questions and perhaps you can share your experience as well. This site is made better by the many different points of view and experiences and everyones willingness to share.

    Welcome again,

    Cindy

    thanks cindy
    Thanks for sharing your info Cindy. I was able to spend 3 wks w/ my dad and now we're talking on the phone and letting the girls Skype with him and mom. My daughters are 4 and 5 so we're also keeping their mailbox full of pictures and stuff.

    Like you, I'm trying to keep up on the research end. This site is just wonderful. I hope in time, my parent's will set up an account too. I think the support from everyone will be great for them. Right now they are kind of in info overload, so I'm trying to funnel stuff to them.

    How are things w/ your dad and the oil? NO has taken such a hit the past decade... but at least they won the superbowl!!! We live in Destin and we've had tarballs so far.

    I'd really appreciate any info you can share on fundraising. We've had quite a few family members affected by cancer and I try to do what I can to help with that. I raise $ in our neighborhood for general cancer research, but would really like to do something specific to EC. Like William, and your dad, my dad is a testament to the advances of research.

    Many thanks,
    tina
  • tdowdy
    tdowdy Member Posts: 11
    #7
    MOE58 said:

    welcome tina
    I have to say since you mentioned the doctor get ready because there is a gentleman named WILLIAM MARSHALL, he will give you a long life history of him and this wonderful doctor that your father is using, he saved him and he is not in his 70"s (sorry william if I am wrong) Just hang tight he will reply.

    Oh and I think you are now TINA #4 we have several tina's on board.

    welcome and congrats. get ready for a journal and time to read it from Bill Marshall it will be long trust me

    Mine had the IVOR LEWIS surgery in Oklahoma so I wish you and your family the best

    MOE58/aka Lori

    thank you Lori... just read
    thank you Lori... just read a post from William. I'm not sure if you see what I posted to him or not. I've been reading up on this board for a couple of weeks and he is an incredible inspiration and a fountain of knowledge! What a blessing to come across people like you!

    Since they are so many Tina's, maybe I'll go but FLTina. My parents live in the pittsbugh area, but we live in Destin Fl

    Tina
  • K_ann1015
    K_ann1015 Member Posts: 500
    #8
    unclaw2002 said:

    Welcome Tina,
    I too am the
    Welcome Tina,

    I too am the daughter of a 78 year old dad w/ Stage III, T3, N1, M0 EC. I live in Delaware and he is in New Orleans. The distance is difficult but we talk on the phone almost every day and so it makes the distance a little easier. I try to help with paperwork and other adminstrative and research type things I can do from afar. I too have visited and will make another trip soon. You are correct it is difficult with children and jobs and lives but it is worth it to be there for them. Another thing several daughters and others have done on this site is to work on getting the various states to declare April Esophageal Cancer Awareness Month --- due to some hard work by Tina Linton and some others PA made that declaration in 2010. Getting education out to people, and more awareness and more research money we can make a difference.

    This place is a wonderful site with lots of important information. Laurie is correct that William will probably get in touch with you. He is a very generous person and provides much insight and information to many on this site and takes the time to provide links as well. You will certainly have something in common as you two have the same doctor and William credits him with much of his amazing recovery.

    As you go through recovery make sure to post any questions and perhaps you can share your experience as well. This site is made better by the many different points of view and experiences and everyones willingness to share.

    Welcome again,

    Cindy

    "Like"
    Cindy, as a daughter---I love your post to our newest Tina!
    Kim
  • K_ann1015
    K_ann1015 Member Posts: 500
    #9
    Tina,
    Don't worry too much
    Tina,
    Don't worry too much about the chemo....it is a necessary evil if tolerated and there are mnay levels and kinds of chemo. If one doesn't work another can. My dad had a very aggressive clinical trial at Duke and did very well until the last 1/4 or so of it---still his diagnosis was early 8/09 and post treatment CT were negative...hang in there--just give you dad LOTS of love & support---he may be more scared than you!
    Kim
  • Pghmomma
    Pghmomma Member Posts: 141
    #10
    K_ann1015 said:

    Tina,
    Don't worry too much
    Tina,
    Don't worry too much about the chemo....it is a necessary evil if tolerated and there are mnay levels and kinds of chemo. If one doesn't work another can. My dad had a very aggressive clinical trial at Duke and did very well until the last 1/4 or so of it---still his diagnosis was early 8/09 and post treatment CT were negative...hang in there--just give you dad LOTS of love & support---he may be more scared than you!
    Kim

    Hello Tina
    I am also Tina, I also live in PA. I dont post that often, But I do read. My dad (56) Was DX in November of 2009. He had surgery december of 2009. He also went to DR.L. He is really the BEST!!! My dad recovered well! Two weeks later he had a leak and went back in for surgery. He also recovered well from that. My dad also HATED the feeding tube only used it till he was able to eat on his own... His Onc was DR Gibson. He had 6 rounds of chemo IV and daily oral chemo. He found the right meds to help him feel better. Went for his CT scan in March and two days later went for the results. They were pleased to tell him that he WAS INDEED in REMISSION!!!! HE ended up getting sick from aspirated and their was a hole in his new esophgus that went undected for 8 days and from the constant dumping into his lungs it turned into ARDS. Im sad to say that the hole that went unnoticed for soooo long killed him. But he fought hard and made it look like a breeze to get thur. I know that he would still be here today if it wasnt for that hole. Dont let the small stuff get to you. Dont believe everything you read. Just be there for support and make sure you are also their for your mom.

    Take care and I wish you guys the best!

    Tina

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