Hi everyone - newbie here...

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T-Bird
T-Bird Member Posts: 25
in Esophageal Cancer #1
Hello dear readers – I am new to the board, but not this site, in fact, I have been “lurking” for the past month, reading endless posts about your journeys with this terrible disease known as EC. I decided it was about time to actually join the board, hoping I may be able to contribute to some of the threads with any type of support or personal experiences.
The “Readers Digest” version about me - my name is Teresa and I am from Alberta, Canada. I was diagnosed with EC on March 11, 2011; was not a candidate for surgery due to a Liver disease (see my "About Me" page for more info on this) therefore my Oncologist’s decision was to treat with a combination of 5 weeks of Chemo & 25 sessions of Radiation. I completed all treatments on June 1st, had a CT scan July 28th which showed no evidence of the tumour (OMG, we were speechless when we heard this news). I go back in October for my 3 month follow-up exam.
Since completing the treatment, for the most part, I have felt fairly good, all things considered – I am back doing most of the things I was doing pre-treatment, my appetite is way up and I have gained back most of the weight I lost (thank god!). Just recently, however, I have had problems swallowing and have burning sensations in the esophagus when I eat. I did call the Oncologist nurse, who is in the process of booking another Endoscopy – I am hoping it is just scar tissue from the RT, but have to admit, I am scared. As well, I have shooting pains in my abdomen – not just in one area, but all over; the pain isn’t that intense that I need to take any pain meds. Has anyone had any experiences like this post treatment that you could share?
Having Cancer is gonna make me a hypochondriac, I see that already – any little pain and I am going to be rushing to the doctor to get it checked out – paranoid, maybe, but I think that is going to be the norm for me for the rest of my life!
Please know that all of you are in my thoughts & prayers – my heart aches for some of you with what you are going through right now! I find the people who contribute to this discussion board very kind & compassionate and it is a place to draw strength from, knowing that people you don’t even know, care, can offer advice, support and most of all they understand. I find cancer a difficult subject to talk about with people who don’t truly understand it (or don’t want to) and unless you are closely connected to someone who has it, you will never really understand it – does that even make sense?
Be well everyone,

Teresa

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  • hopper52
    hopper52 Member Posts: 108
    #2
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    Good to See You Here
    Teresa,

    Sorry to hear about your EC but glad you found this site.

    I finished radiation and chemo on Jul 6th and had my followup CT/PET on 16 and 17 Aug. Toward the end of my treatments I started having sharp pains in my abdominal area, in my case right by my navel and just to the right of it. It's also very tender to the touch and kind of hard. Looking at my CT scan my surgeon thought it might be carcinmetosis (essently cancer gone wild in the abdomen) but after the PET, even though the area lit up, he then said he didn't think it is cancer and will check it when he does my esophagectomy. I did have surgery in that area in 2003 and also have a small hernia just to the right of my navel. A lady posted on this board that her mother had a PET lite up like that from a surgery she had 10 years prior and that her mother's docs thought the radiation treatments "activated" the scar tissue and it was trying to heal again.....hence the pain from the new growth of scar tissue. I just finished researching on the web and googled "small intestine obstruction" and one of the links explained the growth of fibrous tissue after abdominal surgery, so I'm relatively confident that it's something like that. It's just weird that I had no symptoms or pain until maybe the last week of radiation and after.

    So I guess my question is have you had any kind of surgery in your abdominal area in the past? It may be a contributor. If it was something really bad, I would think it would have shown up on the CT scan.

    Anyway.....my two cents worth. You'll probably hear from others.

    Michael Daniels (T3N0M0)
    Brandon, FL
  • GerryS
    GerryS Member Posts: 227 Member
    #3
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    Welcome........
    No need to apologize for your feelings. We have all been there and have had similar thoughts. Keep positive as there are many hurdles in this disease. God bless you on the journey.

    Gerry
  • chemosmoker
    chemosmoker Member Posts: 501
    #4
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    Welcome
    Teresa,

    Welcome to our little hell. Glad you came out of the shadows and joined us!
    We TRY not to be as negative as some of the websites out there. I can ONLY speak for myself, but I have noticed the depressing nature of some sites, and this is by far a more positive, hopeful place. BUT, we are honest. Sugar coating cancer helps no one!
    Otherwise,
    WELCOME!!

    Hope your scope comes back as inflammation. If not, PLEASE let us know!

    -Eric

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