If Anyone Could Give Me Any Information....

We found my father had esophageal cancer in September 2007.  He went through a 9 hour surgery in October 2007. He came through the surgery great. His cancer was staged at Stage III and it is through his lymph node track. 

At this time my dad is going through radiation treatments everyday, and gets chemo through a pump that is attached to him 24 hours a day.  He has 7 more days of treatments left. Then he has 1 month off, then 1 week of chemo, then 1 month off and then 1 round of chemo once again.  He was doing well until 2 weeks ago.  Although is blood work is fine, he has not be able to go to work due to feeling so sick.  He has mouth sores, has trouble eating, running to the bathroom all the time and has other side effects from treatment.  He is so tired that he sleeps most of the time.  He has changed so much.  He looks so old and so skinny.  He is not the Dad I knew before. 

I have been looking and looking for information of survival rates,  I cannot seem to find a successful story or an unsuccessful story on someone who has Stage III Esophageal cancer that has spread through the lymph node track that has gone through surgery and treatments.  In my heart, I feel with all he has gone through and going through, his chances are slim.   I hate to see my dad suffer and be so sick.  I breaks my heart when I tell him "you have 7 more days of treatments left" and he looks at me and says "If I make it"  My heart drops to the floor as I am trying to look and be strong for him.  I know he is not giving up, that's not the way he is.  I am afraid he just knows.  

If ANYONE could give me ANY information, I would greatly appreciate it.  Thanks

I can't tell you how badly the treatment beat my husband up everytime we went through chemo.  He couldn't even begin to think about working because he was sick all the time, exhausted, malnourished, dehydrated, and in need of hospital care a few times along the way.  There were days he couldn't make it to shower.  If there is vomiting and diarrhea then hydration can become a major issue very quickly, and dealing with it can really improve the patients condition.  Chemo builds up as the weeks go by, but once it's done he will perk back up a lot. You're almost through this round. The reason they give you a break is because you wouldn't survive otherwise, and if it gets too much then it's just your body saying you need a small break to regroup.  It's very scary but there is hope! People do survive this even though it may seem unlikely as you watch you loved ones go through it.  I've read a lot these past couple years, and I really think the treatments are meeting with more success and survival rates are clearly on the upswing.  Try to read current information because looking at 10 year old statistics can be terrifying.     

Just a word of encouragement.  It looks like your next round will be chemo only.  The radiation got more and more exhausting as it went on, and the mouth sores are probably from that and not the chemo.  Did they give him anything to treat his mouth?  Even though the later rounds of chemo were hell because the dosages were larger, it is easier without simultaneous radiation.  We had mets again with second and third chemo round, so chemo may have been more aggressive in terms of dosage than your Dad's will be since his is follow up soon after surgery, and several chemo rounds in a row.  Stay positive!  It's just really hard some days. 

I am so sorry to hear about your dad.  It really stinks to have to go through any of this.  My husband was dx in Sept 06 and they really never told us a stage, but we figured it was III by everything they were doing.  Anyway his doctor made him do chemo first and then the surgery.  The first chemo was for 8 weeks non-stop.  He had the pump 24/7 for 8 weeks and every 3 weeks they blasted him with other chemo.  He was supposed to go 9 weeks but he had to drop the pump for 1 week because he was getting pretty sick.  But basically he handled the chemo very well.  The chemo shrunk the tumor out of sight before the surgery.  Anyway I'm telling you all this because after surgery he had about 2 months to recup and then the docs started him back on radiation and chemo.  What they called "mop up" chemo, just to be sure it was all gone.  With his "new" body the way it was after the surgery, the chemo and radiation was absolutely terrible.  He was in bed and in and out of the hospital pretty much the whole time he was doing the treatments.  He was finally done in Sept. almost exactly a year from dx.  Starting lbs. before surgery was about 260 and he is now struggling at about 182.  Every day is a fight to eat, just no desire for him to eat.  But he is getting back to himself again.  He no longer needs a nap everyday and he comes and goes whenever.  And the best part is that he has had two clear ct scans since September.  I'm sorry to ramble, I just want you to know that I felt the same way you did last year.  I worried that he would never get better and now he is doing great.  Keep telling your dad he'll get through it and help him any way you can.  You're doing so much for him just by being with him.  I wish you and your dad all the luck to get through this.  Still today if someone mentions how absolutely horrible last year must have been for my husband, he just says, "What was the alternative?"  This was what had to be done if he wanted to survive, and he did it.  Your dad is doing it too.  These treatments and surgery may be the hardest thing he's ever gone through physically, but take it one day at a time, one day at a time.   Keep us up to date on your dad and take care.

-Becky

Thank you so much for sharing your story.  It means so much during this hard time.  I really didn't think anyone would reply and was very unsure about being apart of this message board -But, I am glad I took the chance.  I will keep you undated and please do the same.  Thank you with all my heart! 

hi i read your story and my mum was diagnosed the same time as ur dad (sept 2007) except that it has spread to her liver not her lymph nodes. she's been doing 6 sessions of chemo then a break then now more chemo even if the tumour in esphagus has shrunk, but because the liver cyst doubled in size. anyway, like ur dad she's very different from what she was. so skinny, pale, and no appetite she gets angry when we try to feed her even. hope you keep updating on ur dad's situation. i'll try and do he same. right now i'm feeling a little unhappy and depressed about the whole thing.

I know how you feel.  It's so hard to deal with and all we can do is hope.  It's hard to stay strong.  I must say, it is so nice to be able to talk through this with people who are going through the same thing.  Stay strong.