A question on chemotherapy for my grandfather's cancer.

My grandfather was diagnosed with Esophageal cancer stage III in mid march. He has lost over 50 pounds due to his throwing up. We have finally got him a feeding tube after all these months...We should have gotten it earlier but,The doctors didn't suggest it until later. But my family is very concerned on when he goes back to chemo...Because his esophagus is closed up..just about. Because he hasn't been getting much down. So they (My family.) are afraid since chemo is supposed to make you throw up,What will happen? If the food cannot pass through his esophagus because of it closing,if he vomits,how will the vomit get through? My family is very worried...

Please help. Thank you.

the best thing to do is to discuss with your doctor before the start of chemo because this is a very logical question to ask. from my layman's view - if he is "eating" 100% through his feeding tube, then there is nothing in the stomach to throw up assuming the feeding tube is a J tube that goes into the small intestine.

also the side effects of chemo varies widely among individuals and also depends on what chemo drugs you get. i got 5 FU & cisplatin and was given all kinds of medicine to prevent nausea before the start of chemo and additional medicine to take in case i feel the start of nausea. guess what i am trying to say is that all efforts are made to control/prevent nausea and it is not necessary a foregone conclusion that your grandfather will have nausea/vomitting.

still you shud discuss with doctor. best of luck and prayers for your grandfather.

andy 

Hi,

My husband is in the same boat.  He is stage IV EC and his esophagus is shut.  When he vomits, he literally dry heaves instead.  He has not once vomited up any contents.  Now, this past week, he was told to try to eat. (He is on a jtube for all nutrients)  So I imagine that they think that the tumor may be shrinking from radiation.  So now he is taking by mouth yogurt, ice cream, pudding, etc...  So a couple of days ago, he started vomiting, but still nothing came up.  Hmmm this leads me to believe that the food that goes in to the mouth is probably pushed through the esophagus and the valve through pressure and muscle but once it goes through, nothing comes back up.  I will talk to the Drs this week about it and maybe he needs a throat stretching.  This is the first food he has eaten in four months.   The good thing is that nothing comes up which doesnt make him dehydrated but if the nausea happens a few times, it creates diarrea.  So we know the signs and if he vomits more then once, we throw in 2 crushed immodium through the tube and it works instantly.

Hope this helps, 

Sherri

On 7/26/2009 cynthia96 wrote:

My grandfather was diagnosed with Esophageal cancer stage III in mid march. He has lost over 50 pounds due to his throwing up. We have finally got him a feeding tube after all these months...We should have gotten it earlier but,The doctors didn't suggest it until later. But my family is very concerned on when he goes back to chemo...Because his esophagus is closed up..just about. Because he hasn't been getting much down. So they (My family.) are afraid since chemo is supposed to make you throw up,What will happen? If the food cannot pass through his esophagus because of it closing,if he vomits,how will the vomit get through? My family is very worried...

 

Please help. Thank you.