advice re father's treatment

Hi All

 Am new to these boards only found them tonight through google but wish I'd found them weeks ago.

 My father ws recently diagnosed with cancer - has a 5cm tumour at the bottom of his oesophagus and in the lymph nodes local to that area.

He was having a course of radio therapy started 31 aug and everyday monday to Friday.  He had his first course of chemo last week and as now been readmitted to hospital.

He was feeling very breathless and have now been told his oesophaugs is very inflammed form the radio therapy and his body is 'out of balance' due to the chemo.  His sodium level swere very high and his blood sugar levels very low.  He has appratly lost another 10kg's (approx 21lb) since he started the chemo treatment and is no so weak he cannot stand unaided. They have now stopped his nasal feed tube and he is not allowed any oral liquids until the inflammation has gone down.  To make maters worse my parents live in Spain and therefore have the language barrier as well although the have a very good friend who transaltes for them.

SOrry to ramble on but my questions are

is this kind of reaction normal to the treatment - everything I'd found so far on radiotherapy mentioned possible burning to the skin externally but not what my dad now has

 

On 9/21/2009 kazza69 wrote:

Hi All

 Am new to these boards only found them tonight through google but wish I'd found them weeks ago.

 My father ws recently diagnosed with cancer - has a 5cm tumour at the bottom of his oesophagus and in the lymph nodes local to that area.

He was having a course of radio therapy started 31 aug and everyday monday to Friday.  He had his first course of chemo last week and as now been readmitted to hospital.

He was feeling very breathless and have now been told his oesophaugs is very inflammed form the radio therapy and his body is 'out of balance' due to the chemo.  His sodium level swere very high and his blood sugar levels very low.  He has appratly lost another 10kg's (approx 21lb) since he started the chemo treatment and is no so weak he cannot stand unaided. They have now stopped his nasal feed tube and he is not allowed any oral liquids until the inflammation has gone down.  To make maters worse my parents live in Spain and therefore have the language barrier as well although the have a very good friend who transaltes for them.

SOrry to ramble on but my questions are

is this kind of reaction normal to the treatment - everything I'd found so far on radiotherapy mentioned possible burning to the skin externally but not what my dad now has

Welcome to the board.  My husband was diagnosed with Stage 3 EC where the stomach meets the esophagus.  He didn't have radiation but did have chemo.  For every one of his treatments he was in the hospital for extended stays with bad mouth sores that went all the way down.  These mouth sores were so bad that he was given morphine to help with the pain.  His weight went down from 150 lbs. after surgery (in his case, he was operated on first then had chemo) to 123 lbs (he's 6 ft. tall).  He also was terribly weak and each chemo treatment made him feel worse. When he had finished his last chemo in Jul. 2008, he could barely walk.

Last week, 14 months later, he weighed in at 147 lbs.   It was a slow process  to regain the weight but since May 2009, his weight went from 131 lbs. to 147 and we have set a goal of 160 lbs. by Christmas.   He had lost a lot of muscle with the chemo but is very active and the muscle is also coming back.

I'm not sure if everyone has the same reaction with chemo but I think it depends on the type/amount of chemo given and how a person's body responds. 

Maria

Radiation can cause burning in the esophagus, as well as other symptoms. A lot of people have to have a feeding tube during radiation. They will watch his weight too, they watched my husband every single week and even a one lb loss was cause for a good talking to. My husband did not have the severe burns internally, but did have some redness externally. Therefore, he was expected to keep more weight on. Be sure to question your radiologist about symptoms, and ask if there are ways to alleviate some of the symptoms.

My cancer was in the lower esophagus and upper part of my stomach.  The radiation did cause much pain and burning.  I was on steroids (Dexamethasone 4mg tablet rox) to keep the inflamation down and took liquid lidocaine solution mixed with other drugs to keep yeast infection at bay (Lidocai/diphen/rulox/nystatin).

 

I did not like the feeding tube through my nose when I had it for a brief time.  I was fortunate to have a j-tube.  Your Dad will have ups and downs.  I had many trips to the hospital for various things.  Dehydration was one problem, soreness in trying to eat/drink was another, and weight loss.  Give him time and keep in touch with the doctors.  They should be able to give you some peace of mind regarding the treatment.

Best wishes to you both. 

Oh, the Lidocaine solution also helps with the pain of swallowing and helps the burning in the esophagus and stomach from the radiation therapy. 

hi and welcome to the board...so sorry to hear your dad is going through this.  treatments are tough..... i had chemo combined with radiation as well.  8 rounds of chemo combined with 28 days of radiation.  i never had a problem with my skin although I was warned of it and was instructed to use aquafor(sp?) after each treatment as well as before i went to bed at night.  i did, however have problems towards the end of my treatments with burning of the esophagus...i had a bad taste in my mouth all the time, constant mucus and pain with anything i ate.  i was prescribed carafate to coat the esophagus and oxicondone(sp?) for the pain.  i have to admit the pain meds did nothing for me, but make me more fatigued than i already was, so i stopped taking it 3 days after i started.  i had been taking active manuka honey because of it's health benefits when i was first diagnosed and i found that it helped with the esophagus burn more than anything else i was told to take.  it wasn't until 2 weeks after treatments ended that i started to feel better.

i wish your dad the best of everything...God bless!

keep us posted and ask any questions you might have.

be well...

-Stacey