Esophageal Cancer Treatment And Approx. Cost

Friends,
Even though cost should not be a criteria on treating a patient with cancer, one of my friend's father in India Age 68 is suffering from Esophageal cancer stage 3 with tumor size of 4 cm. I am suggesting him to bring him to US for Treatment. Please can anyone share your experience with this type of cancer, treatment given and results as well as an approximate cost for treatment (Surgery) and on going expenses for therapy (He has no insurance).

Suggestions welcome!

Thank you in Advance

GOD BLESS YOU ALL!

S.G.,
I'm sorry to hear about your friends Dad in India. My father passed away from this vicious cancer 3 years ago after a 6 month battle. Given our health care system here we were receiving hospital/doctors bills almost as fast as we received the service. It was horrendous the stress of having to deal with these bills on top of trying to care for my very sick father. Anyhow, to answer your question.....it is VERY expensive. I remember one hospital bill for 8 days (purely medical, nothing surgical) and it was $49,000 (they accepted cash, check or visa thank you very much!). I never understood why they didn't clear everything through Medicare or insurance first before sending the patient bills (well I assume they were double billing and hoping for double payments). Thinking back on all those bills we would of had to pay out at least $150,000 if he didn't have insurance. My advice to you is to find out what treatment they are offering in India and compare to info you find on the web. Chances are, he might not even want to come to a strange place for treatment. That is one thing I learned through my Dad's illness.....that it was important to go along with what makes the patient comfortable and not always push to do things that fulfill your own needs. The thing about US healthcare is that you may very well go broke obtaining it while the same care is available in other countries for half the cost or no cost at all. Best wishes to your friend and father in the decision they make.

Maureen

We jst found out last week that dad, 69 has EC. Dad has a doctors appointment tommorow in which they will determine the treatment plan. Does anypne knows anything abt it. I searched the net and it said survival rate is only 16%

My father was diagnosed in Dec 2005 and had radiation and some chemo ending in MAy 2006. He is 85 and has been in the hospital for the past three weeks. From my research he is sadly nearing the end. The best we caqn do is make sure he is comfortable, visit as often as possible and seek Hospice Care. For those that don't know about Hospice, the provide comfort to both patient (Palliative-manage pain) and family.
The family should also seek help from social services which can help answer questions about cost, help pathways, emotional stress.

God Bless

My father has also been diagnosed with esophagus cancer and the cancer has spread to liver as well.  He was diagnosed in India and is doing chemo in Nepal right now. My family is thinking of bringing him to the United States for treatment.  But he does not have insurance in the US, although he is a permanent resident.  I was trying to find out about the costs for the ongoing treatment, etc. if any one can share their experience, I would appreciate it. 

 Thanks. SK. 

I just priced a chemo med my Dad started on this week (Alimta) and it is just over $2400 per treatment.  This is the price of the drug only - not the administration of the drug by staff.  Treatments are given every 3 weeks for this type of chemo.

 Hope this helps!

I'm so sorry to hear of your dad's illness...it is really important that you remember to care for yourself as well!  I don't have the information at my fingertip; however, the publication "CURE" for cancer patients has a 2007 resource book available on-line.

I have heard that they have a variety of services available for those without insurance.

 Also, I contacted the American Cancer Society as soon as I was diagnosed.  They immediately put together a package for me on cancer, my type of cancer, and resources I might need.  You can contact them via the 800 line or e-mail on their web-site and get an immediate response to your questions.  They were so great for my family and myself...especially when we were still in shock with the diagnosis!

 Hope that this helps somewhat!

I am still working on my own treatment plan.  We have had a series of tests (biopsies, PET scans, and CT scans) over the past four months.  During this time, I began (and completed) my first part of treatment.  In my case (T2N1M0) adenacarcinoma of the esophagus/barrett's, that consisted of six weeks of chemo and radiation therapy.

However, your dad's plan may be different depending upon the staging of his cancer, his own health condition, and his personal preferences.

I found it useful to rely on GOOD reliable resources on the web (Mayo Clnic, Sloan Kettering, MD Anderson, American Cancer Society, etc.) to better educate myself and my family on this horrible disease.

I hope that you will find resources that will assist you and you will take from those the questions you and your dad may want to ask of the doctors handling his treatment plan.

 Good luck to you! 

 

 

 

 

On 7/9/2007 lindabc wrote:

I am still working on my own treatment plan.  We have had a series of tests (biopsies, PET scans, and CT scans) over the past four months.  During this time, I began (and completed) my first part of treatment.  In my case (T2N1M0) adenacarcinoma of the esophagus/barrett's, that consisted of six weeks of chemo and radiation therapy.

However, your dad's plan may be different depending upon the staging of his cancer, his own health condition, and his personal preferences.

I found it useful to rely on GOOD reliable resources on the web (Mayo Clnic, Sloan Kettering, MD Anderson, American Cancer Society, etc.) to better educate myself and my family on this horrible disease.

I hope that you will find resources that will assist you and you will take from those the questions you and your dad may want to ask of the doctors handling his treatment plan.

 Good luck to you! 

 

 

 

Have  you completed the treatment? Do you believe it is a success? Can you give me the name of the pill(s) used? I was informed last night that I have cancer and  I will be in a cancer center meeting  5 Oct. to look  at treatment options. Thank you- LaRae

 

My father had esophageal cancer . First they waited too long to choose a treatment and get treatment. They were finally scheduled for surgery to remove a stage 2 cancer but when they went in (minimally invasive) they found that the cancer had spread to a lymph node and they wanted to give chemo and radiation first. The problem was that the surgery created scar tissue which made later surgery very difficult.  After the chemo and radiation they still wanted to remove the cancer with surgery. The problem with surgery was that they removed the valve that separates the stomach from the esophagus as well as the nerves which create stomach contractions which move food down through the stomach. My father had a very slow recovery from the surgery and is still recovering over 4 months after. He is unable to eat more than a few teaspoons of food and he throws up saliva . He found that he needs to sleep sitting up at a 45 degree angle. We don't know why he throws up and we are wondering if it is because of scar tissue, the antacids drugs he is given, or something else. They say that the surgery was necessary to insure that all of the cancer be removed but I wonder if the chemo and radiation weren't enough. He is 82 years old. And after the chemo and radiation they couldn't see any cancer on the scans. I can't tell you what the exact costs were because my mother handled most of the bills and medicare paid for most of it. When insurance pays the bill the rates are different than if you ask for a price. There are "rack rates" and insurance rates. But if I had cancer with no insurance I think that I would go to Moffit cancer hospital in Florida. They automatically give people without insurance the medicare rate and they are rated very highly as far as hospitals go. Florida is also a more affordable and sunny place to make a recovery.