CancerCompass message board discussion started by VintageLadyJ on 1/25/2008 http://www.cancercompass.com/message-board/message/all,20273,0.htm Wed, 08 Oct 2008 00:00:00 GMT Wed, 08 Oct 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://backend.userland.com/rss RSS.NET: http://www.rssdotnet.com/ Hello,My mom had her stomach completely removed 5 months ago. She had needed a transfusion from all the bleeding polops they found. Anyway after 6 weeks in the hospital....with the vac in her wound, we thought she would be fine. She came home and now it is still the same. She lost so much weight. She can't eat because when she does it gets stuck in her chest. It is not all the time but a lot. It just seems like her esophagus has spasm attacks or something. She is very constipated. She needs B12 shots every month. She was taking this Canadian pill that suppose to soften the esophagus but it didn't do anything special within the last 5 months.  What is really bothering her is when she drinks any liquids, ensure, water, etc.... she throws up or spits up foam. This happens a lot. She gets very nausaus. Now they are saying that, prior to this she had cancer in her saliva gland and maybe from the radiation, it damaged her esophagus. With that now that her stomach was removed the esophagus is worse, according to the doctors who don't really seem to know what is going on. Today she is having tests done by an esophagus specialist. When she had the enoscopy a couple of months ago they said her esophagus did not need to be stretched. But when I read some of the messages on these boards it seems like there are a lot of others with the same problems. It is very confusing. If anyone is going through this or knows someone who is please let me know how you are or how they are doing.Thanks, Jenn VintageLadyJ Fri, 25 Jan 2008 00:00:00 GMT Hello Jenn, I've just signed up here at Cancer Compass, but have 2.5 years experience with stomach cancer. My husband was diagnosed stage 3 stomach cancer in July 2005 and had surgery to remove most of his stomach and half of his esophagus. Sometimes he also has the 'foam' come up....it happened more frequently in the beginning after surgery. His surgeon at MD Anderson hospital in Houston told us that the esophagus produces this foam when it's damaged and also when trying to get food to go down. That also causes those spasms to happen. So it is normal for this to happen. For my husband it has gotten better with time, but does still happen on occasion. The doctors have never indicated that a dilation would help keep this from happening. I hope that things improve...my thoughts are with you, Amy lumpling Mon, 28 Jan 2008 00:00:00 GMT  On 1/25/2008 VintageLadyJ wrote:Hello,My mom had her stomach completely removed 5 months ago. She had needed a transfusion from all the bleeding polops they found. Anyway after 6 weeks in the hospital....with the vac in her wound, we thought she would be fine. She came home and now it is still the same. She lost so much weight. She can't eat because when she does it gets stuck in her chest. It is not all the time but a lot. It just seems like her esophagus has spasm attacks or something. She is very constipated. She needs B12 shots every month. She was taking this Canadian pill that suppose to soften the esophagus but it didn't do anything special within the last 5 months.  What is really bothering her is when she drinks any liquids, ensure, water, etc.... she throws up or spits up foam. This happens a lot. She gets very nausaus. Now they are saying that, prior to this she had cancer in her saliva gland and maybe from the radiation, it damaged her esophagus. With that now that her stomach was removed the esophagus is worse, according to the doctors who don't really seem to know what is going on. Today she is having tests done by an esophagus specialist. When she had the enoscopy a couple of months ago they said her esophagus did not need to be stretched. But when I read some of the messages on these boards it seems like there are a lot of others with the same problems. It is very confusing. If anyone is going through this or knows someone who is please let me know how you are or how they are doing.Thanks, JennHi Jenn! I'm brand new to this board and thought I would share my experiences with the "foamies" as they are often called. My dad is in the final stages of life after a year-long battle with stomach cancer. He, too, had a total gastrectomy and has had to deal with the foamy stuff coming up. I am only sharing this for the sake of putting this is the back of your mind ok?  Don't panic. My dad's recurrance started with the foamies. He would vomit a very thick, stringy saliva along with a very foamy saliva. He went for an upper endoscopy and was told there was nothing. No reason for stretching the esophagus. He then went to a GI specialist in Alabama and was told the same thing. Ultimately, there was a tumor growing on the OUTSIDE of the esophagus that was closing it off. It couldn't be detected by scans because of the hardening of the abdominal wall due to radiation and scar tissue from surgery. Just be very thorough and if you DO feel that no one is digging hard enough to find the source of the problem, you may want to consider another surgery to see what the problem is. Even with the endoscopy, no tumor was found because it was growing on the outside of the pipe and the surgeon couldn't get to it to remove it because the abdominal wall was so damaged. They just closed him right back up. He now throws up EVERYTHING he drinks. There is no eating anymore. J tube only. It's actually a little comical as he will fill a glass up with juice, drink it down, it comes right back up, and he repeats the process. He just can't get enough cold liquid.  Good luck to you. Hope this enlightens you a little as to what might be. -Betz Betz08 Thu, 31 Jan 2008 00:00:00 GMT Hi,My mom just got her results back from her esophagus test. Of course the doctor said they have to take more tests because once again they are not sure. Anyway, they did find something in her esophagus but they are not sure if it is a polop, or a "mo???????" or just the connection they made to the digestive tract. It just seems like this is going to be a long road. Thank you to everyone who has replied. I appreciate any advise on my moms situation. Jenn VintageLadyJ Sat, 02 Feb 2008 00:00:00 GMT