Been there done that. Many of us EC patients will see some crazy extremes during our EC journeys. Our journeys will vary greatly due to our ages, other comorbidities, tumor type and size, ability to swallow along the way, initial stage at diagnosis, how we react to treatments, are we surgery eligible, etc.
I could barely swallow at diagnosis (T3N1M0), stage 3. I got a J tube the very next week, treatments still another 3 weeks from starting. I did not use my J tube correctly (because I didn't like it much)... so I became severely dehydrated and lost a bunch of weight as my CROSS protocol treatments got started. I vividly recall trying to pass a friggin' cucumber sized poop... it was going nowhere fast... the "baby was crowning"... I was in severe pain. I knew what would be done at the ER... but who knows how long that would be. So I used my right index finger and got to work breaking that sumbitch up! Hurt terribly... but I got the job done. Did this another time or two over the next two weeks. My doctors had given me a tool to use on my EC journey, this J tube, and I chose not to use it correctly. My bad. Once I started feeding myself 4 cartons a day (instead of 1 per day)... and adding some water to my feeds... all got better! Then my treatments opened up my esophagus pretty good and I started taking in stuff by mouth once again. Heaven. Over 4 years ago... pretty much back to normal now... but what a wild ride! Had that J tube for 8 months... 4 before surgery and 4 after surgery.