Mass found on CT scan, going for an endoscopy and scared

I will be praying for you. My husband was going to get an upper gi because he couldn’t keep anything down for weeks. The morning of the upper GI he was acting very funny so I told him we were going to the Er. Turns out he had a stroke and heart attack. They admitted him. Called and put him on a kist at the big hospital 3 hours away. Because of the stroke they couldn’t sedate him. They did the upper gi the next morning and found he had a large mass, multiple lymph nodes swollen, gallbladder had spots, kidney had spots some on his lung and his while inside cavity was covered in blood, his stomach was covered with blood because his tumor was bleeding. The doc did biopsy a small part. The next day the life flighted him to Anchorage, Alaska. Up there they did a pet scan and it came back with many many spots. He has stage 4 Esophageal cancer ( adenocarcinoma (sp). All this happed Jan 12,2024. We are now at May 24 , and though everything was going good. But Im scared the whole year is gonna stink.

I hope this didn’t scare you. It sounds like they caught yours early. The first few weeks should move quickly. Because once they detect cancer they want to start treating you. Lori, I will add you to my prayers. I wish you the best healing powers medicine can give you. If people will offer help please take it. It may be hard. You will be tired. Bless your heart and body to heal and may you be good. Love from Nicole G. Kenai Alaska

Will add you to my prayer list KLS. Take a deep breath. You have so much to live for. The upper endoscopy is very easy to tolerate. They will start an IV and will keep you calm. You will nod off quickly and be out of it. You will wake up in recovery. No gag. Really no post op symptoms for me and I've had many. Mild sore throat if anything. Just tell you anesthesiologist that you are scared. They'll know what to do. Don't cancel it. You have to let them figure out what is going on.

The gastroenterologist will have an idea if it's cancer or not, but won't know for certain until the biopsy (if they take one) comes back.

For me, I just had food hang up at the gastro-esophageal junction where my mass was. Others present with different symptoms. Don't self diagnose and scare yourself. Find out what it is and what the options are. I hope it's not cancerous and can be treated quickly and fully with antacids or the like.

Knowledge helped me deal with the anxiety. Not knowing seems to be worse for me. As far as dealing with a terrible diagnosis, I went through the normal greiving process. Actually several greiving processes. Denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and finally acceptance. Some stages pass quickly, some hang around for a bit and sometimes you have a few at the same time. Take on day at a time and realize that so many people love you, support you, and depend on you.

Please keep us posted on how things go. We're on your side. Steve

My fear of an endoscopy was unfounded. After I lay on the table I put a plastic circle around my mouth so teeth are not damaged. It hurt a little and she said “don’t worry, you’ll be sleeping soon” as soon as the circle was installed I went out like a light. I didn’t gag because I was under general anesthesia.
First thing I know I was in the recovery room due to the dizziness from the anesthesia. 10 minutes later I was ready to be taken home because they don’t let patients drive after the procedure . The doctor went down my esophagus and a wire.
No pain until 2 weeks after when I developed signs of internal light bleeding and I told my nurse that said “if you feel that way tomorrow let me know” of course it continued on day 2 but I didn’t tell the nurse.
Woke up on day 3 and it was still feeling not right.
They called EMS and I called my gastroenterologist and the woman said that “he wasn’t there right now so I will leave him a message.” When? 5:00 at night?
No I’m bleeding inside and I’m going to wait up to 5 hours waiting for him to call me. The nurse said that that was not acceptable and sent me to a different hospital and a different doctor.
He took me to the operating room and he did the same as mine did. Problem was my own Gastroenterologist was gone when I recovered.
This doctor in the other hospital said he found erosion in my left side of my stomach and a bleeding ulcer. Why did my first gastroenterologist didn’t tell me about the erosion and bleeding ulcer I’ll never know. I ended up spending 3 days in the hospital.
The one my own gastroenterologist did was outpatient 30 minutes and when I called him he wasn’t there. Good thing I went, I had a stomach ulcer and some erosion. No more symptoms.
So make sure they put you under. I didn’t want to feel pressure, gags, or anything. I woke up in recovery like it never happened. Piece of cake. I already had anxiety about the gagging and feeling pressure. I was surprised it was done without me awake.
Insist on general aesthetics. Don’t settle for a pill to help you. There’s one type that is only no sedation then a Valium that I will talk to them during the sedation method and that wasn’t what I wanted. Of course you need a decent health plan but he took her along with no problem.
The second surgery was the same thing. I didn’t go for anything except general anesthesia I didn’t even have to ask. Around here they all use general anesthesia. Good Luck
The fear of not knowing is valid but see if they can knock you out completely by an anesthesiologist.

I finally had my endoscopy on July 9th. The esophagitis was confirmed, but they also identified Barrett’s. The biopsies came back yesterday and two of them indicated high-grade dysplasia. I am waiting to hear from the doctor’s as to the next steps.

I have had at least a half dozen EGD's to diagnose and treat my esophageal cancer, both pre and post Ivar Lewis surgery. All have been almost completely painless (small prick when they insert a few needles pre-op which is nothing!) Your fear of your "gag reflex" being a problem is understandable but let me assure you that you will be completely "out" for the entire procedure. They will wheel you into surgery, explain they are about to give you anesthesia, you will suddenly realize you are in the recovery room! I don't even think I had a sore throat following any of the biopsies/dilations. I do know the relief of being able to swallow some solid food again AFTER the EGD was immense. You are going to have a lot of decisions to make on this journey and a lot of legitimate fears to overcome but please don't let this procedure be one of them. It is a critical first step in assessing your situation and again, based on my multiple experiences, a quick and painless one.

I’ve had 3 endoscopic tests / procedures in the past 5 weeks and they were all done under general anesthesia. Only the 2nd one I woke a little nauseous because he used a large device that was best for extensive biopsies. Even that one the nausea only lasted a few minutes. My next endoscopy will be upon completion of chemo. ( around September )
Endoscopies are nothing to stress about. Good luck

Thanks for the hugs. They are acting quickly. I am scheduled for an ablation procedure on 8/1. Hopefully this will clear things up.

Don't look so much in the future staying in today. Having a endoscopy is real easy. I had stage 3 esophageal cancer and had surgery in October of 23 and I've had a few endoscopies since then there's nothing to it and you just deal with what comes up when it does so don't worry just have the procedure done and it's probably nothing good luck