Esophageal cancer treatment: Anyone have good experiences to share?

Yes there is hope. Let Western medicine do all they can with the current treatment plan. Do what you can and together miracles can happen. If you send me your address, I will send you a book by Kelly Turner - Radical Remission , Surviving cancer against all odds. She outlines what people who beat cancer did after being told there is no hope. Inspiring and helpful. I also think that your faith will save you. I wish the best for you and you are now in my daily prayers. Steve

I've read that book too; it's well written. Offers hope, with examples of success!

Gary

What stage and did it spread

What stage were you ? I sm stage 4 advanced

mrmac
I had stage 3 tumor in lower esophagus. It effected lymph nodes but had not spread, and the radiation and chemo worked.
Don

At first my Oncologist classified me as Stage 4, but changed to 3 after another PET Scan ruled out that it had spread to my liver. I then went through 7 Chemo, 34 Radiation treatments and then the Surgery from hell that pretty much everyone else goes through. That was a little over 5 years ago. I still deal with a few complications and have to self dilate my esophagus daily but I thank God, and everyone else who helped me get through this. I hope your journey goes as well as mine and feel free to ping me anytime. Take Care!!!

Good experiences... are you joking?! All we go thru to hopefully be rid of our EC just ain't much fun! Compared to many, I went thru very little... only 5 chemo (Carboplatin and Taxol) and 23 radiation... then esophagectomy and then one year of Opdivo immunotherapy. Post-op I had a tight anastomosis (that some of us patients get as our scar tissue needs a little stretching... I was stuck at 5mm). I started a series of 4 stretches at 6 months post-op... one per month... and then I was eating well again and put on weight very quickly!

I'm almost to 5 years now... so that's the enjoyable part I suppose. But for all of us, the EC journey is fraught with some mental and physical misery along the way. Toss in a heaping helping of uncertainty and depression... yep, that pretty much describes it. So now that I'm pretty much back to normal these days (even sleeping flat and normal... i sure didn't see that ever coming!), I spend most of my time helping others now. The only thing that makes sense to me to do... brings me some satisfaction with all I went thru. I've learned so much talking to hundreds of other EC patients and caregivers. We now have twice-weekly EC Zoom calls. What a crazy ride I'm on now! Be well.

Gary

I'm 7 weeks post op from my Esophagectomy. First, everyone's experience is different and unique to them personally. I really believe that if you focus on long term outcomes, you're in better shape to handle the treatment plan. I had Folfox chemotherapy and a combination of photon and proton beam radiation at the same time. My tumor went from 6 centimeters to almost complete reduction. The esophagectomy was also successful in redacting all of the cancer in the esophagus and nothing was found in surrounding lymph nodes. My recovery from surgery was difficult. Again, everyone is different. For me the most important thing was to recognize each day seems long, but you do get better. I'm 7 weeks post surgery and started back working out every day and am getting close to feeling normal again. I look back at my recovery and recall the difficulty, but it doesn't seem as bad now that it's history. You have a challenge ahead of you, but you have a rewarding goal of getting past this chapter on a road to good health. Best of luck to you. Try to stay positive. Its your best tool in your recovery.

Ty how do I get to more stage 4 esophagus several people .

I will not do any surgery on me because it's in my liver. My lympnotes above my stomach and just below the lopes. On my lungs, besides a six centimeter tumor broke through the esophagus wall.To cause the spread . Not thinking there is any hope . As far as they sloan say to advanced .