GEJ Adenocarcinoma

First, I'm very sorry for what you and your husband are going through. Hearing the initial diagnosis is mind blowing, especially with your husband being such an active athlete. Cancer doesn't seem to care though. Im a personal trainer and was diagnosed at 65 despite working out 15-20 hours per week. I traverse the various stages of emotions and still am sometimes. Anger, denial, etc., but after 9 months post diagnosis, post chemo/radiation and esophogectomy, I'm fighting it head on. For me, multiple things helped. First, as I started treatment, I learned more and more about my cancer. I learned it was very specific to me and despite being in excellent health otherwise, it was my new reality. Being a physical fitness advocate, I had to accept my cancer wasn't my fault and I had to dig in for a fight. I reframed my situation and used some tools to help. I educated myself with qualified research, not general, but specific to my scenario. I was very public in sharing my situation. It's amazing how many people have had cancer, know someone who does or can provide resources to help. My wife and I asked questions...we wanted to know the why's for treatments and not simply accept without explanation. Like your husband, I continued my routine of exercise, but I also imbedded it into my psychie that my efforts and hard work was kicking my my Cancer's butt. It isn't going to beat me. I've gone through chemo/radiation and an esophogectomy. I've been told I'm cancer free and am following up with Optdivo for a year for better odds of non recurrence. My prognosis is positive. The last thing I'll say is my wife's support and care is instrumental in my progress. It's so important that you take time for yourself so you're strong for your husband. I am so fortunate to have that type of support from my wife. I can feel it that your husband will get through this. It's a tough battle, but he sounds like a tough guy. I wish you the best and invite any questions if you'd like to reach out privately.

I’m sorry to hear of your husband’s diagnosis. A year ago February I was diagnosed with the exact same GEJ cancer and it had spread to a lymph node in my neck so it was considered stage 4. So surgery was not an option. I live in a small town so I went to a prominent cancer center in Philadelphia. They handed me a paper and said the first line of treatment is Folfox6 every 2 weeks and if I had the right score immunotherapy would also be added.
Folfox6 includes 2 kinds of chemotherapy Oxaliplatin and FU5 .
I must have scored enough that they included Nivolumab immunotherapy. I was only able to withstand the Oxaliplatin for 8 cycles. I have been on the FU5 and the immunotherapy every 2 weeks for the past 8 months. With the FU5 I am hooked up to a pump and send home for 46 hours and then return to get it disconnected. The tumor has shrunk and is no longer visible on the cat scan. The lymph node has returned to its normal state. They tell me there is still microscopic cancer cells and I will be on this maintenance treatment for the rest of my life or until the cancer progresses. Chemotherapy has been the hardest part but everyone reacts differently. Please let me know what they recommend for your husband as I would like to compare his treatment to mine. From what I have read everyone’s cancer is different.

Hello, I'm really sorry to hear about your situation. Mine was similar 2 years ago. I was diagnosed with advanced localized esophageal cancer. They told me it also went into my stomach a little bit. So I don't know what the difference is. I had a couple lymph notes involved as well. Pet scan showed possible spots on my liver. They did an MRI and that turned out not to be the case. Long story short I ended up having 5 Rounds of chemo 25 rounds of radiation and an esophagectomy.
Initially I was pretty pessimistic about the whole situation, I think we've all seen people that have had chemo radiation and so forth. 45 years ago my dad had cancer. I just remember his situation and it wasn't good. Figured I was in for the same thing. Initially I was full of doom and gloom. I actually had no intention of going through any treatment. Figured what's the point. After sitting down and doing some soul-searching and seeing what this was doing to my family I figured I better fight. I'm glad I did.
I responded to treatment very well. Chemo was like a mild hangover a couple days of week, didn't lose any hair. I had proton radiation. My asophagus got raw from that and eating was a little tough but not that bad. Surgery has somewhat of a long recovery time but again I did quite well with that. I've been cancer-free for almost 2 years. Life is definitely different. But all in all life is good!
Like I say we all know the horror stories. Thought maybe you could stand to hear a success story.

If you want my advice on where to go, Mayo Clinic in Rochester. They have state of the art equipment and I believe their doctors are the best in the world.
PS,
The fact that your husband is in good shape helps immensely with the recovery process.
I hope the best for you and your husband.
Take care

My husband’s story is very similar. We were blindsided in January after he had an endoscopy due to having some difficulty swallowing. He was diagnosed with GERD prior and was taking medicine that helps keep it from being bad; I wish the doc had done that sooner and would recommend that anyone experiencing GERD to take it seriously. He just had a pet scan on Friday and we’re waiting for the results. The doctor seemed optimistic after that CT scan but this one will be more informative. We’re hoping there hasn’t been any spread since January and that he doesn’t have anything show up on the liver. I’ve heard of false positives because the liver can have anomalies that look like cancer but aren’t (of course, it’s good if they aren’t!). The stress of waiting is tough. We have good and bad days. He still feels good and is active. He’s supposed to be going to talk with the oncological surgeon tomorrow, if the test results are back. We don’t have a treatment plan yet and are a little anxious. I hope your husband will do well, moving forward. Being in good shape and good health (aside from the cancer) helps a lot. Hearing the stories and avoiding too much web surfing (aside from the proactive kind, which I’m doing a lot of) is helping to keep hope alive.

Hi karamikiko (@karamikiko),

I've sent you a private message outlining my treatment for esophageal cancer at Kaiser Permanente in Southern California. I had an excellent experience, and am doing well 6 months after surgery.

@karamikiko, how are you and your husband doing? Did he get the port installed? Has chemotherapy started?

We are doing the best we can during this difficult time. We are still waiting on the actual staging. We have been told it is Stage 3 or 4. He has a biopsy on a lymph node that was found by his kidneys during the PET scan that will be biopsied on 3/19 with results on 3/21. If it is malignant that he will be Stage 4, if it is benign then Stage 3.
Port is getting installed on 3/19. Chemo to start 3/24.