← Return to Hoping for thoughts on my decision to forego the surgery for cancer

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I'm knew here just found out squamous eosphogus tumor 6 weeks ago. Go for pet scan Monday booked for results a week tomorrow. No idea of stage or if any spread. I've been bombard with doctors. I found the oncologist overwhelming. For a year I've been told indigestion and side effects.of blood thinners until a doctor finally sent me for a.scope. The tumor is 4 inches long which everything I'm reading saying that a large tumor is 1.5 inches. Which doctor saying that probably higher stage of cancer and might not be anything they can do for me. I feel like they've jumped the gun with info when they have no idea.of a.plan as don't know full info themselves yet. It's nice to see this post as im not a pharmaceutical type of person. Tried having a discussion with oncologist and 3 different times felt he was going to throw me.out of his office as I questioned what he was telling me. It was like all he really wanted was me to accept his plan for me without questioning it. My mother and siblings think I should just jump on.board with treatment. My children were raised herbally and.say it's my decision. So I have support without pressure from them. I've been researching since I actually know what it is now and the results dontseem great especially if doctor saying with size probably stage 3 or 4. Very nice to see others questioning treatment and quality of life with treatment. After the scope I couldn't even eat chicken noodles soup for 3.weeks and took all day to get 2 ensure in me. I've lost 40 lbs in six month so even if they decide.they can do treatment they say they need to fatten me up 1st as only.105 lbs now. I made the mistake of telling him I started to do herbs that are.suppose to boost my.immune.system and reduce.inflamation. was told if I do herbs he would not be my doctor. He wants me to sit here for months doing.only pain killers and indigestion pills as the stomach acid is hurting the tumor. Also told me that I would need a.stint as tumor will keep getting bigger.and I won't be able to swallow liquids before the weight is on. After herbs or maybe the scope just inflamed eosphogus and is now for 2 weeks I can eat soup drink ensure and cheesies and small pieces of fish. So for some reason my eating getting better. I think I need all the info so I can decide myself risk/benefit. A longer life if poor quality of life is not necessarily a good thing. I need alot more info before I can make a decision like that and I don't think I'm going to get the info from the doctor I have. I'm in canada and really only have cancer society clinic as an option. No private clinics. So hoping to get info from reading people's actually experiences. I haven't figured out how to navigate this site yet. Can't figure out how to post a.question so just reading answers to others.questions atm. I don't feel like thos doctor is one to ask what if I chose part of treatment but not it all. Tried to get him to explain immunotherapy and he wouldn't have that discussion as not an option here until u do chemo/radiation and surgery if u want it 1st then it's 10 thousand dollars every 3 weeks of treatment. After all other options tried its free. So didn't get to find out how does it work after you tear down the immune system with treatment to try to then boost it. So hoping to find info about partial treatment instead of full and what best for my situation. Obviously I need pet scan and results before I can even start to think about what is best for me in my opinion. Sorry such a long post, but really no one to talk to about anything about this as kids are trying to stay without opinion and family trying to push me into just doing what doctors say. But would like to find out why people make the decision they do. Poor survival rates? Poor quality of life? Or something else

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Replies to "I'm knew here just found out squamous eosphogus tumor 6 weeks ago. Go for pet scan..."

Hi Penny
I went in for endoscopy a few years ago when I was having trouble swallowing. The doc found a tumor in my lower esophagus. I was referred to Moffitt Cancer Center near us, and I started on chemo. The tumor shrunk 30% so I decided to stick with chemo and radiation and skip surgery. The tumor is gone and scans show EC is gone. I hope you can get chemo and radiation and skip surgery. Let us know how it is going?
Don

Some herbs can interfere negatively with things like chemotherapy; that’s why the doctors recommend foregoing them during treatment. You don’t want to be doing something that is helping the cancer because it’s negating the treatment. My hubby had four cycles of chemo, the mass shrunk by about half, and he has surgery this Thursday. It’s hard to know what to do and not do sometimes but doctors should be willing to talk with you and explain things. I’ve found that they often don’t like when we question them but it’s important to know what your options are and have doctors who listen when you tell them what you’re feeling.

Penny, my husband was diagnosed with stage 4 esophageal cancer May 30. After several weeks of test and a couple of meeting with oncologist, who did not give us much hope. We decided to switch oncologist. The best decision we could have made. His current oncologist and staff are amazing. They give us support and hope that this terrible disease can be defeated. Praying that you can the right doctors to provide you with the best treatment plan to. Conquer this illness.