Newly diagnosed esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESSC)

Posted by yinouye @yinouye, Jun 3, 2022

Last month my husband was admitted to the ICU after an endoscopy. The GI doctor said she found a large mass on his esophagus and biopsied it. For some reason he came out of the procedure bleeding profusely, could not swallow anything because of the bleeding. Clots had completely blocked his esophagus. They infused 4 units of blood and he stayed in ICU for 5 days losing 10lbs because he could not eat and they were not giving him any nutrition. The biopsy came back “inconclusive” but when I read the notes it said “negative”. The GI doctor said she must have missed the mass. Now how does that happen if it’s so big? We started radiation (10) to shrink the mass and stop the bleeding. A CT scan the first day in The hospital showed nodules in the lungs, so they said it had metastasized and was stage 4. This was all before any pathology reports came back (takes a week). A FNA of a lump on his cheek that was suspected parotitis showed squamous cell cancer. A biopsy of the lung was scheduled and a CT scan showed the nodules had shrunk by 50%. Seemed promising that it wasn’t cancer, but the pathology came back squamous cell carcinoma as well.
We started FolfOx6 chemo today. Does anyone have any similar experience? The day before the endoscopy we were skiing top to bottom at mammoth mountain, so this is quite shocking. He has always been an athlete & was quite healthy before this.

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@colleenyoung

All the best at tomorrow's appointment. I'll look for your update and any questions you might have for the group once you have a stage and treatment plan.

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Thanks, I will let you know

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