Brand new diagnosis.

@ursulla111: This has been a tough day - you’re overwhelmed and insecure, so deep breathe and hug your husband! He must be so scared! You are not alone… many of us are diagnosed everyday-you will be amazed at the different types of cancer. You will find your way to make best decisions by good medical guidance and learning about your disease.
After you receive specific diagnosis with type of cancer, grade and stage &size of tumors from biopsy (from the Pathologist) it will be helpful to get appointment with your exact type cancer specialist at a cancer center hospital. It is important to know for sure the specific biopsy info. Check out your Medical Health Insurance. If you have any questions regarding diagnosis or treatment - ask for referral for 2nd opinion regarding your disease and treatment recommendations at a reputable cancer hospital where they have Specialist Medical Oncologists. This appointment may be available via Zoom or equivalent due to your remote location, but if not this may be very important appt. necessary for best cancer outcome and require your travel.
Check Medical Health Insurance at each step to be sure you have their approval. I have heard that National Institute of Health offers free/discounted medical to cancer patients, but no personal experience. If you run into a financial wall research all the cancer societies online and ask for help.
CANCER centers (all over the USA) will offer you best specialists, scanning equipment and treatment options. I would suggest getting “disc” for each test/medical report that your dr orders (MRI, CT, Endoscopy, etc) and when you see the Oncologist, share these discs with their medical reports - but retain the originals for your own records. The more info you can share will help get best decisions.
Mayo Clinic Connect is a great source of support, peer info and help getting specifics explained.
We all have had a day like yours! We have learned how to live with our diagnosis, make treatment decisions and many have found success in reducing/eliminating our tumors.
This is reality. Be brave, be hopeful and learn how to live happy days. I have found that I find strength in expressing heart-felt gratitude for every good day. On bad days… smile anyway!
Hope this helps you accept this bitter situation. This is reality. Hugs…

@ursula111, I feel your panic. It's shocking and stunning news. My mind went blank, not knowing what to do or what questions to ask, fear about the unknown. Once he was staged as stage 4, even more disbelief. When we met with our team of doctors, a plan was made and this gave us a goal to work for which was to get more QOL and time. After 2.5 years of chemo, he was declared NED. He had a recurrence last February and had more chemo with radiation this time, and is again NED. Please don't lose hope. Miracles can and do happen. Prayers for your family.

Lastly, please avail yourselves of any services offered by the cancer center you choose. We have a nurse navigator who has been instrumental in keeping us and our care team on the same page, very reassuring. Social work, a nutritionist and financial assistance in the form of 2 grants were also helpful in taking some of the pressure away.

Prayer and more prayer, try and do chemo and radiation, I am fighting the same thing. It's not easy but you can do it. just stay positive

I'm really sorry about your husband's diagnosis. It's shocking news and leaves you with a kaleidoscope of emotions. You get angry, sad, scared and everything in between. Not knowing the next step or diagnosis is extremely hard Normal protocol for EUC is chemo/radiation followed up by an esophogectomy. How your husband responds is unique to him, but it's a tough battle. Hell get through it though. Remain positive and strong. You both are stronger than this cancer. One thing I noticed is that the more I moved through treatment, I learned more and more about my disease. That really helped me versus the unknowns. Tell people about your cancer. You'll be surprised how many people have similar stories or know someone who has. Use every resource to your avail. Best to you both?

Hello, I'm really sorry to hear what you're going through.
Just over 2 years ago I was in the same place as your husband is now. I was in the diagnosis process so to speak. They did a biopsy of the tumor in my esophagus and biopsies of the lymph nodes which had cancer as well. Pet scan showed spots on the liver. That was on a Friday. Then they ordered an MRI. That was scheduled for the following Monday so yes that was quite the weekend. I'm somewhat of a pessimist so I already had it in my mind that it was in my liver as well. Well guess what... it wasn't! Apparently the liver has lots of strange anomalies all on its own , systs and so forth, they can show up on a pet scan.
From there things kicked into high gear. 5 rounds of chemo, 25 rounds of radiation. Then a 6 week recovery time. After that, surgery. Chemo affected me like a mild hangover for two days day a week. I never really got sick & didn't lose my hair. Radiation Did not affect me other than the fact that apparently it makes the aesophagus raw so it was a little sore while eating, but it wasn't that bad. About one week after my treatments I could eat normal again. And I felt great. Honestly I questioned why I should even have the surgery. But they highly recommended surgery so I did it. My surgery went very well. I was up walking the next day. I actually went for four walks a day in the hospital. I was there for seven days. I could go on and on about my situation but you get the gist.. So now I've been cancer-free for almost two years. All in all life is good. Definitely worth going through the surgery.

I don't know where you plan on having your treatment done but I can't say enough about Mayo in Rochester.

I hope hearing my success story gives you a little bit of comfort.
Take care.

So helpful to hear people’s positive stories, I am starting to feel some hope again thankfully. I am still afraid of course and so so worried for my poor husband but I can’t thank everyone enough for sharing and lighting that spark of hope again.

I know how you feel. Time froze for me and my husband. I read this blog and ut does help. The best thing I could do for myself as a caregiver is prepare myself for what was to come.
-I ordered a cancer planner book. It gave me some control over all the visits and kept my mind occupied.
-Researched what foods were good for fighting cancer and started cooking healthy protein rich foods. He needs to keep his weight on.
-I have been cleaning non-stop. Keeps me busy when I am not working.

I have focused on what I do have control over. It is very hard to be positive when we are scared to death, but with some semblance of control we can be strong.

Take control of what you have control over. It has helped me.

Sea ski
Thank you for sharing, we are in a bad place mentally and emotionally. Going for MRI today. Sharing your journey has helped more than you can possibly know.

@ursula111, I thought I'd check in. How did the MRI go? How are you and your husband doing?

Thanks so much for checking in. MRI thankfully showed no liver involvement. So thankful!!
Call with surgery this week, discussing all options then. Ie: surgery, chemo, radiation- some? All?
We are still just going day by day and it feels like I have so many balls in the air, feels like I have to keep chasing up docs and appointments or we get lost in the shuffle. But like I said we are hanging in there 🙂