Chemo for esophagus cancer: Any advice on things I should or not do?

@cobraguy223 i don’t know what MMJ is? Ohhh-duh it is legal here as well. I’m in Chicago. My doctor told me to get the card. I haven’t yet. I have also tried RSO. Powerful stuff. I can only use a rice grain size. Any other suggestions for me to try. Something not too strong but to enhance my appetite. Happy the RSO world for you. It also makes me a little paranoid, lol. Like I pay to close attention to my breathing. Soo small grain of rice:)

Hello @neurod, Welcome to Connect. I see that you recently joined Connect and this is your first post. You will notice that we added to your post link so that other members will know where the link goes.

Are you able to share a little more about your diagnosis and treatments that have helped you?

I'm in Florida & MMJ law is legal here! I use MMJ every day,CBD, Tinctures, Capsules, & RSO, Rick Simpson Oil, I have no nausea, none! It takes away most of my pain also, The bonus is I get 5-6 hrs sleep instead of three!They're monitoring the MMJ reactions to the Ketruda!

Ugh I’m sorry to hear that. No bad side affects is a huge positive! Yes the chemo pills I took were Capecitabine. Made me really sick. 2 nights in the icu total 7 nights in the hospital. My daughter found me unresponsive and had to call 911. But I feel better now, just need to keep gaining weight and get back on chemo. Still doing the herceptin infusions. I’m hoping my scan looks ok. Thank you for sharing you story with me:)
We just have to keep moving:)

@pellaw Wow that’s great! I can’t have radiation so I’m on oral Capecitabine and Herceptin. Although I only did 1 round of the oral chemo because it made me really sick, so they stopped it for awhile. They said after my pet scan we can revisit starting it again. I’ve continued with the herceptin, so I’m just hoping this scan looks ok. Thanks for sharing:)

I was diagnosed last November with this,stage 4 now, 28 shots of Radiation & 6 Chemo diminished the tumor 95+ % HOWEVER, it spread into my spine, so 10 more radiation! I didn't know there was a pill! So far, so good, no bad side affects! BUT NO CURE ALSO!

Combination of 5 chemo and 28 radiation treatments with shrunk the tumor (stage 3) to best case outcome. 6 weeks later esopagectomy was performed robotically also with no residual cancer found.

@survivorsuz Thank you, I will update. Wednesday I get my pet scan, so I’m hopeful things will look ok. I might need more treatments before surgery. We will see…..

Calories is what I needed after my esophagectomy and I had issues with really cold things like shakes. Also had problems with digestion of sugars of more than 10grams, so that knocked out many sweets. So turned to oatmeal with butter, peanut butter on graham cracker, cheese sticks, yogurt, protein bars and add whipped cream to sugar-free hot chocolate.
But read labels carefully! Watch for sugar alcohols that I found were hard to digest, but perhaps your system can tolerate things differently.
The dietitian will be able to give suggestions and recipes to try.
Best of luck and keep us posted on your progress.

@survivorsuz Wow thank you soo much! What a uplifting post, I needed that. I’m working with a great team of doctors. I tell my oncologist everything. I would never take something without approval. Not at this point anyway…I workout in the morning before I eat with 5lbs weights, do a little yoga, and walk throughout the day. I’m up to 3800 steps. Which is really good for me. I have pretty bad lungs from a childhood illness so I need to keep moving. I was just put on 1 litter of oxygen (I had pneumonia). The pneumonia is gone but I’m still winded easily. I need to get my weight up. Any good tips for nutritious snacks would be appreciated. I go outside as much as possible and I focus on my full recovery! Thank you:)