1. < Esophageal Cancer

Esphogeal cancer spread to lung,liver and hip bones

Posted by dorenemonchil @dorenemonchil, Jun 16 10:05am

My husband 71 years old, a diabetic and survivor of v-fib diagnosed with esphogeal cancer. He had chemo/ radiation then surgery to remove tumor and esphogus.
This last PET scan shows cancer in his liver, lung and hip bones. The oncologists will give him chemo every two weeks and he will receive radiation in his hip bones for 10 days to help manage the pain in that area.
The oncologists is hoping the chemo will take care of the liver and lung and radiation will take care of the bone cancer. The radiation doctor has him taking 30 mg of morphine for 10 days until the radiation kicks in . They did not say there was no hope for him but I feel as if they are not confident in what to treat him with. I'm not sure where to go to seek help. We live in kansas and have limited income of Social security .

Interested in more discussions like this? Go to the Esophageal Cancer Support Group.

mrgvw | @mrgvw | Jun 17 6:34am

I cannot see the timing of things... when he was first dx'd, was his post-op pathology clean, how long did he apparently stay NED for. I'll just assume it's been less than 2 years post-op. I suppose it doesn't really matter... the bottom line is that it is back... and something must be done about it... and there must be a change to his treatments. So if he did the CROSS protocol of Carboplatin and Taxol the first time around, he's probably getting Folfox or FLOT or Capox this time around. Was any immunotherapy used before? It can't hurt to add this in now as well... regardless of his tumor biology. We need to see a positive response to these new treatments. Hang tough... much love to you both.

Gary

Free Zoom calls on Wed and Sun if you are interested.

REPLY
1 reply
dorenemonchil | @dorenemonchil | Jun 18 4:39pm
In reply to @mrgvw "I cannot see the timing of things... when he was first dx'd, was his post-op pathology..." + (show)
@mrgvw

I cannot see the timing of things... when he was first dx'd, was his post-op pathology clean, how long did he apparently stay NED for. I'll just assume it's been less than 2 years post-op. I suppose it doesn't really matter... the bottom line is that it is back... and something must be done about it... and there must be a change to his treatments. So if he did the CROSS protocol of Carboplatin and Taxol the first time around, he's probably getting Folfox or FLOT or Capox this time around. Was any immunotherapy used before? It can't hurt to add this in now as well... regardless of his tumor biology. We need to see a positive response to these new treatments. Hang tough... much love to you both.

Gary

Free Zoom calls on Wed and Sun if you are interested.

Jump to this post

It's been 6 mons since surgery. The first treatment of chemo he was getting immuno therapy. This time the oncologists stopped it. I feel that he needs it and am talking to the doctor about it. After the removal of the tumor tye surgeon said he had clear margins. No cancer in surrounding tissue. He is experiencing a cough that sounds like he is full stuff and he is short of breath. He has a doctor's appointment this coming tuesday. The first treatment of chemo he developed blood clots in his lungs and is taking a blood thinner. At the time of his surgery the doctor placed a screen in to stop any blood clots. This is still in place.

REPLY
1 reply
mrgvw | @mrgvw | Jun 18 5:01pm
In reply to @dorenemonchil "It's been 6 mons since surgery. The first treatment of chemo he was getting immuno therapy...." + (show)
@dorenemonchil

It's been 6 mons since surgery. The first treatment of chemo he was getting immuno therapy. This time the oncologists stopped it. I feel that he needs it and am talking to the doctor about it. After the removal of the tumor tye surgeon said he had clear margins. No cancer in surrounding tissue. He is experiencing a cough that sounds like he is full stuff and he is short of breath. He has a doctor's appointment this coming tuesday. The first treatment of chemo he developed blood clots in his lungs and is taking a blood thinner. At the time of his surgery the doctor placed a screen in to stop any blood clots. This is still in place.

Jump to this post

Ok... drop in on next Zoom call... they occur
Wednesdays, 6pm Eastern
Sundays, 9am Eastern... been doing these for over 3 years now.

Zoom ID -
455 028 4795
Passcode -
tuiBE5

We have some who've had their filters in place for years. You can talk to them. I believe Tim (who has an IVC filter for years) was also a stage 4, given 3 months to live about 5 years ago. For him it is Herceptin that seems to be working... he's had maybe 100 infusions now. Another stage 4, Tom... for him, Keytruda seems to be doing its thing... keeping him NED for maybe 7 years. I don't get it either.

Anyway... there's a bunch of these folks on our Zoom calls... as well as newbies just being dx'd, or just going to surgery, or 1 month post-op, or 10 to 20 years post-op. Some have recurrences as well.

Gary

REPLY
1 reply
dorenemonchil | @dorenemonchil | Jun 18 5:25pm
In reply to @mrgvw "Ok... drop in on next Zoom call... they occur Wednesdays, 6pm Eastern Sundays, 9am Eastern... been..." + (show)
@mrgvw

Ok... drop in on next Zoom call... they occur
Wednesdays, 6pm Eastern
Sundays, 9am Eastern... been doing these for over 3 years now.

Zoom ID -
455 028 4795
Passcode -
tuiBE5

We have some who've had their filters in place for years. You can talk to them. I believe Tim (who has an IVC filter for years) was also a stage 4, given 3 months to live about 5 years ago. For him it is Herceptin that seems to be working... he's had maybe 100 infusions now. Another stage 4, Tom... for him, Keytruda seems to be doing its thing... keeping him NED for maybe 7 years. I don't get it either.

Anyway... there's a bunch of these folks on our Zoom calls... as well as newbies just being dx'd, or just going to surgery, or 1 month post-op, or 10 to 20 years post-op. Some have recurrences as well.

Gary

Jump to this post

Thank you for the information. It gives me hope . I will be there Wednesday.
Dorene

REPLY
dorenemonchil | @dorenemonchil | 3 days ago

Gary,
I took my husband to the emergency because he was having a difficult time breathing.
Diagnosis is pleural effusion. Doctor put in a chest tube to drain the fluid from around his lungs.
This was Tuesday evening.
We hope he will come home Monday.
Wanted to let you know the reason I did not make it to zoom.
Dorene

REPLY
Please sign in or register to post a reply.