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

shboston
Hi I'm 80 now and had chemo and radiation for EC several years ago. The tumor shrunk 30% in 3 weeks and the tumor is gone now. I also turned down the option for surgery. I hope your chemo and radiation work for you. Let us know how it goes.
Don

I would do the chemo and radiation. Forgo the surgery. I believe you have to do what’s best for you. I’m only 62 I did have the surgery. But that was right for me. It’s been 7 months post surgery. For me no pain and my recovery has been pretty good. Still getting used to eating smaller meals. But I’m getting there. But I can pretty much do everything I could before getting stronger every day. Wishing the best for you. Hope it works out. Scott

Esophageal cancer took 11 months out of my life between chemo, radiation, and six months of sitting in my chair with a pesky feeding tube. The pain from surgery in the first 30 days made me think, I will not go through this again.
Three years later, dealing with pancreatic cancer makes me think that at age 67, I won't deal with it again if I survive this treatment and surgery. There has to be a quality of life to meet your expectations.

Hi. I had a similar situation but I was 62. My squamous cell tumor disappeared after chemorad. I also turned down the surgery. I am 6 years NED. Look up the SANO trial in Europe. It shows that if you have a complete pathological response to chemorad ( only for squamous cell EC) your odds are the same whether you have surgery or not. It is a hard choice and kudos for being thoughtful.

I would do the radiation at least. Oncologist told us that the chemo does not get rid of it but helps from spreading. Radiation is what gets rid of it. My dad is 68 and went through with chemo and radiation. He showed no cancer on last petscan and can eat perfectly now. Chemo did really wipe him out. He is debating on not doing surgrey as well. I would go through with Radiation. That didnt effect him much. Just inflammation in his esophagus. Manageable

I also forewent the surgery, as I've posted before. I'm now 2.5 months post chemoradiation at MD Anderson. (I've been a Mayo patient before.) I had late-developing esophagitis, and, as a result, strictures and scar tissue. I was supposed to have a EUS plus dilation three weeks ago. It couldn't be performed because my PET showed a clot in my right lung. Instead, I was placed on Eliquis. I know the reason for the clot. All that said, my SUV score on the PET dropped from almost 15 to 7, which the medical oncology group thought was owing to the still-extensive inflammation. (The scan can't tell the difference between cancer and inflammation.) As I've posted before, my surgery decision was largely based on the European study and my age, almost 86. Also, my ex-wife also had EC and went through the surgery. Her recovery required almost two years of misery and loss of QOL. If I had been younger, I might have decided differently on the surgery...

Thank you all for your encouraging comments. Most of my family and friends support my decision. My brother? Weelll,... As a health professional he is opposed to my going against professional advice. I tell him that I am much more interested and put more faith in the experiences of people who have actually gone under the knife.

So once again, all. Thanks so much for this.

All the best to you.

Please see my comments on the heading "New to the Club/44/yo It might help you feel better about your decision. Let me know. My best to you!

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

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