Esophageal Cancer: Surgery Or Not?

Was it at the GE juncture? Any lymph node involvement? Did you have any pre surgical chemo or radiation?

My husband is 75 years old Dx with T2N0 GE juncture cancer. Pet scan negative for mets no lymph node involvement Esophageal ultrasound shows mass into muscle layer but no lymphadenopathy. Surgery first? chemo later? chemo first? I would hate to postpone surgery at this point for unnecessary pre surgical chemo and radiation. Thoughts?

I’m doing okay, as I guess normal I have good and bad days. I’ve had three chemo infusions with two to go. Fourteen radiation and fourteen to go. Radiation has been the worst making my throat sore. Anyway I will press on and get through this.

Hi Lary
I'm 79 and have had 35 chemo and radiation treatments which were successful in eliminating tumor in lower esophagus. After that scans were clear and I did not need surgery. Let me know if I can help answer any questions you have.
Don

Hi @larryaw, several members like @dsh33782 were treated successfully with chemo and radiation, no surgery. Age is an important factor to consider.

How are you doing on chemo and radiation? How many more treatments do you have?

Hi all, my name is Larry and I'm 81 years old. My father past from EC within 7 days of being diagnosed almost 20 years ago. He had ignored all signs. Because of my fathers diagnosis I insisted on yearly endoscopies. Strangely my May 2023 endo was clear and the May 2024 was positive and stage 3 at the EGI junction, everyone was surprised how fast it had developed. Next week will be my 3rd chemo and 15th radiation. Looking forward because of my age I question whether I should opt for surgery after treatment assuming chemo/rad is successful.

@alcfc1985, I add my welcome. I hope you saw the many helpful and honest replies you've received from members about what to expect. Do you have any follow-up questions? Have you started chemotherapy? How are you doing?

My husband was 74 when he had treatment and surgery. Not easy but definitely worth it. Best wishes

38 years old. Not fair, but cancer is not fair. Your youth will help you greatly. get ready for a rocky road and focus on what you have to live for. You go where you look. Look forward.

I'm going to give my experience and please understand that yours may be different. I'm 62 stage 4 adenocarcinoma of stomach AND esophagus. I underwent chemo then surgery with gastric pull through and connection in the right neck.

chemo sucks. Depending on agents used, you will get multiple side effects. Nausea, loss of energy, constipation, mouth sores, weight loss, etc. I did 6 rounds of FLOT therapy and my body couldn't take anymore. 2 months recovery and weight gain then surgery.

I found that when I was constipated, my nausea and lack of appetite were the worst. Stool softeners were my friend as well as medical edible cannabis. also plenty of anti nausea meds. Everything made me tired and I spent a lot of time in my recliner instead of my sailboat. I couldn't work, immunosupression made me not be able to go out in crowds. I did work though. It's something that you go through and it gets better.

surgery sucks too. You won't be the first to go through it though. The people in the hospital will get you through. The adventure starts when you are home. feeding tube for sure. The constipation with chemo will be gone. Now it's time for diarrhea. I'm talking liquid. Never trust a fart. Eat as tollerated and once again you try not to loose too much weight. My pain was gone within 2 seeks. minor discomfort from feeding tube but benefits greatly outweigh the discomfort.

You are probably too young to remember SNL character Rosanna Rosanna Dana. she has a quote, "If its not this, it's that". There's also a game called Whack A Mole. When you whack one mole down, another pops up. Get ready to play this game and quote rosanna Rosanna Dana. Keep your sense of humor. It helps. We're with you and want to hear how it goes for you. I find great comfort in this group. I hope you do too. Best of luck in your journey. You can do it and you have so much living to do. Chin up Bro!

Surgery is rough and takes some time to recover. Mine was April 2023 and now at 68 years old I'm biking 20 miles a day on average and hiking short trails with the dog. My diet has changed of course; post-surgery there are a lot of foods I can no longer tolerate, and portions are drastically reduced. I eye the children's menu wistfully at restaurants. I'm 6 feet tall and before the cancer I was about 230 lbs. Now I'm 158 and still slowly losing weight, but I wake up next to my beautiful wife every morning and play with my grandchildren every week and that's well worth the struggle. Make sure your surgeon is BLUNT with you about the surgery. It is risky and it is a potentially brutal recovery at first. I was lucky to have an excellent doctor and a truly compassionate support staff of nurses and techs and physical therapists at the hospital. I went into the procedure scared and reluctant but promised myself I would do everything I could to fight and I can't emphasize enough how critical it is for you to do the same. I made myself take advantage of every opportunity to WALK starting the day after the operation. I absolutely didn't feel like it. Shuffling a few feet from the bed to a chair and back. Shuffling slowly to the hallway door and back. Walking with the therapists or nurse volunteers around the hallways. Making a point of being grateful and expressing that gratitude to the hospital staff for every frequent blood sugar finger prick or dressing change or temperature check. At the end of the day it saved my life. It will save yours, too.