Off topic but does anyone know about osephgus cancer

[Jimswife]

Hi my husbands friend had just been diagnosed with osophegus cancer. Its incurable apparently as its in distant lymphs , we have tried to look on the net for info for him but from what we have read the prognosis is very very poor , they say overall survival is less than 15 percent and most will not see out the first 12 months ?? Are these old out dated stats like the one you see sometimes for Colon cancer ??? He's lost a lot of weight and has been in a fair bit of pain
, they thought it was lymphoma at first and it tool a while for correct diagnosis . Any info would be greatly received if anyone knows anything about it ? Thanks

[Grace14]

Victoria if you go on to the CSN forum they have all different types of cancers and esophageal is one of them! You'll be able to read peoples stories hope this helps!

[Jimswife]

Do they ? Thanks I'll have a look , i know he started some kind of chemo once every three weeks but can't find out much about it really ? Don't think it's as common as other cancer such as colon lung breast etc

[Kathryn in MN]

It really depends on when they catch it. My uncle died from esophageal cancer. His was caught very late and there really wasn't any hope. A good friend of mine's father was dx'd earlier. He had surgery, chemo and radiation and now 2 years later is still doing ok.

Do check the American Cancer Society's Cancer Survivor Network for the specific cancer type boards.

[janklo]

A guy at our office was diagnosed with esophagus cancer last spring/summer - he was a big guy and his tumor was huge, it was in his stomach. He did chemo and radiation and then had surgery. Now, 9 months later he is cancer free and it's my understanding that his was really, really bad when found. He is back to work and other than begin way skinnier, he looks great. So once again, don't believe all you read online - I'm sure esophageal cancer has updated treatments too that we won't find on google.

[Jimswife]

I'm guessing it's pretty advanced with them saying its not curable and in various distant lymph nodes ? There's been no mention of radiation or surgery but maybe it can be managed with chemo ???

[IceGal]

It all depends on the specific type of oesophageal cancer. If it is an adenocarcinoma, then they can use 5-FU on it, although I haven't seen anything of them adding either oxali or iri to it. Since your friend is on a 3-week schedule, it's possible that he's on Xeloda already. If it is another sub-type of tumour, then the type of chemo would be different.

My Dad died of oesophageal adenocarcinoma a couple of years ago so I did the same research then that you are doing now, and found the same stats, so they are older ones. His case was complicated because he was unable to tolerate the 5-FU due to a bad heart and diabetes (ended up in septic shock and ICU for 2 weeks). They did attempt the surgery, but found it to be too widespread when they got in there. He died just under 6 months from the day he was diagnosed.

The success stories all seem to have used the entire combination of chemo / surgery / radiation, so it's good that they are trying the chemo to see if they can get it under control enough for surgery.

Strong thoughts out to you and your friend

[Jimswife]

Yes it's the adencarcinoma type , the Tumor is in his foodpipe but there are cancerous lymph nodes in his neck chest and groin also

[disco nap]

Michael Douglas had stage IV esophogeal cancer and is still very much alive, and one of my coworker's spouses had this and is doing great - full remission.

[Grace14]

Michael Douglas had stage 4 Throat cancer!!