Oswegokev

Hi Kev
My advice to you is to get a second opinion be4 you have surgery. Find a hospital and surgeon that performs laparoscopic esophagectomys often.
What stage is you EC? Are you doing chemo and radiation? I was T3N1MO and had 5FU and Carboplatin and 25 radiation sessions.
Chemo - had sweats, taste buds messed up food taste different, didn't lose my hair overall I made out good. Didn't know I had radiation no problems at all.
Learn all you can about your diag I wanted to know the good and the bad so I would not be surprised. Ask plenty of questions and keep a journal of your journey .

Billy22

Wishing you good luck with your appointment today. The one piece of advise it will give you is PEOPLE WANT TO HELP YOU. Set up an on-line calendar like http://www.lotsahelpinghands.com/ to let people know how to help you. When and what to deliver as food. When and where do you need rides. I had someone drive we to radiation treatment every time. Not so much that I needed a driver, but that people wanted to talk with me and find out how I was doing, and they really really really wanted to help. My friends at work, for example, signed up to drive me to radiation every Thursday. Each time someone different drove me.

I want to welcome you to WhatNext.....a great place to meet individuals like yourself who are asking questions...sharing their experience...and looking for hope! Feel free to jump right in...

Hi and welcome. My husband was diagnosed with esophageal cancer on August 1st, so I am very recently familiar with some of the feelings of a new diagnosis. The suggestions from others to bring someone else with you I 100% agree with! You will be told so much, your head will definitely be spinning. I took notes for my husband, but also, our docs were great with handouts and explaining anything we needed.
My husband just started treatment last Thursday. He is finishing his round of chemo later today (he started on cisplatin at the hospital, then was hooked on a pump for the last 4 days with 5FU). He won't have chemo again until his last week of radiation. His radiation is daily (during the work week) for 28 days. Right now he is only feeling a bit tired from the chemo, so I don't know what to tell you about being able to swallow. Our docs have told us that it will get worse before it gets better, but to focus on the it WILL get better.

We are focusing on staying positive and aiming for healing and laughing and having as much fun as we can along the way. Hang in there!

Hello and welcome, we are glad you found us. Please feel free to join in the conversations. Here is a link to our cancer dx page for your type of cancer. Take a look at it to get you started on some information. You will notice at the bottom of that page 4 of our active users who have had that journey already, you may wish to contact them for their experience and wisdom. Also, I encourage you to go to the questions page now by clicking on the questions tab at the top of the page and post what is the most pressing issue you have right now. This will introduce you to the community and get you started on the help you need right now.

https://www.whatnext.com/conditions/cancer/esophagus-esophageal-cancer

There are also subtypes listed on this page to narrow down the type of cancer to match your dx.

Also, if you can take a few minutes and fill in some details of your journey so far, it will help others as they try to answer questions for you, it also helps others as they search through the data base to find someone like themselves. Confirming your email will allow you to receive updates and notices from the site when someone answers your questions or writes on your wall.

Thanks for being with us and let me know if I can help you find any information on the site. After you have an opportunity to look the site over and see what great things there are here, we encourage you to invite your friends, family or anyone you know that may be helped by the connections on WhatNext to join the site also. Just click this link to invite them to join. http://www.whatnext.com/recruit-a-friend

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GregP 3X Survivor

Welcome to the WhatNext family! The WhatNext family is made up of people like you who are looking for help or looking to help others. To help you along your journey the WhatNext family has put together a Beginner's Guide to Cancer that I highly recommend you check-out here: http://bit.ly/10BQKCi. Also, please do not hesitate to reach out to others or ask for help.

Wishing you the best.

David
Founder, WhatNexter