andisusan

Hello and good morning to you! I hope today is a better day for you. How can I help you, just let me know what you need and I will try to help. As for my story, You can click on my username and go to my home page, click on my journey or diagnosis and read about the last 27 years of my life in dealing with cancer. It's no bed of roses for sure! I have had cancer 3 times, 2X hodgkins disease and once a bout with head and neck cancer, malignant tonsil. So I've had my share of it. I also lost both parents to cancer so I also know what it's like to be a caregiver, it's a tough job for sure.

Hi, andisusan -- I posted this on the Emotions thread in response to your post; am duplicating it here. I have found these online caregiver support groups to be very helpful:

http://www.caregiving.com -- very active grassroots network. Holds #carechat tweet chats on alternate Sunday nights at 8 p.m. Eastern. They just had one on July 7, so the next one should be on July 21. They also have podcasts, webinars, forums, blogs, groups, and other resources.

http://thecaregiverspace.org/ -- another excellent grassroots network, also with webinars and forums.

http://www.caregiver.com -- more corporate than the other two but also a good source of support. Sponsors one-day Fearless Caregiver Conferences across the US, free to family caregivers.

You are not alone.

Andrea, you should go to your home page. There you will find a bar in the middle of the page It will say Share an Update, Ask a question and Update Your Journey Click on Update Your Journey (since you have two diagnosis you will have to choose one. There will be a pull-down list of all sorts of things. For example there is a title "Oh No" that is where you would list the diagnosis and all other bad things. There is also a title for every procedure from placement of a port to major surgery comes under that one and there is the one we all love "Celebration" That one can be for big or little victories. Greg can help you with this more than I can

Andrea please fill in your journey so others can see your questions. How were the infected lymph nodes discovered? Pathology from surgery or biopsy? I have had two cancer surgeries which found infected lymph nodes. Infected lymph nodes Do not mean Stage IV. Last week my Dr. said I am in long term remission.
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I will be saying prayers for good tests. It is good you found us now you are not alone

I am an esophageal cancer stage III survivor of 14 years. We created the Esophageal Cancer Education Foundation www.fightec.org to help patients with their journey through this disease.
We have co-authored a book called 100 Questions and Answers about Esophageal Cancer published by Jones and Bartlett and can be purchased at any book store.
We have also published a book called Esophagectomy Post Surgical Guide Questions & Answers published by Authorhouse that can be purchased at any bookstore or on our web site www.fightec.org
We have support groups that meet by conference call on a monthly basis. Patients calling in with quality of life questions and hearing how other patients have handled a specific issue. We also have a 24 hour hotline to help with quality of life questions as well. Check it out.
Good luck
Bart

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