Esophageal Cancer Support Group

Esophageal cancer is malignancy of the esophagus. There are various subtypes. Esophageal tumors usually lead to dysphagia (difficulty swallowing), pain and other symptoms, and is diagnosed with biopsy. Small and localized tumors are treated with surgery, and advanced tumors are treated with chemotherapy, radiotherapy or combinations.

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alwaysafraid61 08/04/2010

Wow it's been a long month since my husbands diagnosis! it seemed like the referrals were taking forever to come in. We went to see the Surgeon first she was an awesome Dr. at UCLA med center she diagnosed his tumor at a stage 2 to 3 & wants him to do 4 to 6 rounds of chemo before the surgery but UCLA is a 2 hr drive from our home so they were trying to find a local oncologist to do the chemo treatments which was taking forever & in the meantime this past saturday he started vomiting blood & was admitted to the hosp, I guess they say the tumor has a slow bleed & the blood was accumulating in his stomach over time, anyways they got that under control & he's home now & I think the hospitalization was actually a blessing because it really lit a fire under these Drs & they located a local oncologist for him & were seeing her tomorrow. Anyways my question about the chemo is one the Drs that saw him in the hosp stated that this type of cancer sometimes requires the chemo to be administered in the hospital & he would be there for a few days at a time, has anyone heard of that being true? & if so why? My head is just spinning with all the info thats been thrown at us these past few days so if anyone has any answers pls let me know. Thanks

deleted_user 08/04/2010

Hi!

Sounds like you have been through a lot already. They may want him in the hospital for the chemo treatments because of the problems with your husband's stomach. They may be concerned about a reaction.

I was in and out of the hospital prior to surgery due to complications, but my chemo treatments were at my oncologist's office.

ASK, ASK, ASK!!!! It is your best weapon against this beast. I expect you are being swamped with info right now. Still, you are your husband's best advocate. Don't let up! Work WITH your doctors, but ask about Everything until you FULLY understand. The best docs understand and EXPECT this.

We'll keep you and your husband in our prayers.

All the best,

Fred

Brenda2008 08/04/2010

I actually do remember a woman posting here that she was going to be put in the hospital to receive her chemo there. It's been sometime since she posted and I think I made her as a friend. I'll do a little research on her posts (if they're still available for viewing and see if she commented much on that). Meanwhile, maybe she'll post here to answer your question. I'd love to hear how she is doing myself :-)

I do believe they have many different ways of giving chemo and the type drugs. I was in a study where I had 5FU dispensing from a pump 24/7 for 35 straight days. I took a chemo pill for all those days and an extra week. I went in to the Oncologist treatment room twice - something like Day 1 & Day 26 of my treatments to get some other drugs - 5 hours Day 1 & about 3 hours Day 26. Something like that :-)

Keep us posted. Hope all goes well. God bless. Brenda

cindyhils 08/05/2010

I am glad they are finding you someone local to do the chemo. I went to the mayo clinic in rochester mn. it was a 3 hour drive so they found a local hospital that is very good and it was only a 1 hour drive. i got all my chemo and radiation there. i am so sorry i cant help you with an answer about doing the chemo in a hospital. i had the 5FU pump 24hours a day for 5 days and also cisplaton for day 1 for 5 hours and day 24 for 5 hours. but they were both in the oncologist office. they are connected to a hospital but i never went there except to get the pump removed on the sunday which was day 5. good luck and i hope someone else will get you an answer soon . take care, cindy

alwaysafraid61 08/05/2010

Thanks everyone for your input, we finally saw the oncologist today & she was awesome & only 20 mins from home! & we did find out that he will be receiving his chemo in the hosp, she said because of his other health problems she would feel better doing his in patient where there is 24hr care available. He will be receiving 5FU & cisplaton the 5FU will be a constant IV drip for 4 days straight & the cisplaton will be only the 1st day for a few hrs, does that sound correct? she said the cisplaton is what will make him sick, he's very nervous about the vomiting after this last episode that hospitalized him. Does anyone thats experienced this already have any encouraging words to share because I am feeling extremly overwhelmed & scared to death but trying hard to keep it under control for his sake.Thanks again everyone

Brenda2008 08/06/2010

The 2 days I went in for chemo they also gave me something in a drip that was to help the nausea. Also, I had a prescription for Zofran that I could place under my tongue at the first sign of nausea and it generally did the trick. I didn't spend a lot of time vomiting, so hopefully he won't either. My chemo drugs besides 5FU were Paclitaxel & Carboplatin & Bevacizumab. Oh and the pill Ertlotnib. I was in a study. I think the Carboplatin is similar to Cisplaton - some relation anyway. All I know is they are always trying to find the fix and I'm always hopeful :-) I wish your Dad the best!

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