Former lurker now member with hope to share!

[Willi]

I've been a lurker of this site for some time now. Pretty much since my diagnosis of Esophageal Cancer on Oct 12 of last year. The main reason *I* come here is not only to read and empathise with the stories of other Cancer sufferers but to look for hope for myself. I am hoping I can do that for someone with my type of Cancer today. Generally we Esophagus patients don't always have a great prognosis to look forward to. I'm not being all doom and gloom, it's just a fact. Our Cancer has no preventative scan and generally when symptoms do show up, our Cancer is advanced. My tumour is quite large in size and somehow connected to my Aorta which means surgery is out of the question. I did the drill of chemo and radiation quite positively and it never even occurred to me at that time that I might actually die from this. Of course, when that conveyor belt of treatment, Dr's appointments, blood tests,etc. stopped is when it hit me. A major, major dose of depression followed. Anytime I had a blood test that was slightly abnormal I freaked out. My last CT scan expressed some concern about Metastasis. Although my Oncologist told me he was not worried and that the report was overly cautious (they did not have access to my previous films for some reason) I panicked. We Cancer people dread that "M" word don't we. So I had a Full Body PET Scan on Thursday and got my report yesterday. April 12 by pure coincidence. According to that, I have had "COMPLETE RESPONSE TO TREATMENT" In other words my Cancer is gone. It goes on to say that there is nothing in my Esophagus, Liver, Brain or elsewhere. I am beyond over the Moon. Now I know there is a good chance of recurrence, but we will be vigilant and I am more than grateful to have a second chance. I wanted to post this for anyone who is freshly diagnosed or in despair right now. Recovery and good health IS possible. Never ever give up. I'm not.

[kasianne]

Glad to read that your cancer was stopped in its tracks as you did not have the option of surgery like I had. I did not find out that my chemo had worked until after the surgery and the tests they did on the lymph nodes and tissues they removed. I too had esophageal cancer but mine was close to the joint of my stomach but this had paralysed my stomachs function and made it impossible before the chemo to keep even my saliva down. I was lucky and did not have to have radiotherapy as well but I am really pleased that your outcome is positive as well as mine and hope we both have many more years ahead of us after enduring this cancer.

[Willi]

Me too! I just hope that you and I and others like us, can give back some positive feedback to people who are going through not only "our" Cancer but all Cancers. This is what we need to read more of, there is so much negative stuff if you google, which let's face it we all do when we are diagnosed. I don't know if mine will come back, but right now I feel terrific and I want to let others know that the treatment *is* worth it. I'm so happy to read that you are well too! Another thing that has made my day!

[Willi]

Oh and by the way......I am female and will be 52 in July.

[kasianne]

Well I am 47 and female and was 45 when diagnosed and that is why it took so long to diagnose as we don't fit the statistics as we are supposed to be male and late 60's. I had been going to the doctors for 3 months before being diagnosed and even then I had to go to another GP in desperation as the first wasn't listening to me despite me losing 16 kgs in weight in a short space of time. I just think that once diagnosed everything went very fast and now 16 months form the operation all is good. I hope it is all good for you too and stays that way.