So far away

[DawnM]

Hi Im new here. My father who lives in New zealand was diagnosed with a cancerous tumor in his esophagus 4 weeks ago. He then had a scan which revealed the cancer has spread to his gullet and live,they have given him an estimate on his life span. I am in Australia so my parents have booked flights to come over next week to spend a week with me and my family. Im worried that he is not going to be well enough to travel or end up in hospital here as he is not eating. It is painful to eat and the doctor has now given him some morphine to help with pain. I am new to cancer and really dont know what to expect but if he is not eating now surely its not a good idea to make the trip in a weeks time???

[kasianne]

Hi Dawn I had esophagus cancer and could not eat for many months or what I did eat was very hit and miss as to whether it stayed down. I learned to eat and drink high energy /calorie things in order to keep me going and this was all before I was diagnosed and it became worse afterwards with nasal gastric tubes etc and still no joy at keeping anything down. It is amazing how much you can do without food intake and if the trip is what your father wishes to do then I am sure he will be fine. I was lucky and the cancer had not spread and chemo managed to shrink the tumour and then I had an operation to remove the affected part of the esophagus and again went through the issue of not being able to eat. the most frustrating thing about my illness was people going on about my lack of food intake and then treating me like a child if I managed to keep anything down. Sustagen powder is good hidden in food and almost tasteless to bulk up the nutrition. Hope the visit goes well

[SILLY]

Perhaps your parents thought it was easier for them to go to you than have you and your family travel to New Zealand . It is good that they feel your dad is well enough to do this .

[DawnM]

Yes SILLY they did think it would be easier to come to us and Im quite relieved that they are coming here. But Im also anxious, I dont want him to end up in hospital here. I just spoke to Mum who thinks Dad is consuming more of the high calorie, high energy drinks and has eaten a little of some pureed casserole the last couple of days so her opinion is that he is doing better. I understand Kasianne that it must be annoying to have people pushing you to eat all the time when it is so uncomfortable. I know my Dad has gotten cross with Mum pushing him to eat but it is done out of love. Its just so frustrating for those watching I guess.

[SILLY]

I understand your anxiety ,Dawn . I hope your dad will be ok during the visit .