October 2023
3 Kudos
Hi Jennifer, Thank you for reading my post and I’m sorry to hear you had to face the situation you find yourself in. I hope it all works out for you whether it be surgery or further treatment. I didn’t suffer much from side-effects during treatment but a few weeks afterwards I got so tired I was unable to function. I visited my local A&E and they diagnosed Neutropenia, because of the treatment affecting my white blood cells, they kept me in for a couple of days and gave me copious amounts of fluid and antibiotics. The tiredness has mostly disappeared at this point. My decision regarding surgery was pretty much made for me when I had a second PET scan before seeing the surgeon. The scan showed no cancer following the pre-op chemo and radiation therapy I underwent. On seeing the surgeon he still wanted to operate and was reluctant to discuss the results of the 2nd PET scan. However I dismissed his argument that surgery was the only ‘cure’. I know that it’ll return but for now I’m extremely happy to be cancer free. I saw my oncologists after giving the surgeon the knock back and they offered me a further week of radiation and one further chemo treatment, which finished 3-4 weeks ago. So right now I feel great, much better than I have been. Something else I’ve found out after discussing things with my GP, she thought I might be depressed and after asking me a set of questions (a test in reality) she confirmed that I was suffering a degree of depression, I was unaware of it. She prescribed a mild anti-depressant that I suspect is partly responsible for me feeling so good, so it might be an idea to consider broaching the subject with your GP? Good luck and best wishes to you, I believe thinking positively too most certainly does help. Regards Seumas
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August 2023
2 Kudos
I was diagnosed with Osophageal cancer in April. I underwent 5 weeks of chemo and radiation therapy. I then suffered a lot with neutropenia and extreme tiredness, the latter of which persists. The surgeon is keen to operate but as I understand it the procedure is long and hard on ‘healthy’ patients. My dad and three of his siblings died of the same disease. From reading it seems that a lot of people going through the surgery don’t seem to have a very good prognosis and their quality of life depreciated. I’m unsure whether to go with surgery or run with more chemo and radiation, the decision needs to be made. I’ve discussed it with my daughter and my partner but they aren’t much help as they feel the decision needs to be mine. I realise this but just feel that I don’t have sufficient info to make the decision. A significant factor in my indecision is that my health wasn’t great before my cancer diagnosis.
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