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Living with Esophageal Cancer

This section is a place to share stories about Living with Esophageal Cancer.

Below are entries of those who have already shared their stories. We hope that you find their experiences helpful to your own situation.

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Our Family’s Experience with Esophageal Cancer
by: KathyM on Tue, Apr 10 2007

My father had esophageal cancer. His recommended treatment was chemo and radiation, followed by an esophagectomy. However, other medical complications prevented him from having the surgery. He died in July 2006.

Don’t let anyone sugarcoat the diagnosis. EC is one of the really bad cancers–less than 20% live more than 5 years past diagnosis. Esophagectomy is a brutal surgery, very dangerous, and fails often. My dad was actually relieved when his docs told him he couldn’t have the surgery. They gave him very good palliative treatment, and he had a really good quality of life for 2 1/2 of the 3 years after his diagnosis.

There is hope, though, so don’t give up. There have been improvements on the surgical technique, and new drugs are in clinical trials. Find an oncologist who is very aggressive about exploring all possibilities.

April 2007

Husband with Esophageal Cancer - by nr - (Mon, Apr 30 2007)
Jerry was 47 years old, and diagnosed with cancer. That was in Sept 1997. He had surgery and they removed 6 inchs of the esophogus, and then had 12 rounds of chemo and then 30 radiation treatments. [more..]
Our Family’s Experience with Esophageal Cancer - by KathyM - (Tue, Apr 10 2007)
My father had esophageal cancer. His recommended treatment was chemo and radiation, followed by an esophagectomy. However, other medical complications prevented him from having the surgery. He died in July 2006. [more..]

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