Esophageal Cancer - 57 year old male

yugirl · New User Joined: 22 Jul 2007 Posts: 2

Hi,

My uncle got his diagnosis roughly a month ago. He was told he has esophageal cancer, that it is inoperable and had since gotten a gastric stoma for feeding, since he cannot swallow. The cancer however has not spread to any other organs and the surgeon was quite impressed by how healthy and strong his lungs and heart are, but still decided to not proceed with surgery, because of the existence of a esophagotracheal fistula.

My uncle lives in East Europe, which changes his options for treatment. The doctors refused to even discuss chemo and radiation therapy, but rather told him to go home and wait for his time to be up. For the last month he has felt fine, very strong actually, but just three days ago he started experiencing difficulties breathing and is now spitting out blood. He is starting to feel pretty weak and is not moving around too much.

I am leaving on August 3rd to visit him and I want to know if there is anything I should even try to push for as far as the treatment goes. Again, I know their resources are far more limited in terms of treatment options but I still feel that they are giving up a very physically strong man, whose life they may have at least been prolonged if not saved. If anyone has a suggestion, or even a comment, I would really appreciate it. My mom has lost a younger brother May 17th of this year; another one on May 20th of 2005 and I cannot stand the idea of her losing another one this soon. Again, any comments or suggestions will be greatly appreciated!

Thank you and good luck to everyone deal with this or a similar disease!

brainman

Hi yugirl, this is just my opinion since I know very little about esophageal cancer. However, I do believe that if he lived in the USA he would receive more aggressive treatment. I am not sure exactly what treatment that would be or how much more time he would live or what the impact of treatment would be on his quality of life. But at least those issues would have been addressed with you uncle. Maybe these issues have been addressed with him and you just don't know about that? I would encourage you to at least ask about those issues if you have a chance during your visit.

Make the most of your time with your uncle. It sounds like his condition is deteriorating rapidly. I will keep you and your uncle in my thoughts and prayers.
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Jim
Site Administrator and long-term cancer survivor
1992 Astrocytoma grade 2, left motor strip
2005 Recurrence this time said to be an Oligodendoglioma grade 3, same location.
My Story Part 1: http://cancerforums.net/viewtopic.php?p=7350
My Story Part 2: http://cancerforums.net/viewtopic.php?t=8029
Blog http://jimhawkinsport.blogspot.com/

yugirl · New User Joined: 22 Jul 2007 Posts: 2

Thanks to everyone who responded or even read my post. My uncle ended his battle on Monday, July 23rd. Before passing he told his younger brother he wasn't in any pain and he didn't suffer too long. I didn't get a chance to spend more time with him.

Again, I want to thank everyone and wish everyone the best health for them and their families.

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