Spotting symptoms – a personal story about oesophageal cancer

I keep reading that hemp could be used to cure cancer. Are there any studies on this ?

So pleased to have read Maggie’s story, as I have recently been diagnosed with this. I started my chemo today, they have told me operation is a big one, and I wouldn’t survive it,as I have COPD. Like Maggie I ignored mine until at Christmas I was in so much pain trying to eat my Christmas dinner, and it was my daughter also that nagged me to go to Drs I was in shock when she said hospital for you.thank you for telling this story, has given me a bit of a lift.

Yes it is important to know the signs & get diagnosed. Treatment can start & cure can have a better chance. Yes we can beat cancer. I had my own bladder cancer diagnosed & treated within 3 weeks followed by chemo & a further major operation taking 7 months. I now live a normal life.

When my Mum went to see her GP she thought it was IBS because she had a change in bowel habit. She never examined the Gp thought her weight loss was due to depression & sent her away with a prescription she actually had non Hodgkinsons Lymphoma with a tumour 14 x21 cms diagnoised Sept she died 10 months later. I am a nurse who has looked after at least 5 men who have gone to the GP with back pain which turned out to be a spinal tumour. The key is early diagnosis WHEN will these GPs start to listen.

It’s always said that early diagnosis is key, but the trouble is GPs all too often send people away, assuming their symptoms aren’t serious, then by the time cancer is diagnosed it’s too late. Also when I had a lump, the waiting time to be seen was 2 months because I wasn’t considered ‘at risk’! I paid privately and was seen in 2 days (minus £800!), it’s frightening.

Unfortunately for my husband, he had been suffering from thoracic back pain, and xrays showed that he had quite severe arthritic changes, so when the pain appeared retro-sternally as well, it was assumed that it was being referred from his back. He never had any dyspesia or reflux. It was only following a distressing episode of not being able to get a bite of bread bun and beef down or up,( coupled with a previous episode of feeling ‘peculiar’) that I got him to our GP, who got things moving very quickly, and tumours were found at, and near, the oesophago-gastric junction. It’s inoperable as lymph nodes attached to the aorta are affected. So, sometimes , if patients aren’t demonstrating the standard symptoms, or have symptoms appertaining to other conditions, diagnosis can easily be delayed with the best will in the world.
Ps We can’t fault the care and attention we have received by eveyone involved in his care up here in SE Northumberland.

WISHING YOU AND YOUR DAUGHTER ALL THE BEST MAGGIE. MY DAD HAD OESOPHAGEAL CANCER, CAUGHT FAIRLY EARLY BY A YOUNG AND DILIGENT DOCTOR. HE WAS CONCERNED HIS SYMPTOMS OF INDIGESTION AND DIFFICULTY SWALLOWING WERE WORSENING, BUT WOULD NOT HAVE HAD A CLUE THAT THIS MIGHT INDICATE CANCER – AS WAS THE CASE WITH THE REST OF US. SO MUCH MORE PUBLIC AWARENESS NEEDED.
CONTRARY TO CAROLS EXPERIENCE (HOPE EVERYTHING IS OKAY FOR YOUR CAROL) HE GOT WONDERFUL CARE IN ABERDEEN ROYAL INFIRMIRY, AND ALTHOUGH VERY SADLY THE CANCER RETURNED, WE KNOW THAT EVERYTHING POSSIBLE WAS DONE FOR HIM AND THE CARE HE GOT EVEN WHEN HIS CANCER RETURNED DID A LOT TO HELP HIM HAVE A GOOD QUALITY OF LIFE. WE ARE VERY THANKFUL FOR THAT. KATHRYN ROSS.

Hello Carol. We’re sorry to hear about your husband and the concerns you have about your own health at the moment. Our nurses would be more than happy to talk with you sometime if that would help – they can be contacted on 0808 800 4040 (freephone, 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday). We wish you the very best of luck.

Oliver, Cancer Research UK

My husband died of oesophageal cancer 8 .1/2 years ago.It wasn’t diagnosed until 3 weeks before his death although repeated visits to his GP..Just recently I have been getting the same sort of symptoms…a dry cough ,heartburn ,which I have never suffered with before and now my food is getting stuck. I am worried sick as I know what suffering my husband went through…I will make an appointment with my GP asap…but after the treatment my husband got I don’t have a lot of faith anymore..

Wishing you the very best Maggie and so pleased you are here helping spread the word about oesophageal cancer. I’ve lost two close relatives to this cancer and hope that public awareness of the symptoms improves. Research funding is so important, thanks to everyone who gives up their time to raise funds and save lives.