My husband aged 54 was diagnosed with esophageal cancer in December and passed away in March. When diagnosed he had a pain in his left side when he was lying down at night and nothing else. Then lymph nodes in his neck became enlarged. An endoscopy and scan showed the cancer had spread to his lymph nodes in his neck and in his chest. Chemo started immediately, a 21 day cycle, from 8.30 to 4.30 on day one and then a course of tablets, 12 in all, to take for the 21 days. After 3 courses a scan showed that although the chemo was shrinking the tumor the cancer itself was causing blood clots and one had gone to his lung. He then started injecting himself in the stomach every evening, which was a 6 month course, then just before his 4th cycle of chemo he developed another blood clot in his liver. The doctors just couldn't get on top of the clots and eventually one went to his heart and killed him suddenly. We were not aware that blood clots can be caused by cancer or chemo. Published: September 10 ::

My husband was diagnosed with esophageal cancer on Sept. 1, 2005. He'd been having increasing trouble swallowing and has started losing weight. He went to see the doctor who sent him to a specialist to do a scope. As soon as he had the diagnosis, he was referred to a surgeon. The surgery was Sept. 29, 2005, and they removed the tumor and part of the esophagus. That December, he started chemo and radiation treatments. He had radiation for four weeks straight and four week-long rounds of chemo (first week of radiation, last week of radiation, one month later and one month after that). His pic line was removed on the final day of chemo (April 14, 2006). He goes for CT scans every six months now (in the first year it was every three months), and sees all three of his fabulous doctors to discuss the results. Three years later, he is still cancer-free, and we are more hopeful each time that the next time will also be clear. Not to scare anyone, but based on our research of this disease and our discussions with the doctors, we believe that with surgery alone, he wouldn't have survived the first year. He just turned 50 in January (2009), and we're now making long-term plans again. He's frequently tired, can't eat much at one time, and often suffers acid reflux at night. This is our "new normal," and we are happy to live with it because we still have each other and our family and are otherwise healthy. One strange side effect of all his treatments is that his immune system seems to be stronger than before. He used to catch every cold and flu bug the kids brought home; now he's seldom sick, and it's less severe when he is sick. These are small blessings for sure but blessings just the same. Published: September 10 ::