Back after very long absence

[Cora]

Hi everyone,
Well.. I have been away for several months. I think my past post was in August. I have missed the support here and also for a time I was quite involved and I want to let you know why I was gone. In August, my husband was having some slight heartburn. He never had it before. Well, he went to the doctor to get it checked out, and the diagnosis, unfortunately, was EC- as in esophageal cancer. As you may or may not know, it is a very deadly and aggressive cancer. My husband was fortunate in that his was caught early. He did not have any cancer in the lymph nodes or mets, so he was a candidate for surgery. He went through chemo/radiation and then 6 weeks later in November, a major surgery. He had a large portion of his esophagus taken out, and now part of his stomach acts as a tube to replace the esophagus, and then less stomach is now there to be a stomach. So, needless to say, it was a horrible time for us- very scary and stressful. The good news is that the path report after surgery was clean- as in no evidence of cancer. So, now he is healing and learning to live with these new limitations. During this whole time I had just started tapering off long acting narcotics. Well, that had to stop due to all that was going on. So, I stayed on the bupenorphine and just tried to hold it together while he was going through this terrible treatment program. It was really tough on me given my physical state as well and my meds weren't balanced well at the time. Somehow I managed and now we are trying to get our life back on track. INteresting enough, I did not have any pain flares during this time. My meds did a good job, I just had w/d symptoms that I had to deal with. Well, now I am back tapering and finally that is going real well. And, I'm not yet having breakthrough pain though that might happen at the lower doses. Well, I just wanted to let you know what happened, and I missed the people here and wish you all a great holiday season.
Cora

[nyt]

Cora, I can't even imagine how difficult this must have been. Many prayers are sent to your family from our house.

[kia kaha]

what an incredibly stressful time fro you, and how you managed to cope with your own issues just shows me what a string character you are.

Mu love and blessings to both of you, and that your hubby stays in remisssion.

If anything happened to my hubby, I just woudn't know how to handle it, he is my rock,and I get so worried about him with all the extra work he has to do to look after me,as well as always working overtime in a very stressfuly physical and mental job runnning the entire hosehold and very large macrobitic organic vege grden.

wish I could give you some scallopinis we have too many right now, and they are great natural immune boosters.

kia kaha to you

love and hugs'
Nicola'

[Celeste]

Cora, what you've been through! I just don't think anything is scarier than cancer. I wish your husband continued healing and health, and all the best to you as you get back to regular life. I hope the new year brings you relief.

[missyrg]

Cora I pray continue healing for you and your husband. It is so good to hear from you. Which medications are you taking now?

[Cora]

Thanks everyone for your kind words of support. Indeed, it has been the scariest time of our lives. I just have to remain hopeful. Missyrg, the only medicine I am on right now is bupenorphine, which is the medication that is helping me taper. It is a type of opiate that is easier to taper off of than morphine or the others. It is still managing my pain. When I am off, I'll re-evaluate and look for other options, like Nortryptiline, not sure what I'll do but I was having too many side effects and started to have bone pain, tolerance to the opiates. Thanks again everyone, All my best,
Cora

[Violet M]

Cora, we've missed you but I'm so glad to hear that things are looking up for your husband and that it sounds like he's going to beat this thing! It's also very good news that your pain is still well-managed and that you were able to stay strong through this whole ordeal. My best to both of you.

Hugs and prayers,

Violet