Hello Friends.... in Houston needs to talk to anyone who has done chemo

[Guest guest]

HI Everyone,

It's been a long time since I was here on this board. My life

after my surgery concerning achalasia has been wonderful. Four years

out of surgery, I am very stable, can eat virtually anything. Steak

and spaghetti require milk as the " push it down liquid " simply because

it weighs more than water, but with everything else, I just drink the

usual liquids and I am fine. I sleep flat, have just occasional

spasms. I still highly recommend the surgery and my surgeon Dr.

Reardon in HOuston if you are sitting on the fence about

surgery. I walked out of the hospital the following day without even

a sore throat, and I got my life back.

BUT, now I am facing a new challenge. I have stage 2 breast

cancer. I have had my small tumor excised with clear margins, but it

was microsopically in two of the five centinal nodes. I had another

surgery 3 weeks later to have the rest of my lymph nodes removed on

that side. I am doing well after surgery, had no complications, and

have already regained the ability to stretch my arm up straight over

my head pretty easily. Now, I am faced with treatment option decision

time. The best protocol for my long term survival is to do chemo,

followed by radiation, and then hormonal therapy. The whole speel. I

am most interested to talk to anyone in this group who has had to face

breast cancer and chemo. I want to know how your esophagus fared

longterm on the chemo. I am at MD Cancer Center in Houston,

one of the best in the world. My doctors are parents of children I

teach! I feel very lucky that it was caught early, but since there

was small lymph involvement, I must now tackle the chemo to have the

best results. I know everyone reacts differently to chemo, you can't

say that just because one person threw up on it for days that nobody

should do it. I have friends who have actually breezed through it,

kept working, and then I have friends who have been sick the whole

time. It's a huge decision. I know I can live through feeling like

crap and then recovering in time, but I am most concerned about any

studies that have been done on achalasia patients and chemo. Notan,

are you out there, oh wise one???? Best wishes to all.

in Houston